Linksys WUSB11 adapter disabling WRT54G router?

I have a Linksys WUSB11 (version 2.8) wireless adapter, connected
to a TiVo. My wireless router is a Linksys WRT54G, running version
1.30.7 firmware.

TiVo recently started distributing an upgraded software revision
which supports a new TiVo-to-PC transfer function. A few people
(myself included) have reported seeing a problem where the TiVo
loses its wireless network connection every few days. Reestab-
lishing the network connection requires either restarting the TiVo,
or unplugging the USB cable to the wireless adapter and plugging
it back in after a while. This is presumably due to some bug in
the new TiVo code; the problem never happened prior to the recent
software upgrade.

As best I can tell so far, it seems that the TiVo is putting the
WUSB11 adapter into a state where it, in turn, is messing up the
WRT54G router and preventing anything from seeing the router or
making a connection to it. When the TiVo has lost its network
connection, I've tried to connect wirelessly from my laptop, but
the laptop doesn't see my home LAN and can't connect to it. The
activity LED on the WRT54G, however, is =not= on at this time.

If I unplug the WUSB11 adapter from the TiVo (i.e., disconnect
the USB cable), the WRT54G remains uncommunicative for about
another three minutes -- after which time I can once again
connect to it from my laptop. If I plug the WUSB11 back in
to the TiVo, it also reconnects after a few seconds.

Can anyone think of anything the TiVo could be doing to the
WUSB11 adapter that would disable the WRT54G router in this way?

I thought that perhaps the driver might be causing the WUSB11 to
change its channel frequency. Perhaps that would cause enough
RF interference in the house that no other device would be able
to connect to the router. However, if that were what was going
on, I would expect the problem to have cleared up immediately
when I unplugged the WUSB11 -- not persist for several minutes.
So, presumably, something else must be going on. Any ideas?

Rich Wales (E-Mail Removed) http://www.richw.org

Rich Wales wrote:
> I have a Linksys WUSB11 (version 2.8) wireless adapter, connected
> to a TiVo. My wireless router is a Linksys WRT54G, running version
> 1.30.7 firmware.
>
> Rich Wales (E-Mail Removed) http://www.richw.org

I have almost the same, except I have a Toshiba DVR and the software won't
work with it for a few more months ,
However... I was having problems with SP2 and disconnects, and the WRT54G
has version 3.03.6 firmware now, so you may want to update it (free and
easy)

For both the new firmware and installer for it, go to:

http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=201

Firmware Upgrade For

WRT54G - Wireless-G Broadband Router v2

Firmware Date : 1/3/2005
Firmware File Size : Varies
Firmware Version : 3.03.6

Click here to download the firmware upgrade files.

Click here to download the Auto Upgrade Utility.

Click here to view the Version Information File.
==================================

I don't know if it will fix your problem, but if you are thinking of going
to SP2, I would highly recommend it. So maybe it's worth doing just to be
sure...

"Peter Pan" wrote:

> I was having problems with SP2 and disconnects, and
> the WRT54G has version 3.03.6 firmware now, so you
> may want to update it (free and easy)

Does this version of the WRT54G firmware include support (in the
setup web screens) for specifying an NTP (time) server address?

Linksys dropped the ability to specify the time server in firmware
version 1.41.2. I have absolutely no idea why they took this out.
After much effort, I managed to get someone in Linksys tech support
to understand what I was talking about when I reported this issue,
but I couldn't get any assurance at all that it would ever be fixed.

It's important for the wireless router to have an accurate sense of
time; otherwise, features such as time-based access restrictions
become useless.

The time server issue, BTW, wasn't (and still isn't) mentioned at
all in the revision notes for the WRT54G's firmware on the Linksys
web site.

Unless Linksys has added the ability to specify the time server
address in their newer WRT54G firmware, I'm sticking with 1.30.7.

Getting back to my original question, though: Is there a strong
reason to think that the WRT54G's firmware would have anything at
all to do with my TiVo / WUSB11 connectivity problem? Remember,
again, that everything was working just fine -- and completely
solidly -- until shortly after my TiVo got the software upgrade.
I'm still inclined to think that the new TiVo code is somehow
mishandling the WUSB11 in such a way as to shut down the WRT54G,
but is there any plausible way for this to be happening?

Rich Wales (E-Mail Removed) http://www.richw.org

Rich Wales wrote:
>
> Does this version of the WRT54G firmware include support (in the
> setup web screens) for specifying an NTP (time) server address?
>
> Linksys dropped the ability to specify the time server in firmware
> version 1.41.2. I have absolutely no idea why they took this out.
> After much effort, I managed to get someone in Linksys tech support
> to understand what I was talking about when I reported this issue,
> but I couldn't get any assurance at all that it would ever be fixed.
>
> It's important for the wireless router to have an accurate sense of
> time; otherwise, features such as time-based access restrictions
> become useless.
>
> The time server issue, BTW, wasn't (and still isn't) mentioned at
> all in the revision notes for the WRT54G's firmware on the Linksys
> web site.
>
> Unless Linksys has added the ability to specify the time server
> address in their newer WRT54G firmware, I'm sticking with 1.30.7.
>
>
> Rich Wales (E-Mail Removed) http://www.richw.org

Not sure what that did or why you want to use it.. It has a built in clock,
I use that for access restirctions based on time.. What does the external
one give you?

