Problem: I have several road warriors. When they get back
from their trailer parks or hotels, they can not browse
websites on their wireless at their homes or offices.
Symptom: both Firefox and IE can not resolve an address.
Ping and Nslookup can. If you copy and paste the IP
address from Ping or Nslookup into Firefox or IE,
both can open the IP's websites. Symptom happens with
or without the antivirus/firewall enabled.
Solution: go into the device manager and disable the
wireless card and re-enable it. Then, do a "repair"
on their network connection. (A repair by itself
does not work.)
Okay. Now I am confused. Why does this work?
And what am I actually doing to fix the thing?
> Solution: go into the device manager and disable the
> wireless card and re-enable it. Then, do a "repair"
> on their network connection. (A repair by itself
> does not work.)
>
> Okay. Now I am confused. Why does this work?
> And what am I actually doing to fix the thing?
Try turning off the power management on the wireless card. If that works,
then check if there's a more recent driver for that card available from the
manufacturer. A number of network devices have had driver troubles related
to power management. Some have better drivers, others don't, leaving only
with the option to disable the power functions.
On Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:19:20 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote:
>Windows XP.
>
>Problem: I have several road warriors. When they get back
>from their trailer parks or hotels, they can not browse
>websites on their wireless at their homes or offices.
>
>Symptom: both Firefox and IE can not resolve an address.
>Ping and Nslookup can. If you copy and paste the IP
>address from Ping or Nslookup into Firefox or IE,
>both can open the IP's websites. Symptom happens with
>or without the antivirus/firewall enabled.
It's a feature, not a bug. If your laptops go into standby or
hibernate mode, they retain the IP address, gateway, and DNS settings
to that recovery is instantaneous. That's rather handy if the user
falls asleep in front of the laptop, but does have some entertaining
aspects when the laptop moves between going into standby/hibernate,
and later recovering in a completely different IP environment. It's
like you going to sleep and waking up in a different bed or room.
Confusion is inevitable in both cases.
Most wireless clients will recognize that there's a problem when they
try to renew the DHCP lease. Unfortunately, Windoze Wireless Zero
Config is not one of those. Therefore, you might need to give
Microsoft a little help. Doing the repair ordeal forces a DHCP
renewal, which is why it works. However, it's rather tedious.
Instead, I suggest:
Start -> run -> cmd <enter>
ipconfig /release
(wait about 3-5 seconds>
ipconfig /renew
exit
That forces a DHCP renewal, which should help.
There are other settings which also need to be tweaked for different
locations. For example, available printers, static routes, SMTP
servers, Windoze domain, time zone(?), etc. I use Netswitcher to
accomplish these changes.
<http://www.netswitcher.com> $20.
I have one profile setup for each of my major customers so that I
don't have to fumble with changing settings when I arrive with my
laptop.
In article <o6fbh4la3muv7mrcop6tqf8jrdc7i7qdn3@4ax.com>,
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
> There are other settings which also need to be tweaked for different
> locations. For example, available printers, static routes, SMTP
> servers, Windoze domain, time zone(?), etc. I use Netswitcher to
> accomplish these changes.
> <http://www.netswitcher.com> $20.
> I have one profile setup for each of my major customers so that I
> don't have to fumble with changing settings when I arrive with my
> laptop.
Macs have a "Locations" feature built in. It's a bit hard to set up (or
understand, I guess) but once it's working, it's okay. You generally
have to click the "renew dhcp lease" button when you change location
from wireless to wired. What I'd like is to change automatically when it
senses the Ethernet cable unplugged/plugged.
--
W. Oates
On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:32:17 -0500, Warren Oates
<warren.oates@gmail.com> wrote:
>In article <o6fbh4la3muv7mrcop6tqf8jrdc7i7qdn3@4ax.com>,
> Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
>
>> There are other settings which also need to be tweaked for different
>> locations. For example, available printers, static routes, SMTP
>> servers, Windoze domain, time zone(?), etc. I use Netswitcher to
>> accomplish these changes.
>> <http://www.netswitcher.com> $20.
>> I have one profile setup for each of my major customers so that I
>> don't have to fumble with changing settings when I arrive with my
>> laptop.
>
>Macs have a "Locations" feature built in. It's a bit hard to set up (or
>understand, I guess) but once it's working, it's okay. You generally
>have to click the "renew dhcp lease" button when you change location
>from wireless to wired.
