sometimes no DNS on wireless laptop from USR8054

Hi,

I am trying out this new USR8054 router (and comparing it againt
D-Link's DI-524). I have a Linux Debian computer connected to the router
with a CAT5 cable and a Windows XP (fully updated, except SP2) connects
to the router wireless (Inspiron 5160 with a Broadcom 1350 Wireless card).

Sometimes, when the laptop wakes up from hibernation, it seems not to
get any DNS server address. Ping works to LAN as well as outside. Ping
outside IP addresses works but pinging URLs fails.

I have tried disabeling the wireless card and re-enabling it. No luck. I
have tried restarting networking service in XP, no luck. Restarting dhcp
client is also no luck. I also rebooted the router, without luck. The
only thing that seems to work is rebooting the laptop.

And when everything is working fine, I notice that the laptop sees
192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) as the DNS as well as the gateway.

Anybody else have this problem? Any suggestions?

thanks,
->HS
--
Please remove the underscores ( the '_' symbols) from my email address
to obtain the correct one. Apologies, but the fudging is to remove spam.

H. S. wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> I am trying out this new USR8054 router (and comparing it againt
> D-Link's DI-524). I have a Linux Debian computer connected to the router
> with a CAT5 cable and a Windows XP (fully updated, except SP2) connects
> to the router wireless (Inspiron 5160 with a Broadcom 1350 Wireless card).
>
> Sometimes, when the laptop wakes up from hibernation, it seems not to
> get any DNS server address. Ping works to LAN as well as outside. Ping
> outside IP addresses works but pinging URLs fails.
>
> I have tried disabeling the wireless card and re-enabling it. No luck. I
> have tried restarting networking service in XP, no luck. Restarting dhcp
> client is also no luck. I also rebooted the router, without luck. The
> only thing that seems to work is rebooting the laptop.
>
> And when everything is working fine, I notice that the laptop sees
> 192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) as the DNS as well as the gateway.
>
> Anybody else have this problem? Any suggestions?
>
> thanks,
> ->HS

What's content of /etc/resolv.conf when the DNS lookups are failing?

Thomas

Apparently, _Thomas Krüger_, on 01/01/05 13:39,typed:
> H. S. wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I am trying out this new USR8054 router (and comparing it againt
>>D-Link's DI-524). I have a Linux Debian computer connected to the router
>>with a CAT5 cable and a Windows XP (fully updated, except SP2) connects
>>to the router wireless (Inspiron 5160 with a Broadcom 1350 Wireless card).
>>
>>Sometimes, when the laptop wakes up from hibernation, it seems not to
>>get any DNS server address. Ping works to LAN as well as outside. Ping
>>outside IP addresses works but pinging URLs fails.
>>
>>I have tried disabeling the wireless card and re-enabling it. No luck. I
>>have tried restarting networking service in XP, no luck. Restarting dhcp
>>client is also no luck. I also rebooted the router, without luck. The
>>only thing that seems to work is rebooting the laptop.
>>
>>And when everything is working fine, I notice that the laptop sees
>>192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) as the DNS as well as the gateway.
>>
>>Anybody else have this problem? Any suggestions?
>>
>>thanks,
>>->HS
>
>
> What's content of /etc/resolv.conf when the DNS lookups are failing?
>
> Thomas


er .. in Windows XP? I am not even sure there is a /etc/ in WinXP. As
far as the wired Linux computers are concerned, they are working
properly. Actually, the wired computer have had solid connections on
both USR8054 as well as DI-524.

regards,
->HS

--
Please remove the underscores ( the '_' symbols) from my email address
to obtain the correct one. Apologies, but the fudging is to remove spam.

H. S. wrote:

> er .. in Windows XP? I am not even sure there is a /etc/ in WinXP. As
> far as the wired Linux computers are concerned, they are working
> properly. Actually, the wired computer have had solid connections on
> both USR8054 as well as DI-524.

Sorry, I was reading too fast... :-/

Thomas

On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:27:46 -0500, "H. S."
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I am trying out this new USR8054 router (and comparing it againt
>D-Link's DI-524). I have a Linux Debian computer connected to the router
>with a CAT5 cable and a Windows XP (fully updated, except SP2)

"Fully updated", without XP SP2 is a contradiction. I suggest you
finish the job by installing XP SP2 and subsequent band-aids. EVERY
Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop I've ordered came with SP2 pre-installed.
What happened that inspired you to reload XP from scratch and not
bother to bring it up to at least the way it was shipped?