From your time based access restrictions comment, Under access
restrictions - (by policy) there is a section for times.
If you have a named policy, (I have one named "work") you can set it to only
work at certain times
(same section as things like MAC addresses, called "internet Access",
but it's really Wap/Router/etc access too (just named wrong, for one thing
instead of many)

Rich Wales wrote:
>
> Getting back to my original question, though: Is there a strong
> reason to think that the WRT54G's firmware would have anything at
> all to do with my TiVo / WUSB11 connectivity problem? Remember,
> again, that everything was working just fine -- and completely
> solidly -- until shortly after my TiVo got the software upgrade.
> I'm still inclined to think that the new TiVo code is somehow
> mishandling the WUSB11 in such a way as to shut down the WRT54G,
> but is there any plausible way for this to be happening?
>
> Rich Wales (E-Mail Removed) http://www.richw.org

As I said, I have a toshiba DVR and it won't be added until later this year,
but I have had all sorts of intermitent connectivity with
desktops/notebooks/pda's atc, and all but one were fixed by updating the
firmware.

Don't know if any of the changes apply to you, but if the time thing is all
that is stopping you from pgrading, you may want to look at other option for
the time server thing.

Here's the changes though since 1.30.7
....
Linksys, A division of Cisco Systems, Inc.

Product: WRT54G

Classification: Firmware Release History

Firmware Date: 1/3/2005

Release Date: 1/28/2005

Last Firmware Version: 3.03.6
__________________________________________________ ________________________
Firmware 3.03.6
- Supports hardware version 3
- Updated help file

Firmware 3.03.1
- Wi-Fi certified

Firmware 3.01.3
- Updated wireless driver
- Supports hardware version 2.2 (cannot downgrade to previous versions)
- Resolves issue with VoIP adapters
- Resolves issue with long domain names

Firmware 2.04.4
- Updated wireless driver
- Updated certificate generation for https access

Firmware 2.04.3
- Resolves issue with disabling firewall
- Added QoS function
- Added Port Triggering function
- Added L2TP option for WAN connection type
- Added ability to back up and restore configuration files
- Added Wireless isolation function
- Added ability to filter internal NAT redirection
- Added ability to restrict access to web GUI from wireless clients
- Added ability to filter IDENT port 113
- Resolves issue with HeartBeat WAN connection
- Added support for 40/56bit cipher to support old browsers to use https
- Resolves issue with PPTP passthrough
- Changed WPA Group Key renewal time range to 600~7200 seconds
- Added IGMP proxy support
- Added ability to allow web GUI access only through https or http


Firmware 2.02.2
- Updated wireless driver to support all versions of WRT54G hardware
- Adds support to allow WAP54G connect as a repeater
- CTS protection mode set to disable by default to improve wireless
performance in normal environments
- Resolved issue where the WLAN LED stays on even when wireless is disabled
- Resolved security vulnerability causing the web server in the router to
crash

Firmware 2.00.8 (WRT54G v.2 only)
- Updated wireless driver

Firmware Version 1.42.2
- Updated wireless driver to 3.31.15
- Added URL and contents filters
- Added L2TP passthrough
- Added HeartBeat Signal support
- Resolved issue with Connect on Demand

Firmware Version 1.41.2
- Updated GUI format and layout

"Peter Pan" wrote:

> Not sure what that did or why you want to use it.. It has a
> built in clock, I use that for access restrictions based on
> time.. What does the external one give you?

An external time server allows the clock in the router to remain
accurate by periodically synchronizing the router's internal clock
with a reliable, reachable external source.

Without an NTP server, the router's internal clock will inevitably
drift and show something very different from the actual time.

NTP is an Internet standard protocol for clock synchronization.
If you're not familiar with what NTP is or why people should care
about it, the web page (http://www.ntp.org) may be helpful.

It's important for the user to have the ability to choose the NTP
server for a device to synchronize to. If a router is being used
as part of a local network, the sysadmin should set up a local
NTP server for the LAN and have the router sync to the local server
rather than go off to some external NTP server.

The last time I checked, Linksys' current firmware for the WRT54G
was using four hard-coded NTP server IP addresses -- two of which
were in Taiwan, and one of which was no longer on the Internet at
all. And there was no way for the user to pick a server (including
supplying a host name or IP address for a different server of his
own choice) -- this ability was in 1.30.7 but was removed later.

If Peter's router's clock is keeping reliable time, then I would
assume it's picking on one of these hard-coded NTP servers. More
discussion on why this is (or isn't) a Bad Thing would properly
belong in the "comp.protocols.time.ntp" newsgroup.

Rich Wales (E-Mail Removed) http://www.richw.org