Can't associate with AP 350

[AyrishGrl]

We have an AP 350 for our private wireless network. I have been able to connect fine for the past several months. Yesterday we had a problem with the AP and no one could connect. We rebooted the box and that seemed to clear the issue for everyone except myself. Everyone around me can connect fine. I have tried walking to the AP to make sure it wasn't a signaling issue. I am using the Cisco Aironet PCMCIA card for Laptop and am running XP sp 2. I can connect to the Linksys wireless network using this card/laptop without a problem. I did rebuild my laptop last week, but the wireless only stopped working last week.

I am still new to the wireless APs. From the web interface I can see my MAC address on the Association screen, but the State is always listed as Association Processing with ip address of 0.0.0.0. So, I don't think I am getting to authentication at all. I'm not sure what else to check.

 

[AyrishGrl]

Correction to my post above. I rebuilt my laptop last week, but the wirless only stopped working yesterday.

 

[ROUTERKID1]

now do you guys have mac - address filtering turned on.

 

[AyrishGrl]

Yes. We are using LEAP authentication. So a user needs their network login as well as a valid MAC address. I have checked the radius server and my MAC is still there, but the logs don't even show me getting that far.

 

[FWHATER]

Could SP2 be the problem ? We aren't rolling that out because it appears to be slightly volatile. Also, did you compare your config for your Cisco Aironet pc card to the people around you. If you are not pointing to the correct SSID (Service Set Identifier), you won't get any connectivity to the AP. Remember SSID's are case sensitve, so even it's spelled correctly, a capital letter in the wrong place will prevent you from connecting.

 

[AyrishGrl]

It has been running fine of SP2 for me prior to this and on most others who are running it. Most everyone around me has built in wireless so aren't using the Aironet cards. I know I am using the correct SSID. I may have to call Cisco on this one as I have been unable to gain any insight on the issue thus far.

 

[AyrishGrl]

Guess I can't call Cisco on this one as it appears we don't have any support for the 350. So, any other advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[FWHATER]

Is there any way to check the browser interface of the AP, to see what channel it is broadcasting on ? The channel may be 10. Make sure your wireless card is using the same channel to see the SSID. Hope this helps.

 

[AyrishGrl]

I do have both telnet and browser access to the AP. How can I tell what channel it is broadcasting on? Also, I can't find anywhere in the Aironet client where it shows the channel it is using for a specific profile.

 

[AyrishGrl]

AP is using channel 6 as is my client.

Is there a debug command that I can use to see why my client can't associate with the AP? I can see on the router that it is trying to, but nothing tells me why it fails. It just times out on my end.

 

[AyrishGrl]

I did find some debugs and I can see my client hitting the AP. Can anyone tell from the debugs what is going on? I can't.

Corp#debug dot11 mgmt state-machine
dot11 state machine debugging is on
Corp#
May 18 16:26:05.166: SM: ---Open Authentication 0x8A3A58: Delete (2)
May 18 16:26:05.166: SM: Auth_not_Assoc (1) --> Init (0)


Corp#debug dot11 mgmt station
Dot11 Stations debugging is on
Corp#
May 18 16:28:42.846: dot11_mgmt_sta_ref(ref=2,sta_ptr=0x8A3A58,mac=000c.85c3.77b0)

May 18 16:28:42.846: dot11_mgmt_sta_deref(ref=3,sta_ptr=0x8A3A58,mac=000c.85c3.77b0)

May 18 16:28:45.131: dot11_mgmt_sta_ref(ref=2,sta_ptr=0x8A3A58,mac=000c.85c3.77b0)

May 18 16:28:45.135: dot11_mgmt_sta_deref(ref=3,sta_ptr=0x8A3A58,mac=000c.85c3.77b0)



Corp#debug dot11 mgmt msg
IEEE 802.11 packets debugging is on
Corp#
May 18 16:30:15.914: dot11_mgmt:[647D0E88]send auth=128, status[0] to dst=000c.85c3.77b0 seq=2,
Dot11Radio0

May 18 16:30:18.139: dot11_mgmt:[649F06CE]send auth=128, status[0] to dst=000c.85c3.77b0 seq=2,
Dot11Radio0

 

[GSTEFANICK]

A few things you want to do...

1) You stated your using a Cisco PCMCIA card.
- D/L the Cisco ACU (Aironet Client Utility) for your card. This is Cisco's program for monitoring the card and config of the card. Once loaded you will get a signal Icon on the bottom bar.

2) Are you able to get signal from the AP. Meaning can you see the AP, but you aren't able to associate to it... If so, are you using WEP in any way??

 

[AyrishGrl]

I am already using the ACU. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the latest version. Our WEP key is assigned by the AP and not specified by the client. When I attempt to connect to this network the Aironet monitor shows n/a for link quality and the SSID will go from n/a to the correct name. Eventually everything just times out. The debugs I posted earlier show my laptop hitting the wireless router, just not associating for some unknown reason.

 

[GSTEFANICK]

in the acu ... you have the opion for open and shared key.... switch it from the one it;s on now to the other... if not set correctly you will have connection issues...

 

[GSTEFANICK]

its the 80211 authenication mode ... normally found in advanced... you have open share auto... try each of these to rule this out...