Linksys WRK54G - FINALLY working EXCEPT for work laptop - Help!

I have a Linksys WRK54G wireless router. I spent probably 500 hrs on
the phone with support, and finally got it working using tips from a
friend. Use the info if it helps...

Our network has only 2 computers, an HP desktop hardwired to the
router, and the Emachines laptop is either hardwired or wireless if I'm
in another room. Here's what worked for us:

1) Set up all your connections with static IP's. "Obtain IP
automatically" never seemed to keep us connected. The only fix was to
UNPLUG the router to reset it several times a day. Don't know what the
reset button is supposed to do!

2) Going to the linksys configuration website 192.168.1.1, in the
wireless security tab, enable MAC addressing. We then programmed in
all the MAC addresses of the router, both LAN connections, and the
wireless card (we got these "physical addresses" by going to each
computer's DOS prompt and typing "ipconfig/all" according to my notes).

3) For some reason, in the "wireless network connection properties"
screen, if I click the "Use Windows to configure my connection" option,
connectivity seems to go down hill. If I unclick it and allow the
Linksys Wireless G software to handle everything, I have fewer
problems.

So that keeps our connectivity going. But now I have a new problem.

I brought my work laptop home (a Compaq NC6000). It's got built in
wireless card that works just fine at work. And at home, "view
wireless networks" shows ours, and two of our neighbors' networks. I
can connect to anyone else's, but not my own. I didn't even need to
type a WEP key to access my neighbors networks, though they are showing
as WEP encryted.

I keep our encryption at 64 bit WEP, and tried both typing in the WEP
key and clicking the "it's provided for me" box, but no dice. Even
when I disabled WEP temporarily, I couldn't get connected. I thought
for sure that would work.

I also tried every combo of either Linksys or Windows configuring the
router, in case that makes a difference. Nothing works. I tell it to
connect, the dialog box closes like something's happening, and then a
pop-up tells me I'm not connected, but that there are "wireless
networks available!" I guess I just can't have the one I want...

"Dana" <danabillotte@hotmail.com> hath wroth:

>I brought my work laptop home (a Compaq NC6000).

Did you remember to add this laptops wireless MAC address to the
routers MAC address filter list?

Since the other laptops are setup for static IP addresses, did you
assign a static IP address to the Compaq? Was it a duplicate IP?

If you use WEP, be sure to use the Hex WEP key, not the ASCII. There
are some incompatibilities between different manufacturers ideas of
how to convert from ASCII to Hex.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> "Dana" <danabillotte@hotmail.com> hath wroth:
>
> >I brought my work laptop home (a Compaq NC6000).
>
> Did you remember to add this laptops wireless MAC address to the
> routers MAC address filter list?
>
> Since the other laptops are setup for static IP addresses, did you
> assign a static IP address to the Compaq? Was it a duplicate IP?
>
> If you use WEP, be sure to use the Hex WEP key, not the ASCII. There
> are some incompatibilities between different manufacturers ideas of
> how to convert from ASCII to Hex.
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

You were absolutely right! I had taken a friend's advice and done the
MAC addressing for our home computers without ever really knowing WHAT
I was changing. (A case of knowing just enough to be dangerous.) Now
that I look at it more closely, I can see that I had given my network
a specific list of who could "come in", so I shouldn't be surprised
when a guest computer isn't allowed to enter. I also realize that my
wireless network is also more secure than I thought. At least my
neighbors can't get into my network as easily as I can to theirs.

So do you think the MAC addressing and static IP's are a normal fix for
some routers? It's not hurting anything, right? And if it keeps the
network stable...

Thank you for responding, and saving me much frustration.

"Dana" <danabillotte@hotmail.com> hath wroth:

>You were absolutely right! I had taken a friend's advice and done the
>MAC addressing for our home computers without ever really knowing WHAT
>I was changing. (A case of knowing just enough to be dangerous.)

Welcome to "Learn By Destroying(tm)".

>Now
>that I look at it more closely, I can see that I had given my network
>a specific list of who could "come in", so I shouldn't be surprised
>when a guest computer isn't allowed to enter.

Yep.

>I also realize that my
>wireless network is also more secure than I thought. At least my
>neighbors can't get into my network as easily as I can to theirs.

Not so. MAC addresses are easily spoofed. If your neighbor wanted to
attack your system, they have only to sniff the traffic for authorized
MAC addresses, and spoof one of them when that machine is not active.
http://www.klcconsulting.net/Change_MAC_w2k.htm
http://whoozoo.co.uk/mac-spoof-linux.htm
Lots of others.

>So do you think the MAC addressing and static IP's are a normal fix for
>some routers? It's not hurting anything, right? And if it keeps the
>network stable...

I'm not sure what you mean by "stable", but DHCP versus static IP's
has NOTHING to do with stability. With DHCP, the router will continue
to assign the same IP address to a given MAC address. It will not
change until perhaps the DHCP lease expires. Some routers have a
"static DHCP" or "reserved DHCP" feature, that allows you to
permanently assign an IP address to a specific MAC address,
effectively creating a static IP address. In other words, there's not
"stability" advantage to static IP's.

What I think your friend is suggesting that by turning off DHCP,
security is enchanced because it is more difficult for an attacker to
find a suitable IP addresses. That's rediculous because once an
attacker discovers your IP address range, they can just manually
assign a suitable IP address. More easily, they just clone both the
MAC address and IP address of one of your existing computers. My
guess is that your friend also assigned a weird IP address block and
random IP address for the router inside the block.

The obstacle course theory of security does have its proponents, but
I'm not one of them. I prefer to trust in WPA encryption to keep the
hackers out, and not have normal users deal with the obstacles. See
the security section of the FAQ:
http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Wi-Fi_Security
for clues.

>Thank you for responding, and saving me much frustration.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 29 Jul 2006 17:19:20 -0700 Dana <danabillotte@hotmail.com> wrote:

| 1) Set up all your connections with static IP's. "Obtain IP
| automatically" never seemed to keep us connected. The only fix was to
| UNPLUG the router to reset it several times a day. Don't know what the
| reset button is supposed to do!

If other things are not working, this certainly won't work. Normally
it should work fine. But if you're getting connected to other networks
maybe you're getting IPs from them, instead, and that could be part of
the problem. Do you have an SSID specified for every machine/device?


| 2) Going to the linksys configuration website 192.168.1.1, in the
| wireless security tab, enable MAC addressing. We then programmed in
| all the MAC addresses of the router, both LAN connections, and the
| wireless card (we got these "physical addresses" by going to each
| computer's DOS prompt and typing "ipconfig/all" according to my notes).

Doable. But that's the hard way.


| 3) For some reason, in the "wireless network connection properties"
| screen, if I click the "Use Windows to configure my connection" option,
| connectivity seems to go down hill. If I unclick it and allow the
| Linksys Wireless G software to handle everything, I have fewer
| problems.

They made a mistake when they typed in the lable for that option. It
should have read "Use Windows' brain dead concepts of networking to
misconfigure my connection". Windows is one system I have found that
explicit configuration is generally required.

--
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| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
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