Re: Linksys BEFW11S4 - Disable SSID Broadcast

"Bob Hall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> I have a BEFW11S4 v3.2. Whenever I disable SSID broacast, neither of my
> laptops can connect automatically.

That interesting. I'm using the BEFW11S4 V2 (firmware 1.42.7). I have SSID
broadcast disabled, plus 128-bit WEP and MAC filtering enabled.
My two wireless connections are, WPC11 on Windows XP Pro and WUSB11 V2.6 on
Windows98SE.
Both clients connect just fine and stay connected until I remove power.
A key thing to check in the wireless settings on the router. Do you have
auth type set to default? I found that to make a big difference.
Also, one other item too is, I am not using the DHCP server. All PC have
static IP Addresses (that are not 192.168.1.x) - I prefer to have the LAN
PCs at known IP Address and I can't see to control that on the DHCP server.
Might check these two items out.

"neo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:CWoRa.6535$(E-Mail Removed).. .
>
> That interesting. I'm using the BEFW11S4 V2 (firmware 1.42.7). I have SSID
> broadcast disabled, plus 128-bit WEP and MAC filtering enabled.
> My two wireless connections are, WPC11 on Windows XP Pro and WUSB11 V2.6
on
> Windows98SE.

My router is V3.2 and my WPC11 is V4. All computers run Win2k SP4.

> A key thing to check in the wireless settings on the router. Do you have
> auth type set to default? I found that to make a big difference.

As a matter of fact, it was set to default. I changed it to "Shared Key"
(using the laptop with the WPC11 V4). The connection dropped and then
quickly re-established.

Then I turned SSID broadcast off. The connection dropped and stayed down.
I tried to force the connection by selecting my home profile, but got no
joy. Had to go over to my desktop to re-enable SSID broadcast. Up jumped
the connection to the laptop.

> Also, one other item too is, I am not using the DHCP server. All PC have
> static IP Addresses (that are not 192.168.1.x) - I prefer to have the LAN
> PCs at known IP Address and I can't see to control that on the DHCP
server.
> Might check these two items out.

I'm using DHCP. I really don't have much choice. The other laptop (with a
built-in Prism 2.5 card) belongs to work. It's set up for DHCP and I'm not
going to mess around with it's network settings. That laptop "pays the
bills".

One thing... I have only set the first WEP key (128-bit). I don't
understand what the other 3 keys are used for.

Thanks for giving it a shot!

neo <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I prefer to have the LAN
> PCs at known IP Address and I can't see to control that on the DHCP server.

I set the DHCP lease expiration to "never". My PCs always have the same IP
addresses, unless I reboot the router. Then I typically power them on in
the same order, so they get the same addresses again.




--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

"Bob Hall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "neo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:CWoRa.6535$(E-Mail Removed).. .
> >
> > That interesting. I'm using the BEFW11S4 V2 (firmware 1.42.7). I have
SSID
> > broadcast disabled, plus 128-bit WEP and MAC filtering enabled.
> > My two wireless connections are, WPC11 on Windows XP Pro and WUSB11 V2.6
> on
> > Windows98SE.
>
> My router is V3.2 and my WPC11 is V4. All computers run Win2k SP4.
>
> As a matter of fact, it was set to default. I changed it to "Shared Key"
> (using the laptop with the WPC11 V4). The connection dropped and then
> quickly re-established.
>
> Then I turned SSID broadcast off. The connection dropped and stayed down.
> I tried to force the connection by selecting my home profile, but got no
> joy. Had to go over to my desktop to re-enable SSID broadcast. Up jumped
> the connection to the laptop.

Try setting DTIM (temporarily) from 1 to 3 to see if that makes SSID
Broadcast disabled work.
That's another difference I just saw in later versions that Linksys is
defaulting to. Also, if your neighbor is interfering with your network you
might want to change the channel to something other than 6. On the wireless
cards, do you have Enable IEEE 802.1x auth... checked. If so, uncheck that
unless you really are using the Smart Card or other Certificate.

>
> I'm using DHCP. I really don't have much choice. The other laptop (with
a
> built-in Prism 2.5 card) belongs to work. It's set up for DHCP and I'm
not
> going to mess around with it's network settings. That laptop "pays the
> bills".
>
Not sure if Windows 2K has this but, in XP if you TCP to get IP
automatically, alternate IP address appears where you can set a alternate IP
address to fall back on when there is no DHCP server present.

Good Luck.

"neo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eNARa.40240$(E-Mail Removed) ...
>
> Try setting DTIM (temporarily) from 1 to 3 to see if that makes SSID
> Broadcast disabled work.
> That's another difference I just saw in later versions that Linksys is
> defaulting to.

