Vista and Wifi woes...

[Voicy]

Hey team,

In short, I have a wifi setup that runs on 2 routers.

Router A: (Netgear DG834G)
- Wifi enabled
- ADSL line attached
- DHCP server enabled
- Set as gateway address on all static IP devices

Router B: (Tenda)
- Wifi enabled
- Hard wired into router A via LAN
- No ADSL account obviously
- DHCP disabled
- Static IP assigned to this router (obviously to be able to config it)

Now, both Vista and Win7 laptops, kindle, android etc. connect to the Router A Wifi and works perfectly.
All of the above EXCEPT the Vista laptop connect to Router B's Wifi and works perfectly.

- When the Vista laptop connects to Router B, the connection states "local only".
- Router A shows the Vista laptop is connected, via the "attached devices" log showing the laptop's IP.
- Vista laptop cannot connect anywhere, also cannot ping device, yet it has a DHCP assigned IP. (even used ipconfig /renew to make sure it's legit)

I've checked the Wifi connection settings when it connects to Router A and when it connects to Router B. All settings are identical. Again, it works perfectly when connected to Router A, yet when it connects to Router B it won't work, despite other devices working perfectly on Router B's Wifi.

Any advice/tips will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sinbad]

Do you get an IP address on your Vista laptop when it connects to B?
What's the default gateway set to once it's connected?

 

[hislordship]

Did you set a router A as default gateway in router B's settings?

Maybe double-check all your settings. I had a problem where I had different security settings between my two routers (one allowed WPA2 AES and the other WPA2 TKIP and AES) - made roaming slow to respond, so I would end up with 10% signal even sitting next to the router. I only picked up when I checked settings slowly.

I use static IP addresses for the routers and dynamic IP addresses for devices connecting - works perfectly on Vista, Ubuntu and my Sony Ericsson phone.

 

[Voicy]

Do you get an IP address on your Vista laptop when it connects to B?
What's the default gateway set to once it's connected?

Yep, when you go to the IPv4 settings, it's set to dynamic but greyed out it shows Router A's IP as the default gateway. /ipconfig confirms this.

I don't see how it does this, seeing that it can't even ping Router B through which it's connecting to Router A.

Did you set a router A as default gateway in router B's settings?

Maybe double-check all your settings. I had a problem where I had different security settings between my two routers (one allowed WPA2 AES and the other WPA2 TKIP and AES) - made roaming slow to respond, so I would end up with 10% signal even sitting next to the router. I only picked up when I checked settings slowly.

Both are identical. (WPA2 AES I think) Signal strength is perfect.

I use static IP addresses for the routers and dynamic IP addresses for devices connecting - works perfectly on Vista, Ubuntu and my Sony Ericsson phone.

Yeah, same here. Aside from the workstation PC's which are permanently on.

 

[Sinbad]

Not being able to ping router B is part of your problem.

paste the output of netstat -rn when connected to B?

 

[Voicy]

Not being able to ping router B is part of your problem.

paste the output of netstat -rn when connected to B?

Well yes, I gathered that much.

I don't have the device with me now, but will post asap.

What I don't get is...

Router B works for other devices. Vista laptop works on other Wifi. So both are functional, just not with each other.

EDIT: I'm getting the inkling feeling that the IP address the Vista lappy gets via DHCP is not refreshed, but the old one it got from directly connecting to Router A. That would mean that despite showing that it is connected to Router B (and acquired an IP via Router A's dhcp) it is in fact disconnected and just hasn't removed its last saved dynamic IP.

That still doesn't explain why its wireless settings work fine on one router and not the other, yet router B works fine for other devices.

 

[Voicy]

Btw,

I assume my setup is correct, since other devices connect perfectly.

The way I see it ... Router A does all the work, so it runs DHCP and is the default gateway since it acts as the dsl modem.

Router B should have Wifi enabled, DHCP disabled, have its own static IP on the same subnet and (0-254) range as Router A. Iow, be able to ping both directly when connected to either one.

So devices would connect to Router B and get assigned an IP by Router A. Correct?

 

[Nuro]

Try this:

While coonected to router B, try ping router B. It should fail if I understand correctly from your description.
Open up a command prompt, and see if the router's mac address is in your ARP table: arp -a
If mac resolution is failing, it might give a better idea to what the problem is.

EDIT: You can try ping router A as well, also check if it shows up in your ARP table.

 

[unskinnybob]

Hey team,

In short, I have a wifi setup that runs on 2 routers.

Router A: (Netgear DG834G)
- Wifi enabled
- ADSL line attached
- DHCP server enabled
- Set as gateway address on all static IP devices

Router B: (Tenda)
- Wifi enabled
- Hard wired into router A via LAN
- No ADSL account obviously
- DHCP disabled
- Static IP assigned to this router (obviously to be able to config it)

Now, both Vista and Win7 laptops, kindle, android etc. connect to the Router A Wifi and works perfectly.
All of the above EXCEPT the Vista laptop connect to Router B's Wifi and works perfectly.

- When the Vista laptop connects to Router B, the connection states "local only".
- Router A shows the Vista laptop is connected, via the "attached devices" log showing the laptop's IP.
- Vista laptop cannot connect anywhere, also cannot ping device, yet it has a DHCP assigned IP. (even used ipconfig /renew to make sure it's legit)

I've checked the Wifi connection settings when it connects to Router A and when it connects to Router B. All settings are identical. Again, it works perfectly when connected to Router A, yet when it connects to Router B it won't work, despite other devices working perfectly on Router B's Wifi.

Any advice/tips will be greatly appreciated.

Your problem right there.

 

[Voicy]

Try this:

While coonected to router B, try ping router B. It should fail if I understand correctly from your description.
Open up a command prompt, and see if the router's mac address is in your ARP table: arp -a
If mac resolution is failing, it might give a better idea to what the problem is.

EDIT: You can try ping router A as well, also check if it shows up in your ARP table.

i'll give that a go, thanks. Been out of the IT game far too long. I'm surprised I can still remember what ARP stands for.

Your problem right there.

I hear you. It's not mine, don't worry. It's been made my problem, as with everything else. (see my thread on BB inbox full errors.)

I don't own a BB or a Vista laptop.

 

[Nuro]

Out on interest, we also have some Wifi woes with vista. In our environment, every singe device works, except vista. It refuses to work with our FreeBSD dhcp server. We just upgraded the remaining vista installs to Win 7

 

[Sinbad]

EDIT: I'm getting the inkling feeling that the IP address the Vista lappy gets via DHCP is not refreshed, but the old one it got from directly connecting to Router A. That would mean that despite showing that it is connected to Router B (and acquired an IP via Router A's dhcp) it is in fact disconnected and just hasn't removed its last saved dynamic IP.

That still doesn't explain why its wireless settings work fine on one router and not the other, yet router B works fine for other devices.

I don't think it's an issue with the IP being released and renewed, as it's the same DHCP server serving the lease in both cases, so that's a red herring.
If anything, it could be arp tables on the routers themselves. Maybe router B thinks your mac address is still reachable via the bridge to router A and sends traffic destined for your machine to router A instead of straight down the wifi. Sounds fishy though.

 

[Mier]

ARP table still referencing router A's MAC (when connected to Router B), and not router B's MAC ?