It's not that horrible under OS/X:
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712>
However, neither the PC or Mac versions work reliably with
complexicated configurations such as VPN's and multi-homed
configurations. Automatically switching outgoing SMTP mail servers is
another features that Locations misses in both the PC and Mac. Vista
makes a half-hearted attempt to get it right, but only offers 3
locations (Home, Office, Public) which does me no good. For a while,
I was using .REG files, pre-configured to a specific location, and run
when appropriate. That worked, but usually required a reboot.
802.11r (fast roaming) might fix the problem, but then every access
point would have to be replaced or upgraded. That's not going to
happen among my cheap customers.
Switching between wired and wireless interfaces is handled by Windoze
at the IP level. No need to sense a connect or disconnect as the
route metrics take care of the packet routing priority issues.
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299540/>
This works well for switching between ethernet and wireless as a fixed
location, but fails miserably to detect the change when the location
changes after a standby or hibernate.
I've often wanted to build a GPS into my laptop, which detects my
location, and feeds the correct registry values to the registry or
NetSwitcher. Laziness is a great motivator.
>What I'd like is to change automatically when it
>senses the Ethernet cable unplugged/plugged.
Mac OS X: How To Force a DHCP Lease Renewal
<http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21114?viewlocale=en_US>
Yuck.
I suppose I could write a bash shell script for OS/X to do something
like that. The problem is that I'm a lousy programmist and don't know
how to detect if the cable is plugged/unplugged. Running:
ifconfig eth0
shows UP and DOWN, but does not indicate if anything is unplugged.
Also running:
ipconfig set eth0 dhcp
doesn't seem to force a DHCP release and renewal. Oh well. Another
project I don't need (or have time to do).
> Mac OS X: How To Force a DHCP Lease Renewal
> <http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21114?viewlocale=en_US>
> Yuck.
>
> I suppose I could write a bash shell script for OS/X to do something
> like that. The problem is that I'm a lousy programmist and don't know
> how to detect if the cable is plugged/unplugged. Running:
> ifconfig eth0
> shows UP and DOWN, but does not indicate if anything is unplugged.
> Also running:
> ipconfig set eth0 dhcp
> doesn't seem to force a DHCP release and renewal. Oh well. Another
> project I don't need (or have time to do).
>
>
Should the interface not be en0 ?
LR wrote:
> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> Mac OS X: How To Force a DHCP Lease Renewal
>> <http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21114?viewlocale=en_US>
>> Yuck.
>>
>> I suppose I could write a bash shell script for OS/X to do something
>> like that. The problem is that I'm a lousy programmist and don't know
>> how to detect if the cable is plugged/unplugged. Running:
>> ifconfig eth0
>> shows UP and DOWN, but does not indicate if anything is unplugged.
>> Also running:
>> ipconfig set eth0 dhcp
>> doesn't seem to force a DHCP release and renewal. Oh well. Another
>> project I don't need (or have time to do).
>>
>>
> Should the interface not be en0 ?
I should keep my bookmarks the same for all systems.
On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:07:32 +0000, LR <lrme@privacy.net> wrote:
>LR wrote:
>> Should the interface not be en0 ?
Yep. BSD naming conventions. I've been pounding on Ubuntu Linux
recently and forgot that the network interface names are different.
Standards are a good thing. Every company and operating system should
have some.
>I should keep my bookmarks the same for all systems.
Nope, there's a better way. I started out years ago with the old
Netscape Navigator using an online LDAP server to synchronize
bookmarks. Worked fine for one machine. Total mess for more than
one. I then tried various online services without much better
results. Apparently, I wasn't the only person on the planet trying to
solve the same problem. Then, I found SyncPlaces for FireFox 3.x,
which works quite well:
<http://www.andyhalford.com/syncplaces/>
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8426>
The nice part is that it's sitting on one of my assorted servers so
nobody gets to look at my pornographic bookmarks. It does a merge
rather nicely by first downloading the bookmarks, conglomerating them
on your desktop, and then uploading the merged result. Nothing is
lost. See Merge section at:
<http://www.andyhalford.com/syncplaces/advanced.html>
> Instead, I suggest:
>
> Start -> run -> cmd <enter>
> ipconfig /release
> (wait about 3-5 seconds>
> ipconfig /renew
> exit
Tried this several times. It does not work. The symptom
is that command line utilities (nslookup, ping) can
resolve IP addresses but Windows programs (Firefox, IE) can
not.
