KUDOS to whoever can figure out this wireless problem!

[Prizmm]

Okay, this might sound confusing, but try and stick with me.

Windows 2000 domain
wired and wireless clients
XP and 98 clients

Wired computers can log on to the network no problems. Its quick, their mapped drives map okay, everything is peachey. Now, we have tried to put in a couple Win XP wireless clients using Proxim external USB cards. Here is where it gets messy - I created an admin account that has no drive mappings and I can login to the domain no problem over the wireless. Now, when I try and login with a normal admin account that maps 5 drives, it takes about 4-8 mintues to load and still is very hit or miss on whether it loads at all.

Now, if I login with the admin account that has no mapped drives and then I logoff(not shutdown)and then login as the second admin account, it loads with no problems at all, all the mapped drives are there. (STRANGE)

So its almost like I have to login with this generic admin account to get it started, then logoff and log back in as the account I want to actually use. The first thing I think of is a "caching" issue, but I cant figure it out!
Its driving me nuts. Please help if you have any suggestions. Thanks

 

[zoeythecat]

What type of wireless routers do you have? Where did you locate your wireless routers? Are the workstations close to the wireless access points? Are you getting a good wireless signal or a weak signal? This can all play in how fast of a connection you get when you login and your workstation attempts to connect to the mapped drives in question.

 

[jcurtiss]

are you using roaming profiles? even if you're not, there is a lot of stuff going on at bootup. sometimes the wireless cards take a minute or two to start up and find your WLAN; much longer than a normal wired NIC. i have to watch the link light on my PC card on my laptop and wait until it stops flashing before i even attempt to log in. in addition to mapping drives, loading the os and settings, any antivirus or anything else you have starting up. it can take time. this is why, once you are completely booted up, you can log on and off with different accounts with no delay, but when you first boot, there is a delay with the account with the mapped drives.

anyway, that's my guess.

 

[schofs]

have you checked the size of the profile you are logging onto...
don't forget that everything in documents an settings (including my documents)is going to get dragged accross the air at log on...
if you are only connecting at 1mbs quite possible over wireless a large profile will slow everything down

 

[Prizmm]

Thanks for the ideas. They are Cisco Aeronet APs and they are placed in precise locations to cover the whole school. We are not using roaming profiles, I did think of that, it does sound like a profile thing. We are using Wireless "B" and we are getting an "excellent" connection, the full 12mb/s. I need to check the size of the profile, I cant recall exactly what size it is. Will it matter what size the profile is wven if I am not using roaming profiles?

Again, I can log on no problem with lightning speed - though I have no mapped drives attached to my login script. When the other admin tries to login, his takes like 6-7 minutes to complete and he has 5 mapped drives attached to his account. But if I login and the log out and he logs in,everything is great. Any other ideas? Thanks again!

 

[schofs]

ok then its not the profile if it works fine after an admin log in

have you checked the start up proesses one might need admin privalages and timing out this could slow everything down imensly

 

[zoeythecat]

Also make sure your wireless routers are configured properly.

 

[zoeythecat]

I would also check your client SSID properties for your Cisco Cards and determine how you have your wireless client connecting to your domain. In my environment we have Aironet AP-340 wireless units using Cisco Aironet Wireless adapters for our laptops and desktops. We have the Cisco Aironet Client Utility managing our SSID Wireless Profiles. We have the profiles managed to automatically pick up whatever zones are defined. I know you can also allow Windows to manage your wireless profiles as well. Point is to try and determine if something is not configured correctly on the client side that may be causing the slowness authenticating to your network as well as determining if your routers are configured correctly. How do you have your clients configured?

 

[Prizmm]

Well we are using Proxim external USB "B" adapters as our means of client connection to the Cisco AP's. We are using 64bit encryption and they are set to login to One specific AP which is in the hallway.

 

[schofs]

This does not sound like a wireless problem by the very fact that all is well after an admin log on unless the wireless drivers are configured to use an admin account
can the client be temporarly hard wired to the network and see if you still have a problem....

we need to start ruling stuff out!!

 

[zoeythecat]

Also try disabling encryption. He already noted that the hard wire is no problem. Read his first post. One other thing to try is a different wireless card if you have one?

 

[schofs]

not the client with the problem!!!! he says wired clients are ok he is now trying wirelsee client
I am suggesting put wireless client on wired network to see if he still has a probkem ith the wireless or the client itself

 

[zoeythecat]

More questions:
(1) Has wireless ever worked using these wireless cards? When did this issue start happening?
(2) I would try a Cisco Wireless card to rule out the possibililty it could be an issue with the Proxim external card.
(3) Is there a login script mapping the drives?
(4) As Scofs suggested try connecting via Wire on the XP Client (but disable the wireless card or take the wireless card out while you do this)
(5) Try disabling the 64 bit encryption
(6) Has anything changed on the network recently?

 

[Prizmm]

(1) Has wireless ever worked using these wireless cards? When did this issue start happening?

We just started using wireless in this lab. Note - we did get a laptop with wireless and a pc card to load up normally while physically standing in this lab.

(2) I would try a Cisco Wireless card to rule out the possibililty it could be an issue with the Proxim external card.

Not sure if I can get access to a cisco card, but I think we can try a Linksys external usb card.

(3) Is there a login script mapping the drives?

Yes, there is a login script for the students and the admin account, except for the 1st account I mentioned above where I have nothing scripted to map, the one that works fine.

(4) As Scofs suggested try connecting via Wire on the XP Client (but disable the wireless card or take the wireless card out while you do this)

We did this and everything worked fine, no problems at all.

(5) Try disabling the 64 bit encryption

Havent tried that yet.

(6) Has anything changed on the network recently?

Nope

 

[zoeythecat]

Well what cards are being used across the school? Is there a card you can borrow from someone whom is working fine? In other words, if you logged on to someone else's computer who has wiress and is working (I.E - try logging in as the same students and test the mappings on another machine that is using a different wireless card)then borrow this card and try it in your lab.

Just trying to give you another thought to try. I have Cisco Aironet in my environment as well and I have had issues with some other non-cisco cards (although not the same issue you are having)

 

[schofs]

try disabling applicions from starting up the msconfig util can tell you which ones are running...

might be worthwile checking to see if the zero configration service is starting ok as a user

 

[itsp1965]

Are both your cards and routers running the same wireless protocol? I have an issue in my home lab with a Linksys 802.11g wireless router and my Cisco wireless 802.11b card. It seems that I have manually change the SSID setting even though it can connect to the network and see the AP fine, but I am unable to connect to the network until I change the SSID setting.

 

[hiker0310]

Are both accounts using the same login script? You said they wern't. Can you post a copy of both scripts? What are the member groups of both accounts?