DI-614+ DWL-900AP+ repeater signal drop

Hello-

I've searched through this group and Google and have found lots of helpful
info but nothing that can explain what I've been experiencing. I am
experiencing the following problem.

My 900AP+ s/n ratio goes from ~65 to 0 approximately every 30 seconds (twice
per minute) as viewed with Netstumbler. It is very regular. This causes my
wireless client (DWL-120+) running XP Pro to switch constantly from the low
614+ signal (~18) to the 900AP+. My client does not get disconnected,
however. It just keeps switching twice per minute with the repeater
behavior. I have a beautiful sawtooth graph from Netstumbler showing this
regular event. I have moved the 900AP+ up next to the 614+ and have observed
exactly the same behavior!

The 900AP behavior during this on/off cycle is as follows: I get a STEADY
green light on my 900AP+'s WLAN display. The weird thing is if I plug my
900AP+ into my 614+ via Ethernet plug, the WLAN light shows lots of activity
and signal does not drop. If I unplug the Ethernet connection, the 900AP+
continues to behaves great (WLAN flashes and no disconnection's). However,
as soon as I unplug (power) from the 900AP+ and power it back up again
(without the Ethernet connection to the 614+), the WLAN light is steady and
the connection drops twice per minute again.

I have the following DLINK equipment:

DI-614+ HW:B1 Firmware Version: 3.20 , Fri, 15 Aug 2003 (latest)
DWL-900AP+ HW:A1 Firmware Version 2.60 , Wed, 06 Aug 2003 (latest)

I am trying to setup the 900AP+ to work as a repeater for the 614+.

I have put the LAN MAC for the 614+ into the 900AP+. I am running on channel
8 (both). I have no WEP on and I am broadcasting my SSID (which is the same
for both). The 900AP+ is setup as a repeater. I am using MAC address
filtering. I have all of the wireless MAC numbers in for all my wireless
clients. I even added the MAC address for the 900AP+. I configured the
900AP+ to have a static IP address (192.168.0.50). I have disabled the DHCP
on the 900AP+ and have it enabled on the 614+. I have also disabled the 4X.
Other than that, everything else is pretty much factory default.

I upgraded the FW on the 614+ from 2.18 to 3.20 with no effect. The only way
I could seeing getting this thing working correctly is to get a very LONG
CAT5 cable from the router, plug in the LAN connection, power-up the 900AP+,
then disconnect the LAN cable. There has got to be another way!

Any ideas/help would be very appreciated. This is driving me nuts!! Besides
a brain, what else am I missing!?!?

Jeff-

(E-Mail Removed)
Remove the obvious "die-spam" from above.

Why are you powering off the 900AP+ at all? Just get the long cable,
one time use, and then afterwards only for power outages, then just
leave it on all the time.
Seriously there must be a time built into the 900AP+ to do what you
are seeing. Ask D-Link techs themselves, they have been pretty
helpfull to me in the past.
I have a 614+ and two 900AP+'s. The 900AP+'s are connected in Bridge
Mode. That way I can have nothing but a hub in one location with the
one 900AP+ plugged into it and then the other 900AP+ plugged into the
614+. Seems to work fine for me. My system is up 24/7/365.
I did have to put the mac address of each 900AP+ into the other 900AP+
for the whole thing to come together.

On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 19:26:40 GMT, "Jeff"
<nukebrewer@die_spam.hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hello-
>
>I've searched through this group and Google and have found lots of helpful
>info but nothing that can explain what I've been experiencing. I am
>experiencing the following problem.
>
>My 900AP+ s/n ratio goes from ~65 to 0 approximately every 30 seconds (twice
>per minute) as viewed with Netstumbler. It is very regular. This causes my
>wireless client (DWL-120+) running XP Pro to switch constantly from the low
>614+ signal (~18) to the 900AP+. My client does not get disconnected,
>however. It just keeps switching twice per minute with the repeater
>behavior. I have a beautiful sawtooth graph from Netstumbler showing this
>regular event. I have moved the 900AP+ up next to the 614+ and have observed
>exactly the same behavior!
>
>The 900AP behavior during this on/off cycle is as follows: I get a STEADY
>green light on my 900AP+'s WLAN display. The weird thing is if I plug my
>900AP+ into my 614+ via Ethernet plug, the WLAN light shows lots of activity
>and signal does not drop. If I unplug the Ethernet connection, the 900AP+
>continues to behaves great (WLAN flashes and no disconnection's). However,
>as soon as I unplug (power) from the 900AP+ and power it back up again
>(without the Ethernet connection to the 614+), the WLAN light is steady and
>the connection drops twice per minute again.
>
>I have the following DLINK equipment:
>
>DI-614+ HW:B1 Firmware Version: 3.20 , Fri, 15 Aug 2003 (latest)
>DWL-900AP+ HW:A1 Firmware Version 2.60 , Wed, 06 Aug 2003 (latest)
>
>I am trying to setup the 900AP+ to work as a repeater for the 614+.
>
>I have put the LAN MAC for the 614+ into the 900AP+. I am running on channel
>8 (both). I have no WEP on and I am broadcasting my SSID (which is the same
>for both). The 900AP+ is setup as a repeater. I am using MAC address
>filtering. I have all of the wireless MAC numbers in for all my wireless
>clients. I even added the MAC address for the 900AP+. I configured the
>900AP+ to have a static IP address (192.168.0.50). I have disabled the DHCP
>on the 900AP+ and have it enabled on the 614+. I have also disabled the 4X.
>Other than that, everything else is pretty much factory default.
>
>I upgraded the FW on the 614+ from 2.18 to 3.20 with no effect. The only way
>I could seeing getting this thing working correctly is to get a very LONG
>CAT5 cable from the router, plug in the LAN connection, power-up the 900AP+,
>then disconnect the LAN cable. There has got to be another way!
>
>Any ideas/help would be very appreciated. This is driving me nuts!! Besides
>a brain, what else am I missing!?!?
>
>Jeff-
>
>(E-Mail Removed)
>Remove the obvious "die-spam" from above.
>

