On Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:06:07 +0100, LR <lrme@privacy.net> wrote:
>Since I couldn't remember exactly what it was called I re-installed the
>Ekahau s'ware. In the "Wireless Network Connections Properties" it is
>listed as installing "Ekahau User Protocol Driver for NDIS6" and this is
>what has caused me problems, even on uninstalling the Ekahau program
>this driver is not removed but can be by using the uninstall function in
>"Wireless Network Connections Properties".
I've mostly confirmed your observations. I installed Ekahau
HeatMapper on three laptops and one desktop. All of these started to
exhibit some rather weird behavior. Two would work with any AP that
it had previously (prior to installing HeatMapper) successfully
connected, but not to any new AP's. It would fail with a DHCP
failure. No amount of ipconfig release/renew would help. The others
had similar problems, but oddly, would fail to connect at different
points. I was too lazy to enable and dump the wireless log files for
details. Worse, I didn't notice for about a week, and have done
considerable add/remove/tweak on these computers.
I uninstalled HeatMapper, rebooted, and found that you're correct. It
leaves behind "Ekahau NDIS User Mode I/O Protocol". It appears that
it's a different driver for W2K/XP and Vista (NDIS5 versus NDIS6). I
uninstalled this protocol, rebooted, and some (not all) of the
connection problems were magically fixed. The problem is that all of
the laptops and the desktop still have problems connecting to various
AP's scattered around the house and neighborhood. In addition,
browsing now has a rather long 2 second delay when looking for
something in the DNS cache. My guess(tm) is that there's either more
debris left behind by the install, or that HeatMapper overscribbled
one of the network drivers. I tried System Restore on one of the
laptops, but that didn't help. If I find a cause and/or fix, I'll
post it.
I kinda regret ever mentioning this free program, as it doesn't quite
do what it claims (broken algorithm?), and the install is at least
partially broken and possibly destructive.
--
Jeff Liebermann
jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558