I tried it, but again "no joy". The only way it works is to manually tell
it to connect to the nameless signal. Then a screen pops up for me to enter
the WEP key. If I do that, it'll work for that session. The next time I
reboot, we start all over.

Once, I deleted my home profile and manually connected. Once it was up &
working, I saved it to a profile. No help there, either.

>Also, if your neighbor is interfering with your network you
> might want to change the channel to something other than 6. On the
wireless
> cards, do you have Enable IEEE 802.1x auth... checked. If so, uncheck that
> unless you really are using the Smart Card or other Certificate.

Before I set up my router, I "sniffed" around with my laptop. If I go to
the front of the house, I can find one signal on channel 6 with a SSID of
"linksys". My router is set to channel 1, just in case.

> Not sure if Windows 2K has this but, in XP if you TCP to get IP
> automatically, alternate IP address appears where you can set a alternate
IP
> address to fall back on when there is no DHCP server present.

I've been using Win2K since before it came out, but never found that option.
Sounds very handy.

"DRLev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:fEDRa.67278$(E-Mail Removed). ..
> If you go to the Network Settings in the Control Panel and display the
> adapter's properties you should see an "Advanced" tab. Or if you
> cannot access the Adapter properties there you can get to them through
> the Device Manager in the Control Panel's System > Hardware settings
>
> Once you find the Advanced tab you can manually define the WEP Key(s).
> Just remember to tell the adapter to use the same WEP key as the gateway
> uses. You can also define the SSID in the same area.

That would probably work for my personal laptop, but my work laptop needs to
be able to connect at home, at work, and on the road. As it stands right
now, I can live with SSID broadcast and everything works without any
"fiddling with the works". It's not like disabling SSID broadcast will gain
anything security-wise. As I said in an earlier post, I like things to work
as advertised.

> The wireless adapter configuration utility software varies between
manufacturers
> as to it's ability to interface with different WAP manufacturers products.
This
> is not the fault of the adapter software, they have no idea which WAP you
will be
> using.

Now that's something I can understand, but the WPC11 is made (or at least
sold) by Linksys also. Actually, the router & PC card came in the same box.

I appreciate everyone's efforts at helping me (and a few others, evidently)
try to fix it. I have a feeling someone is going to hit the right
combination, soon. I'm kind of enjoying this give-and-take.

Bob

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 04:43:54 +0000, dol wrote:

> I set the DHCP lease expiration to "never". My PCs always have the same IP
> addresses, unless I reboot the router. Then I typically power them on in
> the same order, so they get the same addresses again.

If you care about your WAP's security, you'd disable DHCP entirely.

John Doe <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 04:43:54 +0000, dol wrote:

>> I set the DHCP lease expiration to "never". My PCs always have the same IP
>> addresses, unless I reboot the router. Then I typically power them on in
>> the same order, so they get the same addresses again.

> If you care about your WAP's security, you'd disable DHCP entirely.

Ah, but I don't ;-)
It's wide open.
Disabling DHCP would be annoying, as I connect to other WAPs with DHCP
almost as often as I connect to my own.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 19:04:17 +0100, David Taylor wrote:

> If I
> can associate with the AP and sniff, I can see the IP addresses in use
> and configure locally.

The point is, you can't associated with the WAP, if secured properly,
without the right MAC address (good luck "guessing" at that), the right
WEP key (again, good luck guessing), and the ESSID (which should be
rotated regularly anyway). All you'll find is a dead AP, whether or not
you know the IP addressing used on that WAP or not.

Enabling DHCP is just one more piece of the cracking puzzle you don't
want to give people trying to get into your AP. Disabling it closes that
down one notch tighter.

Just dismissing it because of your ignorance, doesn't make it less
secure.

> The point is, you can't associated with the WAP, if secured properly,
> without the right MAC address (good luck "guessing" at that), the right

Yes I agree.

> Enabling DHCP is just one more piece of the cracking puzzle you don't
> want to give people trying to get into your AP. Disabling it closes that
> down one notch tighter.
>
> Just dismissing it because of your ignorance, doesn't make it less
> secure.

What part of this do you think I am ignorant on? I have no ignorance on
this, once I can associate and have the key (if there is one) just how
hard do you think it is to sniff and determine an IP address?!

Not giving out an IP address is NOT a security feature unless the
existing addresses are presently in use and hence claimed and there are
policies such as via IPSec to filter out any other addresses that might
be added to the network. But then if i'm going to use IPSec, I might as
well configure IPSec in full!

You don't own my PC and can't prevent me via policy from setting an IP
address, that's where your ignorance lies.

Having got past any other security, (if anyone can actually be bothered
and here in the domestic world, I'd query this), setting an IP address
is really trivial.

You might as well leave DHCP on for convenvience and just rotate the WEP
keys regularly to prevent associations.

David.