Problem with Windows XP Wireless Networking

I have a home network with an D-Link ADSL modem router and a Belkin
54g Router configured as a Wireless Access Point.
I connect my computer (windows XP) to the network via a Linksys
WMP-54G PCI wireless adapter. As advised in the instructions am using
Windows Wireless Zero Configuration instead of Linksys software.

I have a really annoying problem with the connection momentarily
dropping out every few minutes (it doesn't reconnect until you click
the "wireless connection detected" callout from the system tray, which
pops up immediately the connection is dropped).

I have worked out a workaround which is a bit of a pain. When the
computer boots up there is no network connection found. I go into the
network connection dialog and enable "Allow Windows to manage the
network connection". Then I wait a few seconds and it sets up the
network connection ok. Then I go back in and disable the tickbox. The
connection stays open and now it doesn't drop out.

This must be a known problem and I'm hoping someone else has been able
to solve it in a more satisfactory way.

Linksys support have been no help - they've tried to blame
interference, wrong settings on the belkin access point, or a poor
signal.
I have proved fairly conclusively that it's none of these, because I
have a laptop (Win 2k) with wireless access. When placed on the same
desk this connects to the router and works fine and the connection
never drops. Also when I turn off windows managing my connection on
the XP machine the connection never drops. Unfortunately it never
connects.

Does anyone have any help, tips or advice?
Has anyone else experienced this.

Your help is greatly appreciated.
Regards
Alex Bowyer
(E-Mail Removed)

Alex Bowyer wrote:
> I have a home network with an D-Link ADSL modem router and a Belkin
> 54g Router configured as a Wireless Access Point.
> I connect my computer (windows XP) to the network via a Linksys
> WMP-54G PCI wireless adapter. As advised in the instructions am using
> Windows Wireless Zero Configuration instead of Linksys software.
>
> I have a really annoying problem with the connection momentarily
> dropping out every few minutes (it doesn't reconnect until you click
> the "wireless connection detected" callout from the system tray, which
> pops up immediately the connection is dropped).
>
> I have worked out a workaround which is a bit of a pain. When the
> computer boots up there is no network connection found. I go into the
> network connection dialog and enable "Allow Windows to manage the
> network connection". Then I wait a few seconds and it sets up the
> network connection ok. Then I go back in and disable the tickbox. The
> connection stays open and now it doesn't drop out.
>
> This must be a known problem and I'm hoping someone else has been able
> to solve it in a more satisfactory way.
>
> Linksys support have been no help - they've tried to blame
> interference, wrong settings on the belkin access point, or a poor
> signal.
> I have proved fairly conclusively that it's none of these, because I
> have a laptop (Win 2k) with wireless access. When placed on the same
> desk this connects to the router and works fine and the connection
> never drops. Also when I turn off windows managing my connection on
> the XP machine the connection never drops. Unfortunately it never
> connects.
>
> Does anyone have any help, tips or advice?
> Has anyone else experienced this.
>
> Your help is greatly appreciated.
> Regards
> Alex Bowyer
> (E-Mail Removed)
I think that when you start 'Wireless Zero Configuration' service, you
should probably also let Windows manage the connection. That's what I do
and I experience no problems.

Unless you are using WPA encryption, insure that 'Enable IEEE 802.1x
authentication for this network' is turned off. (Select the connection,
click the 'Configure' button, select the 'Authentication' tab).

Alex Bowyer wrote:
> I have a home network with an D-Link ADSL modem router and a Belkin
> 54g Router configured as a Wireless Access Point.
> I connect my computer (windows XP) to the network via a Linksys
> WMP-54G PCI wireless adapter. As advised in the instructions am using
> Windows Wireless Zero Configuration instead of Linksys software.
>
> I have a really annoying problem with the connection momentarily
> dropping out every few minutes (it doesn't reconnect until you click
> the "wireless connection detected" callout from the system tray, which
> pops up immediately the connection is dropped).
>
> I have worked out a workaround which is a bit of a pain. When the
> computer boots up there is no network connection found. I go into the
> network connection dialog and enable "Allow Windows to manage the
> network connection". Then I wait a few seconds and it sets up the
> network connection ok. Then I go back in and disable the tickbox. The
> connection stays open and now it doesn't drop out.
>
> This must be a known problem and I'm hoping someone else has been able
> to solve it in a more satisfactory way.
>
> Linksys support have been no help - they've tried to blame
> interference, wrong settings on the belkin access point, or a poor
> signal.
> I have proved fairly conclusively that it's none of these, because I
> have a laptop (Win 2k) with wireless access. When placed on the same
> desk this connects to the router and works fine and the connection
> never drops. Also when I turn off windows managing my connection on
> the XP machine the connection never drops. Unfortunately it never
> connects.
>
> Does anyone have any help, tips or advice?
> Has anyone else experienced this.
>
> Your help is greatly appreciated.
> Regards
> Alex Bowyer
> (E-Mail Removed)

Dropping connections is an artificact of having 802.11x authentication
checked.

It also happens when there are competing wireless networks in the area
and XP just wants to hunt them up on your behalf. You can exercise some
control over this by removing any connection other than your own from
the preferred networks list, and on the advance button uncheck
Automatically connect to non-preferred networks. You know, if the
networks are non-preferred, why would I want to connect anyway?

If you have SSID broadcast disabled, some have reported that WZC will
have problems maintaining a connection. I don't, but if your problems
persist, you might broadcast if you don't currently.

Lastly, you are entirely free to set the parameters of your wireless
card manually in device manager and uncheck WZC. If you want WPA then
this won't work for you. It is an option if you continue to have
problems with WZC.

Q

(E-Mail Removed) (Alex Bowyer) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
> I have a really annoying problem with the connection momentarily
> dropping out every few minutes (it doesn't reconnect until you click
> the "wireless connection detected" callout from the system tray, which
> pops up immediately the connection is dropped).
> [...]

