Problems with Wireless Access Point

[John Gray]

I bought one of these



and am trying to get it to work in AP mode (which is its default) on a work LAN which already has a wired router and a server which dishes out IP addresses using DHCP. The AP's DHCP function is turned off.
Most things seem to work correctly (like logging in to the AP via a wired connection) but I cannot get a laptop to connect wirelessly to it.
A couple of oddities are:

• inSSIDer shows it is transmitting on channels 1 and 5, but every few seconds it seems to drop channel 5 for a second or two, then it returns.
• A Dell wireless utility shows the MAC address of the AP changing from the correct one to 00:00:00:00:00:00, then reverting back to the correct one, every few seconds.

My only theory is that this AP is not passing through any DHCP or DNS from our server.

Has anyone any ideas, or suggestions about how I can proceed? Thanks.

[StuartR]

Not a clue, but if you tell us the make and model then we can at least have a look at the user guide to see if it has anything useful to say

[John Gray]

Here you are! http://www.tp-link.com/Resources/docume ... _Guide.pdf About 1½MB.

[StuartR]

That's a very sophisticated device, for its size.

I'm not convinced that this is a DHCP problem What actually happens when a PC tries to connect?
Can you temporarily configure this thing to enable the DHCP server, just to show that you still can't connect.

[jonwallace]

I might be inclined to set the channel manually to one that seems clear (relatively) in your area (not 5!).

It seems to me that the MAC address might be zeroing when channel 5 drops out.

Are you powering it with the external power adaptor, or through usb? (Just wondering if the usb port powering it is being turned off to save power...)

[John Gray]

Stuart: I brought it home last night, and will be trying it on my serverless workgroup LAN, rather than the work domain LAN, later today, when I get some time. Turning on DHCP is a good idea, because it seems like the only change that can be made, and it enables me to set DNS server addresses in the AP rather than on my laptop (if for no other reason).

Jon: at closest, the laptop was about 1 foot away from the AP, and the only other (two) routers were at an almost undetectable strength on channel 1.
Yes, the zeroed MAC address is probably happening synchronously with the channel 5 drop, but I'm not sure whether this is a fault or just indicating the inability of the laptop to connect.
I've tried both mains power and laptop USB power, using two different laptops, with no variation in result.

I'm rather surprised I'm getting problems, since I've had three, and still using two, homeplug wireless access points which 'just worked'.

[John Gray]

Having spent a couple of hours 'visiting with' this AP at home, I've managed to get it to work!
How? No idea!

I had to change from a domain-based LAN on subnet 0 with XP Pro laptops to a workgroup-based LAN on subnet 1 with a Win7 Pro laptop, necessarily having to change the AP's IP address. Some slight extra faffing about got the inSSIDer signal strength to be stable at about -12 dB (which should be adequate for my purposes!)

Thanks for your help!

[StuartR]

I'm glad you got it sorted, but wouldn't like to take any credit for this!