>connects
>to the router wireless (Inspiron 5160 with a Broadcom 1350 Wireless card).

Nice laptop. Watch out for the odd power connector coming from the
giant brick size power supply. At the laptop end, the cable is too
small, does not have much of a strain relief, and will break the tiny
center wire if you bend the cable at a right angle to the connector.

>Sometimes, when the laptop wakes up from hibernation, it seems not to
>get any DNS server address. Ping works to LAN as well as outside. Ping
>outside IP addresses works but pinging URLs fails.

OK. DNS on your XP laptop has a problem. I'll assume that the Debian
box is working normally with it's LAN connection.

1. If your client radio hasn't been active for a while, the initial
DNS lookup when it comes alive may fail due to timing collisions with
startup delays. With DNS, it may switch to the secondary DNS server
and not return to the primary for a while. If the secondary is bogus,
dead, or my favorite problem, mistyped, it will continue to return
"host knot found" errors for a while.

2. Are you using a very short DHCP lease time? If so, when your
computah goes into power save, the router drops the entry because the
lease has not been renewed. On wakeup, some clients seem to forget to
renew the lease. It's easy enough on Windoze using:
ipconfig /renew or ipconfig /registerdns
You might also wanna check what the router is reporting for DHCP
using:
http://www.weird-solutions.com/download/demo.html
See the free DHCP Query Tool at the bottom for Windoze and various
Linux mutations.

3. XP's Wireless Zero Config sometime conflicts with the stock
wireless drivers. Since my guess(tm) is that you've reinstalled the
OS from an XP disk that was not the Dell "Windoze Recovery" joke of a
disk, methinks you may have screwed something up in the wireless
driver or system install. If you're using some driver for the
wireless card that you downloaded from the Dell web pile, you may
wanna try disabling (not removing) Wireless Zero Config in:
Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Services
and see if it helps. Also, try disabling any type of power saving
features in the wireless device configuration.

4. Back to DHCP issues. One problem I've seen with XP is that I get
IP addresses, the gateway, but no DNS. I've seen this on 4 machines
so far and have not found a reliable fix. It's the result of a
partial spyware removal and/or a roll back of XP SP2 to the previous
state. If you run:
ipconfig /all | more
you'll notice that the DNS server entries are missing. I can kludge a
fix by inserting the DNS servers into the network configuration and
leave the IP and gateway to be 'server assigned'. If I run the above
DHCP Query Tool on one of these machines, it reports back DNS server
entries, but XP fails to configure them for some reason. If anyone
finds a fix for this, I would be very interested.

>I have tried disabeling the wireless card and re-enabling it. No luck. I
>have tried restarting networking service in XP, no luck.

Well, try the simpler test of:
ipconfig /release
(wait about 10 seconds)
ipconfig /renew
Duz that work?

>Restarting dhcp
>client is also no luck.

That won't help because restarting the client does not initiate a DHCP
renewal request.

>I also rebooted the router, without luck. The
>only thing that seems to work is rebooting the laptop.

Well, try to create the problem. Put the laptop into Hibrinate mode.
Wait a while. Bring it back from the sleep of the dead. Does it work
or does it have the same problem? If so, I don't have a clue what to
suggest. Something in the wireless driver isn't working right. Check
driver versions for something later?

>And when everything is working fine, I notice that the laptop sees
>192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) as the DNS as well as the gateway.

That's normal. Most modern routers have built in DNS caches to speed
up repetative lookups.

