Linksys wireless connected then not connected?!?!

[scottyhawaii]

aloha dudes and duddettes,
i have a dillema here. i seem to get connected and then unconnected to my wireless hub which is a Linksys hub. the guys at CompUSA say its my Bearshare in my comp (which is running WinXP Pro)thats not making it staying connected. is that true? I used the updated versoin of AdAware and it sometimes works in staying connected. i'm afraid of when i start typing a homework and when i send it, it won't send so all my efforts are all for nothing. and to be honest i'm not that far from the hub. maybe like 10 feet away, just in the next room. its the same with my laptop (which is running WinXP Pro) too but i have no bearshare on it. should i invest in a wireless booster? thats like another $80.00. again any help is appreciated.

Mahalo,
Scotty

Thanks and mahalo,
Scotty

 

[riser]

I'm not big into wireless yet due to the security concerns and such, but I'm hearing that if you disable the Wireless Zero Configuration service in WinXP that should resolve a lot of the connection problems you've been having.
If you think its something you have running in the background, start disabling or closing those programs down and check connectivity.
If you're 10 feet away you should be fine as long as you're not 10 feet away seperated by an 8 foot think concrete wall.
Do a ping test on a website or something to check to see how often you're connection is dropping:
start - run - cmd - type "ping -t www.yahoo.com"
ctrl-c to break the cycle.
while that is running you can enable other programs and disable them to see if one is causing you to drop your connection.
Ping you access point's IP address and see what reply you get or how often that drops.
You don't have this problem with Wires
Wireless is good but the security isn't there yet, well, easily secured I should say.
Good luck

Riser

 

[FiL]

i admit that wires are secure, but how can you hack into wireless netoworks when.

only friendly MAC addresses are allowed to connect
+
SSID is not being broadcast
+
all wireless packets are 128bit encrypted

this makes quite a secure link doesn't it? I'm not that experienced with wireless, but i don't know how i would go about getting into my wireless bridge system...it's impossible without knowing the encryption key and SSID, both of which are never transmitted. and to cap it off, you simply can not connect with a foreign MAC address.

 

[riser]

I hate to tie up this person's post with this issue, but hey.
Most companies and people who use wireless tend keep the configuration to a minimum (DHCP usage). I have yet to hear of any company (besides a government type agency) that manually configures each computer with the required TCP/IP settings, their APs to allow for certain MACs and such. Granted, yes the security is there, is it practical to use? Not really unless you're looking at a handful of computers. On top of that, using WEP reduces your bandwidth which limits your functionality. Just recently, Lowes was hacked into by a couple of guys in the parking lot using a wireless laptop. Can this be avoided? Yes, but to manually configure 300+ computers in a small company, its insane. One computer has a problem, it gets rebuilt, information has to be put back in, validated, etc. Its just not practical yet.
As far as MAC addresses, you can spoof MAC addresses with simple programs on the internet and even find other MAC addresses to choose from. Its secure, but its not secure at the same time. The security is there, I'll grant you that, but its not.. easily incorporated and put to use. It would be unfortunate for a company to hire a person or persons to work strictly on wireless security. My company has many uses for wireless accessibility within our walls, but its not used because we have to keep our information well secured and can't have loose ends like that sitting around.
Check out on the internet for something recently named "War driving" and you'll find some good stories.
Wireless might be company worthwhile in 2-3 years, at my best guess, with easily configurable wireless systems.

Riser

 

[scottyhawaii]

Aloha Riser,
where can i find Wireless Zero Config on my comp? can you give me a detailed message on how to "click" to it.



Thanks and mahalo,
Scotty

 

[riser]

This should help with it:

In order to disable Wireless Zero Configuration, go to:
Control Panel ---> Performance and Maintenance ---> Administrative Tools ---> Services.

Click on Wireless Zero Configuration; change the "Startup Type" drop box to "Manual" and stop the service.

*** Good reading here too:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=313242

Hope that helps out even more.. a good place to reference is support.microsoft.com for troubleshooting and www.micrsofto.com/technet for do it yourself/how tos.

Good luck

Riser

 

[purple buzz]

linksys is a piece of crap

the only advice i can give you is unplug it from your system.

take a hammer

go outside

and smash the bejesus out of it


that is your only solution

 

[warmon6]

linksys is a piece of crap

the only advice i can give you is unplug it from your system.

take a hammer

go outside

and smash the bejesus out of it


that is your only solution

2 things.

1. You dont like reading dates because the last comment before yours is 6 years ago. ( im sure the OP has there problem solve by now.

2. Be more useful than suggesting to smash something.