-- Have you checked your Smoke Detector...LATELY?

"Jeff" <nukebrewer@die_spam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:QZr4b.93$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello-
>
> I've searched through this group and Google and have found lots of helpful
> info but nothing that can explain what I've been experiencing. I am
> experiencing the following problem.
>
> My 900AP+ s/n ratio goes from ~65 to 0 approximately every 30 seconds
(twice
> per minute) as viewed with Netstumbler. It is very regular. This causes my
> wireless client (DWL-120+) running XP Pro to switch constantly from the
low
> 614+ signal (~18) to the 900AP+. My client does not get disconnected,
> however. It just keeps switching twice per minute with the repeater
> behavior. I have a beautiful sawtooth graph from Netstumbler showing this
> regular event. I have moved the 900AP+ up next to the 614+ and have
observed
> exactly the same behavior!
>
> The 900AP behavior during this on/off cycle is as follows: I get a STEADY
> green light on my 900AP+'s WLAN display. The weird thing is if I plug my
> 900AP+ into my 614+ via Ethernet plug, the WLAN light shows lots of
activity
> and signal does not drop. If I unplug the Ethernet connection, the 900AP+
> continues to behaves great (WLAN flashes and no disconnection's). However,
> as soon as I unplug (power) from the 900AP+ and power it back up again
> (without the Ethernet connection to the 614+), the WLAN light is steady
and
> the connection drops twice per minute again.
>
> I have the following DLINK equipment:
>
> DI-614+ HW:B1 Firmware Version: 3.20 , Fri, 15 Aug 2003 (latest)
> DWL-900AP+ HW:A1 Firmware Version 2.60 , Wed, 06 Aug 2003 (latest)
>
> I am trying to setup the 900AP+ to work as a repeater for the 614+.
>
> I have put the LAN MAC for the 614+ into the 900AP+. I am running on
channel
> 8 (both). I have no WEP on and I am broadcasting my SSID (which is the
same
> for both). The 900AP+ is setup as a repeater. I am using MAC address
> filtering. I have all of the wireless MAC numbers in for all my wireless
> clients. I even added the MAC address for the 900AP+. I configured the
> 900AP+ to have a static IP address (192.168.0.50). I have disabled the
DHCP
> on the 900AP+ and have it enabled on the 614+. I have also disabled the
4X.
> Other than that, everything else is pretty much factory default.
>
> I upgraded the FW on the 614+ from 2.18 to 3.20 with no effect. The only
way
> I could seeing getting this thing working correctly is to get a very LONG
> CAT5 cable from the router, plug in the LAN connection, power-up the
900AP+,
> then disconnect the LAN cable. There has got to be another way!
>
> Any ideas/help would be very appreciated. This is driving me nuts!!
Besides
> a brain, what else am I missing!?!?
>
> Jeff-
>
> (E-Mail Removed)
> Remove the obvious "die-spam" from above.
>

I found the solution!

I had to DOWNGRADE my firmware on the DWL-900AP+ to 2.50 (from 2.60). I
remembered that I had this same problem before (connection dropping) way
back in the 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 versions when I had it configured as an AP. I had
to run the 1.1 version in order not to have the connection drop every 30
seconds. Looks like Dlink broke it again after firmware 2.50. Both 2.57 and
2.60 firmware cause my 900AP+ to drop consistently. I'll stick with 2.50 as
it appears to be working fine.

Hope this helps someone else!!!

Jeff-