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GeordieBoy

Tue Aug 27 2013, 12:12PM

Registered Member #1232 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2008, 10:53PM
Location: Doon tha Toon!
Posts: 881

Hi all,

I'm looking for a bit of help with a wireless internet problem.

I've got a Windows XP (SP3) desktop computer with a Netgear WNA3100 N300 Wireless USB adapter that is very reluctant to connect to my BT Home Hub 4 wireless router reliably. This computer used to be connected to the router via a 10m long ethernet cable in our previous home (and that worked flawlessly,) but the long cable is not practical since moving and would look unsightly (my wife's words, not mine!)

The Netgear Wireless USB adapter is plugged into a plastic cradle and sits on the top of the desk well away from the screening of the PC's metal case. Upon booting Windows it immediately identifies our BT HomeHub router and tries to connect using the security password I entered the first time. Usually this process will stall at the "Acquiring Network Address" stage. It will hang there for about 3 mins then pop up a message saying "Limited or no connectivity" and a yellow warning triangle. No Email, no Internet. Occasionally, leaving the computer several more mins will result in this dissappearing and the connection being established, but often it will sit like that for the rest of the day with "Limited or no connectivity". If the connection does spontaneously occur it seems very fast and stable, usually lasting until I shut the PC down for the night.

Wireless signal strength always shows as all bars lit (5 or 6 I can't remember) and it says "Excellent". Only dropping down by one bar to "Very good" if I totally cup my hands around the wireless dongle! There's no Bluetooth, cordless phone or Microwave ovens anywhere near the PC. My wife's laptop, and various other Android phones etc, connect to the wireless network within a couple of seconds in the same room, and my neighbour says his router is across the other side of his house.

Now here's the strange thing. The router is set up for "WPA2-PSK" security, and that is what all of our wireless devices were also set to. However, on my desktop PC I found this option burried away in a menu while blindly trying to solve the problem:

Wireless network properties -> Association -> Wireless Network Key -> Data Encryption: AES

I tried changing this Data Encryption to it's alternative setting of TKIP from the drop-down menu to see if anything improved and it connected straight away.

It strikes me that the problem is somehow down to the security or authentication process, or that my desktop PC is not getting assigned an IP address properly by the router, but I have no idea what the AES/TKIP thing does. After changing it from AES to TKIP, at boot-up it seems to already be connected and authenticated by the time Windows puts the icon in the notification area of the taskbar. But can I leave it set to TKIP?

Can anyone explain what is going on here? Is TKIP still secure or have I worsened the security of my wireless connection. I'm a total newbie to all this wireless stuff. Anywhere i've worked has always had their office computers on the end of ethernet cables, and our only other wireless devices (phones and laptop) have always just worked without any messing about.

Best regards,

-Richie Burnett,

Ash Small

Tue Aug 27 2013, 03:31PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

"AES offers stronger encryption technology and is the right choice (assuming all of the devices on your network support it). However, TKIP is also strong and tends to be supported by more equipment on the market. Either is far preferable to using no encryption at all, but consider AES first and TKIP as a reasonable backup option."

My laptop (running Vista) keeps 'dropping out'. My 'network' is hosted by a PC running XP (SP3, I think).

Maybe I should look into this too?

GeordieBoy

Wed Aug 28 2013, 12:36PM

Registered Member #1232 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2008, 10:53PM
Location: Doon tha Toon!
Posts: 881

Well, after using the PC for a few days, switching the setting from AES to TKIP seems to have made a massive difference. Without wanting to tempt fate it appears to have solved the problem and connects quickly now every time it's booted up.

Thanks for that link. I did a bit of Google searching too myself before posting the question here, and seemed to come up with similar results.

I'm going to leave it set to TKIP because that works and the other setting doesn't. So I don't really have any choice! I'll just assume it's some bug in the implementation of the AES algorithm in the Wireless USB dongle or the PC (where-ever the actual security algorithm is implemented!)

Thanks,

-Richie,

BigBad

Wed Aug 28 2013, 03:40PM

Registered Member #2529 Joined: Thu Dec 10 2009, 02:43AM
Location:
Posts: 600

By coincidence, we had a Netgear Wireless USB adapter here, don't know if it's the same model it was very old and could only managed 11b. It was never very reliable. We just binned it last week for a completely different make of dongle, the new one is immeasurably more reliable and compatible and connects at far higher speeds.

Ash Small

Sat Aug 31 2013, 11:36AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

I've just changed my network settings to TKIP, and it seems to be faster (at least as far as the connection to my laptop is concerned).

I'll report on whether it's still 'dropping out' later, by editing this post.

EDIT: It's been well over an hour now, and no dropouts yet, I'll update again later.

UPDATE: Around 2 1/2 hours now, still no drop-out, but the laptop has just crashed, something to do with MS Security Essentials....not sure if it's relevant.

UPDATE: 24 hours now with no drop-out

Pinky's Brain

Sat Aug 31 2013, 07:19PM

Registered Member #2901 Joined: Thu Jun 03 2010, 01:25PM
Location:
Posts: 837

wrote ...
Is TKIP still secure or have I worsened the security of my wireless connection.

There are tools out there to crack tkip in a couple of hours.

A quick google search seems to suggest that the WNA3100 is garbage.

BTW, if you want a wired connection without installing CAT5 there is always Homeplug ... I've had both good and bad luck with it, the first set of dlink modems I had worked great right up until after 18 months or so it fried during summer (it was plugged in in a socket in an unventilated closet next to the hot water boiler so I can't entirely blaim that on dlink). Shop didn't sell them any more so they were replaced with sitecom's which unfortunately sometimes drop connection. Gonna wait till the new MIMO modems hit the shelves and upgrade to those.

Carbon_Rod

Sun Sept 01 2013, 09:20AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

WPA2 + PSK AES only

Do not enable UPnP, legacy mode fallback, or wireless/remote admin access.

Even if you've done this correctly, motivated individuals can still gain access via injection attacks. Notably, these are often seen as faulty connections for MacOS and Windows users whose drivers are known to leak.

You are probably better off spending $30 on a new 802.11n router with more channels.

Cheers,

Steve Conner

Sun Sept 01 2013, 02:06PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Carbon Rod, the BT Home Hub 4 must be a pretty recent router. I signed up to BT broadband about 8 months ago and I only got a Home Hub 3. Sounds like the fault is with the Netgear wireless dongle on the PC, having a buggy driver (or hardware) that doesn't support WPA2 too well.

If TKIP works reliably and your neighbours aren't elite level hackers, I would just stick with it.

Ash Small

Mon Sept 02 2013, 12:01PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Steve Conner wrote ...

If TKIP works reliably and your neighbours aren't elite level hackers, I would just stick with it.

You've just answered the question I was about to ask, Steve, They need to be within range of the network in order to hack it.

Andy

Tue Sept 03 2013, 08:21AM

Registered Member #4266 Joined: Fri Dec 16 2011, 03:15AM
Location:
Posts: 874

Hi Ash Small

Its relative, if you have a 25dbi dish antenna at 5degress incline, you reach about 1-1.5km with a good reception adapter :)

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