Can't connect to wireless network when other APs in range

[HyperHacker]

I just got a Gateway MX7515 laptop, which has a built-in Broadcom 802.11g wireless adapter. I formatted the hard drive and installed a fresh copy of XP Pro SP2. It works nicely except for some annoying and bizarre networking problems.

1) When XP tries to connect to my wireless network, it will only succeed if no other access points are in range. If I sit in a certain room I can pick up someone else's signal (very weak) from across the river. Windows lists both of them but when it's present, it seems to forget how to use my own. It tells me it can't connect to any prefferred access point. If I view the list and manually choose mine, it asks for the network key even though it's already stored in the Wireless Network Connection Properties dialog. If I enter the key it just stays at "Waiting for the network" forever. As soon as I move away from the other AP and click Refresh Network List, it finds mine and connects immediately using the stored key. Once it's connected I can even go back within range of the other AP without interference. (I think it's too weak to be causing interference anyway.)

2) I have a few computers (all XP Pro SP2) with file sharing enabled. Getting that to work was a nightmare in itself; the only way it would work is to assign Read permissions to the Everyone group, which doesn't sound secure. In fact with that setup all I had to do after installing XP on the laptop was enter the network key and domain name and it already had access. That means anyone who breaks my key can read everything. I can't just add the accounts on the specific computers that I want to have access because it won't find them, and I can't have all other computers give the username and password of an account on the computer hosting the files because it throws all manner of various errors, such as saying multiple users with the same name is not allowed when there's only one user. (Is this because the accounts on both computers have the same name? Shouldn't it prefix the computer name?)

3) With the laptop, when I am connected to the wireless network, I can use the Internet just fine. But when I try to access the other computers' file shares, it sometimes says the path can't be found. When this happens I have to enter that computer's IP in a web browser. (It's running Apache for testing purposes, so I see the page being served when I do this.) After that I can access the shares again. It seems like some caching or similar mechanism has failed, and when I view the page in a browser, it fixes that when it actually finds a page, but I'd think only IE would/could do that and I've been using Firefox.

Also, I've been wondering about something. Because I have a few different Nintendo DS systems that use my network, I'm forced to use WEP128 which is hardly secure. (DS doesn't support anything better.) I do, however, have an old computer with Win98 on it that I don't really use, and a spare wireless card. Would it be possible to have the network use WPA or something stronger, but have this computer serve as an AP for the DS systems? The idea is that this computer would provide access to the network without a key, but only to a few specific MAC addresses (of the DS systems). My router doesn't support MAC filtering unfortunately.

Edited August 20, 2006 by HyperHacker

[tain]

Nicely crafted post

1) Try changing the channel and WEP key on the AP. Toggling short vs long preamble may also help.

2) Sounds like you are NOT in an AD environment, but may benefit from one. Consider loading a Windows Server variant on one those spare computers you have. You are right that your current setup could be more secure.

Since you aren't in an AD environment, the accounts need to be setup locally (on each machine). Setup an account that will be used for remote access, give it the right permissions for what you want, and then use that user/pass to connect to the machine over your network.

3) Name resolution issue. Are you trying to use the NetBIOS name? Have you rebooted the client machine?

when I view the page in a browser, it fixes that when it actually finds a page

Does this mean that you input the IP and then when the browser finds the host it displays the NetBIOS name in the address bar?

x) If the DS can operate in Ad Hoc mode, yes. But that will only marginally increase your security. A network is only as strong as its weakest node. Running without a key is a bad idea unless you don't mind leaving that connection open to the world...MAC filtering is trivial to work around.

[HyperHacker]

1: I'll try changing those settings later, but to do that I'll have to change settings on most of the computers. :/

2: I don't think the old box could even run Server, but I'll create a new account and see how that goes.

3: I enter the IP in the browser, and it finds the host but still displays the IP.

4: You may be on to something there. I suppose if I use WEP128 and MAC filtering, that should keep n00bs out, and if the machine is only allowed to access the Internet and not my network, that should be enough. If someone actually breaks in and starts using my connection enough to actually slow it down, I can just turn it off.

[Takeshi]

Is the wireless card driver up to date?

Are you using Wireless Zero or another util?

As TAiN said, create an account with password for file sharing purpose. Give this account whatever permissions as needed. Then remove Everyone group from sharing ACE.

[HyperHacker]

Is the wireless card driver up to date?

Are you using Wireless Zero

Yes and yes. Changing the channel didn't appear to help.

[edit] Actually, I changed the channel again and the laptop is no longer having this problem, but the signal is much weaker, and now my mom's computer is doing it. >_< It only picks up one AP, but the list still has to be refreshed a few times before it connects.

Edited August 15, 2006 by HyperHacker

[HyperHacker]

Well I created a new limited account for network access, gave it a password and removed all other accounts/groups from Access This Computer From The Network. Now when I try to access any shares from the other computers, it says access is denied, but never asks for a password so I can get in. But now when I try to access my laptop (which is still set to allow Everyone access) from this computer, it asks for a password. I have to enter the name and password of an admin account on the laptop to get in. (I do want the same on the laptop; a limited, password-protected account for the network, but I haven't done it yet...)

Edited August 15, 2006 by HyperHacker

[Takeshi]

Where is this option "Access This Computer From The Network"?

The new account name should be in the Sharing tab>Permissions of your shared folder.

