WPA and FTP problem.

My Acer Aspire 3003 laptop works fine when connected using the inbuilt
Ethernet port for all applications including FTP uploads using SmartFTP or a
an FTP program built into some application software I have. When I fit a
Netgear WG511T Cardbus card this works fine for browsing and email. However,
if I try to use an FTP program such as Smart instead of the Ethernet card
neither of the FTP programs will work. I am using WPA with a 128bit
preshared key. This is true if I use the standard Windows drivers for the
card or the ones supplied by Netgear. I am running a fully patched Windows
XP Home and the machine has 1GB of memory. AFAICS there must be some
incompatibility be the FTP protocol and WPA but I cannot see why that should
be. I would expect the WPA protocol to be transparent. Any constructive
suggestions would be welcome as my Googling has not turned anything up.


Peter Crosland

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:44:49 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<(E-Mail Removed)> mused:

>My Acer Aspire 3003 laptop works fine when connected using the inbuilt
>Ethernet port for all applications including FTP uploads using SmartFTP or a
>an FTP program built into some application software I have. When I fit a
>Netgear WG511T Cardbus card this works fine for browsing and email. However,
>if I try to use an FTP program such as Smart instead of the Ethernet card
>neither of the FTP programs will work. I am using WPA with a 128bit
>preshared key. This is true if I use the standard Windows drivers for the
>card or the ones supplied by Netgear. I am running a fully patched Windows
>XP Home and the machine has 1GB of memory. AFAICS there must be some
>incompatibility be the FTP protocol and WPA but I cannot see why that should
>be. I would expect the WPA protocol to be transparent. Any constructive
>suggestions would be welcome as my Googling has not turned anything up.
>
Are you sure you're problems are because of WPA? Have you tried using
WEP, or no security at all as a test?
--
Regards,
Stuart.

Lurch wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:44:49 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> mused:
>
>> My Acer Aspire 3003 laptop works fine when connected using the
>> inbuilt Ethernet port for all applications including FTP uploads
>> using SmartFTP or a an FTP program built into some application
>> software I have. When I fit a Netgear WG511T Cardbus card this works
>> fine for browsing and email. However, if I try to use an FTP program
>> such as Smart instead of the Ethernet card neither of the FTP
>> programs will work. I am using WPA with a 128bit preshared key. This
>> is true if I use the standard Windows drivers for the card or the
>> ones supplied by Netgear. I am running a fully patched Windows XP
>> Home and the machine has 1GB of memory. AFAICS there must be some
>> incompatibility be the FTP protocol and WPA but I cannot see why
>> that should be. I would expect the WPA protocol to be transparent.
>> Any constructive suggestions would be welcome as my Googling has not
>> turned anything up.
>>
> Are you sure you're problems are because of WPA? Have you tried using
> WEP, or no security at all as a test?

Yes I have tried WEP but not an open network neither of which would be an
acceptable solution. I have now had the opportunity to try another laptop
with a built in wireless network card and it work perfectly. This suggests
that the incompatibility is in the WG511T.

Peter Crosland

"Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:462f0566$0$8748$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Lurch wrote:
>> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:44:49 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> mused:
>>> My Acer Aspire 3003 laptop works fine when connected using the
>>> inbuilt Ethernet port for all applications including FTP uploads
>>> using SmartFTP or a an FTP program built into some application
>>> software I have. When I fit a Netgear WG511T Cardbus card this works
>>> fine for browsing and email. However, if I try to use an FTP program
>>> such as Smart instead of the Ethernet card neither of the FTP
>>> programs will work.
[snip]
>> Are you sure you're problems are because of WPA? Have you tried using
>> WEP, or no security at all as a test?
>
> Yes I have tried WEP but not an open network neither of which would be an
> acceptable solution.

I don't think Lurch was suggesting it as a permanent arrangement. What
happened when you tried WEP?

What firewall do you have installed, and have you investigated whether that
could be the problem? For instance, can you configure the FTP software to
use PASV for transfers, and if so, does it still fail over the wireless
connection?

