constant disconnection/reconnection between Netgear MA401 AP and SMC2632W V.2 client

[Mike Bohan]

	I'm deeply sorry for the second message, but I felt I left out some
important information. When the SMC client disconnects from the Linux
WAP (using the netgear MA401 with hostap driver), the driver displays
the following data...

wlan0: 00:04:e2:46:c0:07 auth (alg=0 trans#=1 stat=0 len=6fc=00b0) ==> 0
(authenticated)
wlan0: 00:04:e2:46:c0:07 reassoc (len=23 prev_ap=00:30:ab:09:4f:9e) =>
0(0) (OK, old AID)
wlan0: 00:04:e2:46:c0:07 auth (alg=0 trans#=1 stat=0 len=6fc=00b0) ==> 0
(authenticated)

Apparently, every time the client disconnects/reconnects, a coresponding
"reassoc" is issued. I thought perhaps this debug info would be useful.
Thanks!


On Wed, 2003-01-15 at 17:19, Mike Bohan wrote:
> Hello there,
> 
> 	I recently setup a Toshiba Satellite as a WAP/router for my home
> network.  The setup uses a Netgear MA401 PrismII based card in the
> laptop, which is binded to the HostAP driver. The configuration was very
> strait forward (no special firmware needed), and it works well for the
> most part. 
> 	A problem did emerge when I tried using a SMC2632W V.2 (Amtel chipset)
> based client on the network.  The SMC client becomes associated on the
> network without a problem, and even had a very strong signal. However,
> every minute or so the SMC client laptop (running Windows XP) displays a
> network disconnection of the wireless NIC, and then reconnects. These
> disconnect/reconnect intervals seem to be equal, though I have not
> proved this assumption. The simple and most obvious answer is that the
> client is too far away from the WAP. However, the signal on the SMC xp
> client is categorized as very "very good".  In fact, it's much better
> than any of the Prism II clients have ever been (I have several machines
> that access this WAP. All the rest are PrismII based). The transfer
> rates (when actually connected) are indicative of this too, as they are
> excellent. Most importantly, the other PrismII clients perform without
> disconnection at equal distance from the WAP with a lower signal. I have
> also tried using both SMC's windows utility and Windows XP's integrated
> "zero" configuration system.  Both yield equal results.
> 	I should also mention two factors..
> 
> 1. This is the first non-prismII client I've used with this WAP system,
> and it's the first with problems.
> 2. I upgraded the firmware on the MA401 to the most recent version
> (standard firmware, not AP firmware) in hopes this would solve the
> problem. It did not.
> 
>  Are there known incompatabilities with non-PrismII chipsets acting as
> clients to the hostap driver?
> 
> 	I'm wondering if anyone has any insights to the cause of this
> troublesum problem. Perhaps there is a way to tweak either the hostap
> driver or the smc client settings?
-- 
Mike Bohan <bogin at shortcircut.org>