>Anybody else have this problem? Any suggestions?
>
>thanks,
>->HS

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Apparently, _Thomas Krüger_, on 01/01/05 13:39,typed:
> H. S. wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I am trying out this new USR8054 router (and comparing it againt
>>D-Link's DI-524). I have a Linux Debian computer connected to the router
>>with a CAT5 cable and a Windows XP (fully updated, except SP2) connects
>>to the router wireless (Inspiron 5160 with a Broadcom 1350 Wireless card).
>>
>>Sometimes, when the laptop wakes up from hibernation, it seems not to
>>get any DNS server address. Ping works to LAN as well as outside. Ping
>>outside IP addresses works but pinging URLs fails.
>>
>>I have tried disabeling the wireless card and re-enabling it. No luck. I
>>have tried restarting networking service in XP, no luck. Restarting dhcp
>>client is also no luck. I also rebooted the router, without luck. The
>>only thing that seems to work is rebooting the laptop.
>>
>>And when everything is working fine, I notice that the laptop sees
>>192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) as the DNS as well as the gateway.
>>
>>Anybody else have this problem? Any suggestions?
>>
>>thanks,
>>->HS
>
>
> What's content of /etc/resolv.conf when the DNS lookups are failing?
>
> Thomas

In my Linux machine, I have Bell Sympatico DNS servers. When I uncomment
them, no DNS in this machine too (as expected). If I mention just
192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) in /etc/resolv.conf as a
nameserver, then URLs work just fine in the Linux machine. So there, the
router's LAN IP address seems to be working fine as a nameserver. BTW,
the Linux computer, wired to USR8054, has a static IP address.

The Windows XP laptop is a DHCP client in my LAN. In this client, upon
waking up from hibernation, the USR8054 LAN IP is listed as the DNS
server, which all good and dandy. But URLs do not work in Windows XP.

->HS


--
Please remove the underscores ( the '_' symbols) from my email address
to obtain the correct one. Apologies, but the fudging is to remove spam.

Apparently, _Jeff Liebermann_, on 01/01/05 16:07,typed:
> "Fully updated", without XP SP2 is a contradiction. I suggest you

What I meant was: Except SP2, all other updates are installed.


> finish the job by installing XP SP2 and subsequent band-aids. EVERY

I might, soon. I updated another of my LAN computers (dual boots with
Debain Sid) and have had no problems so far. So I might 'finish the job'
soon.


> Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop I've ordered came with SP2 pre-installed.

This particular did not.



> What happened that inspired you to reload XP from scratch and not
> bother to bring it up to at least the way it was shipped?


- Upgraded to XP Professional.
- Needed my own partitioning to dual boot it with Debian Sid.



> OK. DNS on your XP laptop has a problem. I'll assume that the Debian
> box is working normally with it's LAN connection.

The Debian box had my ISP nameservers in it's /etc/resolv.conf. I
changed them to router's LAN IP and it was working fine. So router's DNS
seems to be working okay as far as wired connections are concerned.


>
> 1. If your client radio hasn't been active for a while, the initial
> DNS lookup when it comes alive may fail due to timing collisions with
> startup delays. With DNS, it may switch to the secondary DNS server
> and not return to the primary for a while. If the secondary is bogus,
> dead, or my favorite problem, mistyped, it will continue to return
> "host knot found" errors for a while.
>
> 2. Are you using a very short DHCP lease time? If so, when your


7 days at present. But I have tried with 1 day period as well.


> computah goes into power save, the router drops the entry because the
> lease has not been renewed. On wakeup, some clients seem to forget to
> renew the lease. It's easy enough on Windoze using:
> ipconfig /renew or ipconfig /registerdns


I tried the 'ipconfig /release' and 'ipconfig /renew'. Will try
'ipconfig /registerdns'.



> You might also wanna check what the router is reporting for DHCP
> using:
> http://www.weird-solutions.com/download/demo.html
> See the free DHCP Query Tool at the bottom for Windoze and various
> Linux mutations.


Okay, Will try.



> 3. XP's Wireless Zero Config sometime conflicts with the stock
> wireless drivers. Since my guess(tm) is that you've reinstalled the
> OS from an XP disk that was not the Dell "Windoze Recovery" joke of a

Your guess is correct.


> disk, methinks you may have screwed something up in the wireless
> driver or system install. If you're using some driver for the
> wireless card that you downloaded from the Dell web pile, you may

I did.


> wanna try disabling (not removing) Wireless Zero Config in:
> Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Services


Okay, will try this.



> and see if it helps. Also, try disabling any type of power saving
> features in the wireless device configuration.

hmm .. I thought of that. But couldn't find such an option. Hint?