Alex

Alex Fraser wrote:
> "Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:462f0566$0$8748$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Lurch wrote:
>>> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:44:49 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
>>> <(E-Mail Removed)> mused:
>>>> My Acer Aspire 3003 laptop works fine when connected using the
>>>> inbuilt Ethernet port for all applications including FTP uploads
>>>> using SmartFTP or a an FTP program built into some application
>>>> software I have. When I fit a Netgear WG511T Cardbus card this
>>>> works fine for browsing and email. However, if I try to use an FTP
>>>> program such as Smart instead of the Ethernet card neither of the
>>>> FTP programs will work.
> [snip]
>>> Are you sure you're problems are because of WPA? Have you tried
>>> using WEP, or no security at all as a test?
>>
>> Yes I have tried WEP but not an open network neither of which would
>> be an acceptable solution.
>
> I don't think Lurch was suggesting it as a permanent arrangement. What
> happened when you tried WEP?

Yes with the same result.

> What firewall do you have installed, and have you investigated
> whether that could be the problem? For instance, can you configure
> the FTP software to use PASV for transfers, and if so, does it still
> fail over the wireless connection?

I am using PCtools Firewall but I really cannot see that this is the problem
because the wired network passes through OK as does other traffic on the
wireless link. Draytek believe the problem is related to the card brand and
I am going to try another. Thanks for the suggestions anyway.

Peter Crosland

"Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:462faa50$0$8710$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Alex Fraser wrote:

>> I don't think Lurch was suggesting it as a permanent arrangement. What
>> happened when you tried WEP?
>
> Yes with the same result.
>
>> What firewall do you have installed, and have you investigated
>> whether that could be the problem? For instance, can you configure
>> the FTP software to use PASV for transfers, and if so, does it still
>> fail over the wireless connection?
>
> I am using PCtools Firewall but I really cannot see that this is the
> problem because the wired network passes through OK as does other traffic
> on the wireless link. Draytek believe the problem is related to the card
> brand and I am going to try another. Thanks for the suggestions anyway.

If you are abe to, try running *temporarily* with no wireless encryption
(unplug other vulnerable computers from the router) and with the laptop's
firewall turned off. That will eliminate firewall and wireless encryption
problems.

I'd be surprised if it was the wireless card itself, because I've used a
Netgear WG511T with WPA and had no problems with FTP. It could still be an
interaction between the card and the router, though: my router is a Netgear
DG834GT.

I wonder if the firewall could be blocking the TCP ports that FTP uses - but
only for the wireless card and not the Ethernet port?

Martin Underwood wrote:
> "Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:462faa50$0$8710$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Alex Fraser wrote:
>
>>> I don't think Lurch was suggesting it as a permanent arrangement.
>>> What happened when you tried WEP?
>>
>> Yes with the same result.
>>
>>> What firewall do you have installed, and have you investigated
>>> whether that could be the problem? For instance, can you configure
>>> the FTP software to use PASV for transfers, and if so, does it still
>>> fail over the wireless connection?
>>
>> I am using PCtools Firewall but I really cannot see that this is the
>> problem because the wired network passes through OK as does other
>> traffic on the wireless link. Draytek believe the problem is related
>> to the card brand and I am going to try another. Thanks for the
>> suggestions anyway.
>
> If you are abe to, try running *temporarily* with no wireless
> encryption (unplug other vulnerable computers from the router) and
> with the laptop's firewall turned off. That will eliminate firewall
> and wireless encryption problems.
>
> I'd be surprised if it was the wireless card itself, because I've
> used a Netgear WG511T with WPA and had no problems with FTP. It could
> still be an interaction between the card and the router, though: my
> router is a Netgear DG834GT.
>
> I wonder if the firewall could be blocking the TCP ports that FTP
> uses - but only for the wireless card and not the Ethernet port?

Thanks for the suggestion Martin. I have duplicated the software onto my
Dell Inspiron 6400. This is fitted with a Gigabyte GN-WIO 1GT card. This
works perfectly using any encryption method. So it would seem that the issue
is to do with the WG511T card in some way. So I am awaiting the loan of some
other cards to test the hypothesis.

Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote in message
4630a5d1$0$8745$(E-Mail Removed):

