Forum

Linksys Wireless-B BEFW11S4 Router w/ firmware 1.50.14
Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless network card (integrated) w/ driver 2.4.2.14
WinXP SP2, using Atheros Client utility.

First let me make it clear that everything works absolutely fine when encryption is off. My problem is I just can't get WPA-PSK encryption to work reliably. It works, as I can connect and use the internet with it on. However there seems to be high packet loss! I made a log of my computer pinging my router 30 times.


Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=56ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=58ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Request timed out.
 
Request timed out.
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Request timed out.
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=150
 
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
 
    Packets: Sent = 30, Received = 27, Lost = 3 (10% loss),
 
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
 
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 58ms, Average = 10ms


It's not always the same. It can range from 5% to 50% loss. Quite frankly, I don't know what to do. It would be nice to, at the very least, see if the router or the wireless card was at fault so I would know what to blame. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

does this same packet loss occur when encryption is disabled?

No packet loss when encryption is disabled.

Hello Pseudo,

Try downloading a wireless sniffer at http://www.tamos.com/ CommView for WiFi. It's free for 30days or so, and it will be usable as if you bought it. Airopeek is another one, but it tops out at 250 packets.
This way you can see why the crypto is not working. There is a place to put in your WPA keys so Tamos can decrypt the packets.. Shows use the output!! I for one would love to see it. !!!

Thanks,

Phil
CWNA

OK I used the software, then made a log. I remembered to put in the proper WPA key. The drivers the program installed pretty much disabled regular internet access, so I had to remove the program to get back online.

Now I have this log, but nowhere to post it.

Sorry about that. I thought we had a file post. NP. Post packets that you see the change. I was tring to find an example for you..
Deauth packets
dameged frames
RF signal stringth
Management frames
Frame total length
For a start..

Honestly I can hardly make heads or tails of the log, but the log does show (in red) some damaged frames. Out of 3887 frames, 17 are damaged. Those that are damaged are from MAC addrs that differ from my router's MAC addr, so they are probably just garbage from other routers in my area. All of the frames that are not damaged are just MNGT/BEACON frames, Router => Broadcast. I don't think the log showed anything useful.

Woah I fixed it.

I noticed in the utility that it kept switching from TKIP to WEP as the encryption type, which was really weird. I looked in the router settings and saw that it was remembering my settings for WEP even though I had WPA on. So, I reset the router by puttin a pin in that little button, redoing the settings and now it works.

The thing that REALLY annoys me is that I did reset the router settings before. In fact it was one of the first things I did. But I did it through the router's settings instead of pressing the reset button.

What an odd problem eh? Router was switching from WPA to WEP for no reason. Linksys sure does make good firmware.

Thanks for your time guys :)

www.sveasoft.com

Good to hear you got it!! Helps when you can see what it is doing ;)

Take it easy,

Phil