[HyperHacker]

In Local Security Policy in Administrative Tools. I gave the account read permissions, but I can't edit the share permissions because "this share has been set for administrative purposes". :S

[Takeshi]

That happens when you're trying to share an entire drive but shouldn't when you share a folder inside a drive.

[HyperHacker]

Right, but I want to share the entire drive.

[tain]

[edit] Actually, I changed the channel again and the laptop is no longer having this problem, but the signal is much weaker, and now my mom's computer is doing it. >_< It only picks up one AP, but the list still has to be refreshed a few times before it connects.

The channels that matter are 1, 6 and 11. Don't bother with the others because their spectrum overlaps.

[HyperHacker]

I was on 11, I tried 5 and 1 too. I think it's still on 1 now.

I also haven't had any success with this net"working". I created a limited account for other computers to log on as when using the network, made it the only account that can access the computer from the network, and set a password. I then did the same on the laptop, with the same name and password.

When I try to access the shares from the laptop, it doesn't prompt for a password. It just tries to use the account I'm logged in with, which throws an error: "Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer. " I can't (and don't want to) give this account permission to access the network because when I try to do so, it suddenly forgets the laptop even exists. I can't access the shares by going to Entire Network because none are listed. Adding the account to the Remote Desktop Users group, removing the default shares and adding new ones with that account having access, giving it access in the Security tab, disabling logon caching, and rebooting many times have done nothing.

On the PC, almost exactly the same thing happens when I try to access the laptop. It prompts for a password but no matter what I enter the prompt just comes back up.

Windows sure knows how to fail.

[edit] Almost got it. I removed the default share and added my own with NetworkUser on the access list. Windows warns me that when I reboot this share will be replaced with the default, but apparently that's not true. Suddenly this share appears in My Network Places automatically, it accepts the password and I can do anything NetworkUser could do.

BUT, the laptop isn't doing this well. I figure it's not prompting for a password because I checked "Remember my password" before. Apparently there's absolutely no way to disable this; I searched the registry and hard drive for the computer's name and found nothing. The shares still don't show up when I browse the network either.

What really ticks me off is that even though I never checked "Remember my password" on the PC, it's stopped prompting me and is just using the password I entered before. I just know that's going to be a problem later. >_<

And why the heck can't I edit default shares anyway?

[more editing fun] It started prompting again after rebooting. I can't rename the share I added, and it shows up in Network Places automatically on the PC but nowhere on the laptop.

[another edit] I added Everyone to the "Access this computer from the network" list, and created a new share giving read access to Everyone. This is the only way the laptop can access the shares. I found it especially interesting that when it does, it shows up in the user list (Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Shared Files -> Sessions) as ADMIN at 192.168.2.13, whereas when accessing shares on the laptop, it shows the computer's actual name (and NETWORKUSER) in the list. Also when I try to add users, the laptop shows the network but no other computers on it, while the PC only shows itself (not even in a network).

The problem seems to be that the two aren't seeing eachother on the network. What I find especially odd, though, is they both find all available shares automatically in My Network Places. Also, if I enter the PC's IP address in TightVNC, it shows its name, though I guess the server might just be telling it that. Ping also finds them both.

Edited August 21, 2006 by HyperHacker

[tain]

At this point I have to wonder if the user profile on the laptop has something wrong. Trying logging in as a different user, removing 'everyone access' and then trying to connect again with the user/pass you setup on the share.

Have you checked your NTFS permissions?

Try all of this stuff with a wired connection to eliminate a potential wireless headache. Once all of your shares/permissions are setup then you should have less to troubleshoot on that wireless link.

[HyperHacker]

Good point. When connected by wire it sees every computer on the network (assuming they're powered on) just fine. I can go to Add Network Place, click Browse, and find the computer I want. It lists all the shares just fine too. However, access is still denied. I get the usual message: "The user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer." I also managed to get "The Server service is not started" when it was (restarting it fixed that, verified that it was running on the PC too and restarted it just to be sure) and "Access is denied". It still never asks for a password.

On the PC side, the best I can get is when trying to add a user to the list of users allowed to access this one from the network; it shows itself and the network in the list of locations (it isn't shown as part of the network though), and if I enter "Luna\Admin" (the name of the laptop) it prompts for the password for Admin. After I enter it, it says no such computer could be found! When I try to add users to the access list of a share, it doesn't show the network in the list of locations, and doesn't ask for a password before saying it can't find the computer. I can enter any computer's name in TightVNC and it finds them though. (I don't even want to have to add them to the list, but if I have to, I guess I have to.)

Could this be a port block issue? What ports need to be open for file sharing?

Edited August 24, 2006 by HyperHacker

[tain]

You didn't say anything about checking NTFS permissions. Have you disabled Simple Filesharing? I think Takeshi's post was getting at this.

Did you try a new profile?

Have you tried remapping the drives?

I'm not sure what is going on with your admin share at this point. After you turn off Simple Filsharing, remove the existing share and start a new one. The sharing and security tab of that share should reflect the user permissions you want to grant.

Thanks for going wired. It really makes this stuff easier to work out the kinks first and then add the layer of complexity

Could this be a port block issue? What ports need to be open for file sharing?

Win2K+ uses SMB over TCP port 445.

Since we are having so much trouble pinpointing your problem you may also want to review some references while you wait for replies:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/quick_guide_to...ile_sharing.htm

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/net.asp