Thank you Jerry and Q for your responses. Let me address them in turn.

Jerry wrote:
> I think that when you start 'Wireless Zero Configuration' service, you
> should probably also let Windows manage the connection. That's what I do
> and I experience no problems.

I don't start "Wireless Zero Configuration" service, at least not
myself... so not sure what you mean by this. I thought Wireless Zero
Configuration was just the name for the software that comes with XP to
handle the wireless connections. ie. the bit you get when you double
click the icon in the system tray. In any case, you may well
experience no problems, but as I explained, I do! If I make "let
Windows manage my connection" stay selected then my connection drops
off.. if I don't, it doesn't! So this is the problem not the solution!

> Unless you are using WPA encryption, insure that 'Enable IEEE 802.1x
> authentication for this network' is turned off. (Select the connection,
> click the 'Configure' button, select the 'Authentication' tab).

I don't know what WPA is, but I do use WEP encryption therefore I do
not think this solution will work. I will double check and report back
though.

Quaoar wrote:
> Dropping connections is an artificact of having 802.11x authentication
> checked.

As above, surely I need this as the network is WEP-encrypted? I will
double check though.

> It also happens when there are competing wireless networks in the area
> and XP just wants to hunt them up on your behalf. You can exercise some
> control over this by removing any connection other than your own from
> the preferred networks list, and on the advance button uncheck
> Automatically connect to non-preferred networks. You know, if the
> networks are non-preferred, why would I want to connect anyway?

Sorry, I forgot to mention, there are no other networks in range.
Besides which, the fact that my connection has never once dropped off
on my laptop when located at the same desk, shows that this is a
software problem.

> If you have SSID broadcast disabled, some have reported that WZC will
> have problems maintaining a connection. I don't, but if your problems
> persist, you might broadcast if you don't currently.

I am highly reluctant to go changing settings on the access point -
since my laptop can connect fine it stands to reason that everything
is in order on the access point. This must be a client software
problem.

> Lastly, you are entirely free to set the parameters of your wireless
> card manually in device manager and uncheck WZC. If you want WPA then
> this won't work for you. It is an option if you continue to have
> problems with WZC.

Again, I don't know what you mean by WPA, however, surely if I disable
WZC then I won't even be able to connect in the first place. Perhaps
you could give me some more details about this proposed solution.

Thanks for your help so far, I hope you or others can provide further
guidance.

Regards
Alex Bowyer

Alex Bowyer wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) (Alex Bowyer) wrote in message
> news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
>> I have a really annoying problem with the connection momentarily
>> dropping out every few minutes (it doesn't reconnect until you click
>> the "wireless connection detected" callout from the system tray,
>> which pops up immediately the connection is dropped).
>> [...]
>
> Thank you Jerry and Q for your responses. Let me address them in turn.
>
> Jerry wrote:
>> I think that when you start 'Wireless Zero Configuration' service,
>> you should probably also let Windows manage the connection. That's
>> what I do and I experience no problems.
>
> I don't start "Wireless Zero Configuration" service, at least not
> myself... so not sure what you mean by this. I thought Wireless Zero
> Configuration was just the name for the software that comes with XP to
> handle the wireless connections. ie. the bit you get when you double
> click the icon in the system tray. In any case, you may well
> experience no problems, but as I explained, I do! If I make "let
> Windows manage my connection" stay selected then my connection drops
> off.. if I don't, it doesn't! So this is the problem not the solution!
>
>> Unless you are using WPA encryption, insure that 'Enable IEEE 802.1x
>> authentication for this network' is turned off. (Select the
>> connection, click the 'Configure' button, select the
>> 'Authentication' tab).
>
> I don't know what WPA is, but I do use WEP encryption therefore I do
> not think this solution will work. I will double check and report back
> though.
>
> Quaoar wrote:
>> Dropping connections is an artificact of having 802.11x
>> authentication checked.
>
> As above, surely I need this as the network is WEP-encrypted? I will
> double check though.
>
>> It also happens when there are competing wireless networks in the
>> area and XP just wants to hunt them up on your behalf. You can
>> exercise some control over this by removing any connection other
>> than your own from the preferred networks list, and on the advance
>> button uncheck Automatically connect to non-preferred networks.
>> You know, if the networks are non-preferred, why would I want to
>> connect anyway?
>
> Sorry, I forgot to mention, there are no other networks in range.
> Besides which, the fact that my connection has never once dropped off
> on my laptop when located at the same desk, shows that this is a
> software problem.
>
>> If you have SSID broadcast disabled, some have reported that WZC will
>> have problems maintaining a connection. I don't, but if your
>> problems persist, you might broadcast if you don't currently.
>
> I am highly reluctant to go changing settings on the access point -
> since my laptop can connect fine it stands to reason that everything
> is in order on the access point. This must be a client software
> problem.
>
>> Lastly, you are entirely free to set the parameters of your wireless
>> card manually in device manager and uncheck WZC. If you want WPA
>> then this won't work for you. It is an option if you continue to
>> have problems with WZC.
>
> Again, I don't know what you mean by WPA, however, surely if I disable
> WZC then I won't even be able to connect in the first place. Perhaps
> you could give me some more details about this proposed solution.
>
> Thanks for your help so far, I hope you or others can provide further
> guidance.
>
> Regards
> Alex Bowyer

802.11x authentication requires a dedicated authentication server, which
most of us do not have. If this is turned on, the signal does not drop
but the authenticating device does not get a response from the server
and turns off the connection thinking no one is home. You do not want
this on normally. WEP doesn not authenticate that you are who you say
you are. It simply decodes the signal since both the router and the
computer have the encryption key.

Q