Cisco Aironet 1200 802.11g APs & Cards ... Windows Issue

[PulsaMatt]

For some reason since installing the new Cisco 802.11g Wireless PCI cards in several computers they have many issues with Active Directory. On a fairly regular basis my test users are getting messages when they first try to login telling them that our Domain is unavailable. If I manually add their username as an account on the PC they can login, but about 50% of the time they dont run the normal boot-up login scripts that would run through ADS and through a GPO I have.

So I am quite confused. Its almost like the wireless cards isnt being initialized until AFTER the computer boots to a profile. Anyone have any ideas on this? BTW, the machines are both Windows 2000 & XP.

Thanks in advance,


Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[TreyJ]

Are you using the standard Windows client or Cisco's?

 

[PulsaMatt]

I'm using Cisco's client on both my Windows XP and 2000 machines that are using this card. Its almost like the Cisco utility isnt running as a service and/or the card isnt initializing on boot like the older 802.11b only cards did.

I could try the Windows client for my XP machines, however, I would lose alot of the functionality I get from the Cisco Client.

Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[PulsaMatt]

I confirmed the card doesnt not associate with the AP until the ACU starts after a user has already logged in (when using the Cisco Client software).

If I use the Windows Wireless control panel built into XP the cards will immeadiately connect to the AP on boot and the login scripts run properly. So this is a problem with the ACU and the associated services.

Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[TreyJ]

That is a known issue with Windows and the Cisco client. It has to do with when domain authentication occurs in the startup. Don't think it's going to be fixed any time soon.

 

[PulsaMatt]

Doh! ... my Aironet 350 802.11b only cards work perfectly, you would think this was something that Cisco would have discovered in any kind of testing ... weird. Thanks for the info, at least I'm not alone.



Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[mikescuba]

As Trey noted the bug/issue with login is listed as an open caveat in the relese notes on the driver disk that comes with the A/B/G cards.

But, realize that the current driver/Utility bundle is brand new (v1.0.0.30x) if you're using these cards like I'm being forced to, it's something we have to live with till they get a few revs of the software done. The b radio cards work fine because old ACU that they use has been around for several years.

Look behind you, here comes the bleeding edge of technology.

 

[bcastner]

For XP clients see the last paragraph of faq779-4017
You need an adjustment in Group Policy to permit the the logon to occur after the network connection.

 

[PulsaMatt]

My two cents ...

my only issues with this problem is that it seems like basic functionality. I understand that this is version 1 of the software ... but when you are a business networking company (as Cisco clearly is) you would think they would test their products to meet basic business needs like domain authentication and login scripts. *shrug* ... but then again Cisco is getting alittle buggy ... oh well ...

Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[XRJoe]

Having the same issue with the Cisco Aironet PI21AG cards. I've removed the cisco clients from the Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines. XP seems to be fine now however the 2000 machines still are unable to find the domain until after the Novell login. Guess I will have to live with it until Cisco comes out with a new release of their wireless client.

 

[bcastner]

See the last paragraph in faq779-4017
You make a small change in the logon process through Group Policy to restore Win2k style logon processing for XP clients.

 

[PulsaMatt]

bcastner ... tried that, it didnt work ... I had to remove the Cisco client and use the Windows wireless client in order to make it work. *shrug*

Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[XRJoe]

The Windows XP machines we don't have any problem with. The PCs with Windows 2000 do not load the wireless configuration untill after you get passed the Novell login, no matter how long you wait.

 

[TreyJ]

Have you installed the Windows2000 patch for authentication?

 

[bcastner]

As an experiment, use Scheduled Tasks to call the ACLU client software. Scheduled Tasks allows a task to run 'at Startup.'

You can then further experiment to see if alternate credentials are required. If so, Task Scheduler allows you to pass the alternate credentials with the Run As.. option.

It could well be a permissions issue, and the tests above should, if they succeed, clearly identify the issue as such. The permissions issue arises because until the user authenticates, the user likely (actually it is the local System account) does not have permissions to add, create, or start new service entries.

Try using Task Scheduler to run the client software at startup, and pass local Administrator Run As credentials for the task.

Bill Castner

 

[CTX]

All,
Contact TAC.
They have a beta rev of the code that is a fix for the domain authen bug. TAC sent us a copy last week and we have deployed it on several system. The new code rev is working fine. If you are desperate (like us) use the beta but the full version can't be far behind

 

[ppabel1]

can someone please email me the beta code??

Paul

 

[maharamDan]

I had this problem when i bought my cisco a/b/g card about 2 months ago or so. It was solved with a phone call to TAC. They sent me beta software and told me to call microsoft to obtain a hotfix. After that...things worked fine.

 

[PulsaMatt]

Has anyone tried the new firmware/drivers that are available from Cisco's site? I am going to be trying them Monday morning but thought I would see if anyone has already seen some improvements in them.

Matt Laski
Netadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.

 

[Antelope]

the new version 1.1 fixes a lot of these problems. They were very specific about how to upgrade though. Run the v1.1 install and select unistall previous application; DO NOT GO TO ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS TO REMOVE OLD VERSION - IT WILL NOT REMOVE ALL NECESSARY COMPONENTS. After the PC reboots, run the v1.1 install program again and it will install correctly. As always, cancel the Microsoft new hardware setup.

My biggest problem was step 5. Finding Domain Controller would always hang for 60 seconds or fail. This new version seemed to fix this problem.

Believe me, I've spent the better part of the last 3 weeks playing with Cisco 802.11g config, so be sure to run the upgrade as listed above.