> Martin Underwood wrote:
>> "Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:462faa50$0$8710$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Alex Fraser wrote:
>>
>>>> I don't think Lurch was suggesting it as a permanent arrangement.
>>>> What happened when you tried WEP?
>>>
>>> Yes with the same result.
>>>
>>>> What firewall do you have installed, and have you investigated
>>>> whether that could be the problem? For instance, can you configure
>>>> the FTP software to use PASV for transfers, and if so, does it
>>>> still fail over the wireless connection?
>>>
>>> I am using PCtools Firewall but I really cannot see that this is the
>>> problem because the wired network passes through OK as does other
>>> traffic on the wireless link. Draytek believe the problem is related
>>> to the card brand and I am going to try another. Thanks for the
>>> suggestions anyway.
>>
>> If you are abe to, try running *temporarily* with no wireless
>> encryption (unplug other vulnerable computers from the router) and
>> with the laptop's firewall turned off. That will eliminate firewall
>> and wireless encryption problems.
>>
>> I'd be surprised if it was the wireless card itself, because I've
>> used a Netgear WG511T with WPA and had no problems with FTP. It could
>> still be an interaction between the card and the router, though: my
>> router is a Netgear DG834GT.
>>
>> I wonder if the firewall could be blocking the TCP ports that FTP
>> uses - but only for the wireless card and not the Ethernet port?
>
> Thanks for the suggestion Martin. I have duplicated the software onto
> my Dell Inspiron 6400. This is fitted with a Gigabyte GN-WIO 1GT
> card. This works perfectly using any encryption method. So it would
> seem that the issue is to do with the WG511T card in some way. So I
> am awaiting the loan of some other cards to test the hypothesis.

The plot thickens. If the configuration of the firewall is identical on the
two PCs, it does look as if the only significanbt difference is the card.

Let me know what happens with a different card in the original PC.

Martin Underwood wrote:
> Peter Crosland wrote in message
> 4630a5d1$0$8745$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Martin Underwood wrote:
>>> "Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:462faa50$0$8710$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> Alex Fraser wrote:
>>>
>>>>> I don't think Lurch was suggesting it as a permanent arrangement.
>>>>> What happened when you tried WEP?
>>>>
>>>> Yes with the same result.
>>>>
>>>>> What firewall do you have installed, and have you investigated
>>>>> whether that could be the problem? For instance, can you configure
>>>>> the FTP software to use PASV for transfers, and if so, does it
>>>>> still fail over the wireless connection?
>>>>
>>>> I am using PCtools Firewall but I really cannot see that this is
>>>> the problem because the wired network passes through OK as does
>>>> other traffic on the wireless link. Draytek believe the problem is
>>>> related to the card brand and I am going to try another. Thanks
>>>> for the suggestions anyway.
>>>
>>> If you are abe to, try running *temporarily* with no wireless
>>> encryption (unplug other vulnerable computers from the router) and
>>> with the laptop's firewall turned off. That will eliminate firewall
>>> and wireless encryption problems.
>>>
>>> I'd be surprised if it was the wireless card itself, because I've
>>> used a Netgear WG511T with WPA and had no problems with FTP. It
>>> could still be an interaction between the card and the router,
>>> though: my router is a Netgear DG834GT.
>>>
>>> I wonder if the firewall could be blocking the TCP ports that FTP
>>> uses - but only for the wireless card and not the Ethernet port?
>>
>> Thanks for the suggestion Martin. I have duplicated the software onto
>> my Dell Inspiron 6400. This is fitted with a Gigabyte GN-WIO 1GT
>> card. This works perfectly using any encryption method. So it would
>> seem that the issue is to do with the WG511T card in some way. So I
>> am awaiting the loan of some other cards to test the hypothesis.
>
> The plot thickens. If the configuration of the firewall is identical
> on the two PCs, it does look as if the only significanbt difference
> is the card.
> Let me know what happens with a different card in the original PC.

I will do. I suspect that the problem is that there is a reasonably well
definded standard that should enable different manufacturers equipment to
work with each other. Then each manufacturer decides they can "improve"
things and the result is sort of problem I have. I remember all sorts of
similar scenarios with the RS-232 standard that was anything but! I suspect
that the problem might be related to the particular chipset used in the
network card.

Peter Crosland

In message <463118ce$0$8753$(E-Mail Removed)>, Peter
Crosland <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>I will do. I suspect that the problem is that there is a reasonably well
>definded standard that should enable different manufacturers equipment to
>work with each other. Then each manufacturer decides they can "improve"
>things and the result is sort of problem I have. I remember all sorts of
>similar scenarios with the RS-232 standard that was anything but! I suspect
>that the problem might be related to the particular chipset used in the
>network card.
I doubt that *very much* as both your WiFi cards use the Atheros Super G
chipset. I'd suspect that if there's a problem with the card it's in the
driver implementation or firmware. Usual Netgear "quality" equipment,
lovely flashy box but sh**e inside.
>Peter Crosland
>
>

--
Clint Sharp