On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:48:16 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote:
>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> Instead, I suggest:
>>
>> Start -> run -> cmd <enter>
>> ipconfig /release
>> (wait about 3-5 seconds>
>> ipconfig /renew
>> exit
>
>Tried this several times. It does not work. The symptom
>is that command line utilities (nslookup, ping) can
>resolve IP addresses but Windows programs (Firefox, IE) can
>not.
>
>Reboots do not work either.
Weird. I have a few more guesses.
First, try clearing the DNS cache. ping and nslookup may be using the
resolver cache instead of doing a new lookup. Run:
ipconfig /flushdns
and try ping etc. again.
Firefox and IE7 have an irritating habit of going offline at
inconvenient times. For IE6 and IE7, see:
File -> Work Offline
For Firefox 2.0.17 and 3.0.3, the "Work Offline" is in the same
location. Make sure the "Work OFfline" is *NOT* checked.
If that doesn't do the trick, it would be interesting to see if the
network setting are changing. I've seen DHCP pickup a new IP address,
but screwup on getting a new Gateway IP. Once, I had an XP box that
refused to get DNS server addresses, but everything else will work. So
try:
start -> run -> cmd <enter>
md \junk
cd \junk
ipconfig /all > before.txt
Then, do the repair ritual followed by:
ipconfig /all > after.txt
Now, compare before.txt with after.txt using fc (file compare):
fc before.txt after.txt
> Weird. I have a few more guesses.
>
> First, try clearing the DNS cache. ping and nslookup may be using the
> resolver cache instead of doing a new lookup. Run:
> ipconfig /flushdns
> and try ping etc. again.
>
Now this seems to be very promising. I will be out at another
customer with this problem this week. I will try this first
before using the device manager.
On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:48:16 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote in
<gf5j1g$lm3$1@aioe.org>:
>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> Instead, I suggest:
>>
>> Start -> run -> cmd <enter>
>> ipconfig /release
>> (wait about 3-5 seconds>
>> ipconfig /renew
>> exit
>
>Tried this several times. It does not work. The symptom
>is that command line utilities (nslookup, ping) can
>resolve IP addresses but Windows programs (Firefox, IE) can
>not.
What is the _exact_ error message from Firefox?
>Reboots do not work either.
Do you have any proxy settings configured?
Are DNS servers set to configure by DHCP or configured manually?
Have you checked the DNS server settings when this failure occurs?
Are they changing or not?
--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://wireless.navas.us>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
> Are DNS servers set to configure by DHCP or configured manually?
dhcp
> Have you checked the DNS server settings when this failure occurs?
no changes
> Are they changing or not?
no
Symptom: windows programs can not resolve addresses; command
line programs are able to. Disabling and reenabling the
wireless card in device manager cures the problem.
The original question was, why does this work?
My guess was that Jeff had it correct: flush the dns.
I am waiting for another instance of the problem to test
Jeff's theory.
On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:46:20 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote in
<gfi06e$rtt$1@aioe.org>:
>John Navas wrote:
>
>> What is the _exact_ error message from Firefox?
>
>address not found
Then DNS is failing.
>> Do you have any proxy settings configured?
>no
You checked? Not auto?
>> Are DNS servers set to configure by DHCP or configured manually?
>dhcp
>
>> Have you checked the DNS server settings when this failure occurs?
>no changes
>
>> Are they changing or not?
>no
The IP numbers are exactly the same?
Can you ping them?
Did you run DNS diagnostics (like NSLOOKUP)?
>Symptom: windows programs can not resolve addresses; command
>line programs are able to.
Sorry, but that doesn't parse. AFAIK you've only tried 2 Windows
programs that are quite similar. Have you tried something like Sam
Spade?
>Disabling and reenabling the
>wireless card in device manager cures the problem.
Perhaps by flushing the DNS cache.
Have you tried manually flushing the cache?
>The original question was, why does this work?
Why does what work?
>My guess was that Jeff had it correct: flush the dns.
>I am waiting for another instance of the problem to test
>Jeff's theory.
I doubt that caching is the issue unless something else is broken.
--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://wireless.navas.us>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
Why does this repair action work? 
Linear Mode