<SNIP>

> Well, try to create the problem. Put the laptop into Hibrinate mode.
> Wait a while. Bring it back from the sleep of the dead. Does it work
> or does it have the same problem? If so, I don't have a clue what to

I am experimenting with this today by setting it to hibernate after 10
minutes of idle time.


> suggest. Something in the wireless driver isn't working right. Check
> driver versions for something later?

The driver is most recent.


>
>>And when everything is working fine, I notice that the laptop sees
>>192.168.0.1 (USR8054 LAN IP address) as the DNS as well as the gateway.
>
>
> That's normal. Most modern routers have built in DNS caches to speed
> up repetative lookups.
>
>


Thanks for the nice explanations and suggestions. Really appreciate it.

regards,
->HS


--
Please remove the underscores ( the '_' symbols) from my email address
to obtain the correct one. Apologies, but the fudging is to remove spam.

Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Nice laptop. Watch out for the odd power connector coming from the
> giant brick size power supply. At the laptop end, the cable is too
> small, does not have much of a strain relief, and will break the tiny
> center wire if you bend the cable at a right angle to the connector.

Or, wait until it breaks, and remove the stupid lump of an rf choke that
puts a constant strain on the wire where it is most vulnerable ;-(

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

On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 22:10:51 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed)
wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> Nice laptop. Watch out for the odd power connector coming from the
>> giant brick size power supply. At the laptop end, the cable is too
>> small, does not have much of a strain relief, and will break the tiny
>> center wire if you bend the cable at a right angle to the connector.

>Or, wait until it breaks, and remove the stupid lump of an rf choke that
>puts a constant strain on the wire where it is most vulnerable ;-(

As usual, this has nothing to do with wireless or the internet.

It's not the ferrite blob (bead) that's the problem. Here's the power
supply:
http://www.laptoptravel.com/Adapter.aspx?ID=2321&t=3
Not bad for 130 watts output.

What happens is that people use the laptop as a desktop replacment and
leave the power supply plugged in all the time. Most users shove the
laptop toward the wall until it stops. What hits the wall first is
the power connector, causing the cable to bend at a right angle (or
more). The tiny center conductor on the power cable cannot handle the
applied tension and breaks inside the power connector. It's easily
repaired by replacing the connector, but finding the weird connector
has been a challenge. The symptoms are equally challenging. The
laptop reports that it will run off the external power supply, but
refuses to charge the battery.

So far, I've had to deal with about 4 such broken power plugs. In the
first 3, I went through the Dell warranty repair ordeal. In all 3
times, Dell shipped out an empty box with instructions to remove the
hard disk, *NOT* ship the power supply, and to just send the computah.
In all three times, it was returned with some rediculously unrelated
trivial repair, and a declaration that nothing was wrong. I then
called back, explained the problem and was shipped a new power supply
as an exchange. Even though I warned the support droid of the empty
box problem in the 2nd and 3rd warranty repair, Dell insisted that we
stupidly ship them the computah first. That was about 6 months ago,
and hopefully they now have a clue. With the 4th broken power supply
connector, I chopped it off, installed a new connector, and lived
happily ever after.

If you dig through the Dell online support forums for Inspiron power
issues at:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor....id=insp_power
you'll find quite a few "adapter cannot be determined" message type
issues which are all connector problems. However, Dell still refuses
to recognize that they're sellling a flakey power supply connector and
will make the user go through all manner of useless contortions before
replacing the unit.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> What happens is that people use the laptop as a desktop replacment and
> leave the power supply plugged in all the time. Most users shove the
> laptop toward the wall until it stops. What hits the wall first is

I was very careful. I don't think I ever jammed it back against the wall,
due to the configuration of my desk. I was careful when winding up the
power supply not to kink the opposite end, where it enters the brick.

But the wire broke at the laptop end. No replacement connector available,
although several techs that have seen my repair comment about how common
the problem is. I cut the connector off and dug into the soft potting
material at the connector until I revealed some good wire to solder the
wire back onto.

One source of connectors might be the "tip" available from Targus for their
universal air/auto DC adapter. It would be made to plug onto the end of
the Targus cable, but it would have the Dell connector on the other end,
and be available for a little reconstruction. Those might be available
individually, although I haven't checked.

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


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