Lucent/Orinoco 802.11b PCMCIA cards lock up
I have three different versions of the Orinoco card. Two are the Gold
(128-bit WEP), one branded IBM, and the other a Silver (64-bit WEP)
card. In late November all three of them stopped working at the same
time. To my surprise the wireless network at this location was working
perfectly using the onboard Intel 2200BG card in my laptop. After a few
hours of troubleshooting, upgrading firmware, Spyware scans, and
Mountain Dews, I realized that the cards work perfectly on wireless
networks at other locations in the same laptops that would not work at
the first location. Not only do the cards not connect to the intended
network at the first location, they can't even find any of the other
eight networks that can be seen with the Intel card. To resolve the
situation and get the laptops connected again, I purchased three
Linksys 802.11g cards and all laptops are happily surfing again.
However I'm still puzzled, not something I enjoy.
So I sit back and add it all up.
1. The Orinoco cards do not work in any laptop at location A.
2. All three Orinoco cards stopped working on the same day.
3. All other brands of cards work fine at location A.
4. The Orinoco cards work fine at other locations.
I was left to draw the only possible conclusion that had been haunting
me since the minute the cards stopped working but I could not bring
myself to accept; There is a device at this location blocking just
Orinoco wireless cards. Wow.
I turned off all the portable phones, Bluetooth headsets, holiday
gadgets, microwaves, cell phones, TV's, wireless game controllers, and
anything else with an IC chip that I had access to. The problem
persists. As I feared before the mass shutdown began, the interference
is coming from a source that I don't have access to. This wireless
network is in a townhouse and the interference is more than likely
coming from a neighbor, great. If only I had a way make my wireless
card graph the radio signals on the 2.4 GHz band. There must be a way.
I took one of the Orinoco cards and with an omni antenna and GPS in
hand, did a little WAR driving in the Tampa area. I was able to find
two other locations that cause the same problem with the Orinoco cards.
Since I was driving, all I had to do was eject the card, plug it back
in and Netstumbler is chatty once again. Annoying indeed, but it proves
that the interference at the problem site is not a complete anomaly.
A few days later I'm browsing Engadget and see an article about a new
and affordable spectrum analyzer. For $99 I might just be able to find
out what type of device is broadcasting the signal which prevents
Orinoco cards from functioning whatsoever.
So while I wait for this gift from the Wi-Fi gods I ask, has anyone
else seen a problem with interference effecting only Orinoco cards?
Anyone pinpoint the problem yet?
There is an issue with normal WiFi and Orinoco cards. Back in the day, the Orinoco people figured out that if you could make the preamble of the wireless signal longer (or is it shorter.. memory is failing tonight), you could improve performance. They then proceeded to make a slightly propietary version using a long preamble, whereas the current stuff uses a short preamble. Incompatibilites ensue... so expect many issues with an orinoco card and normal 802.11 gear.
David Peterson
Defacto Wireless Distribution LLC
You're welcome.
If you're interested in WarDriving and using NetStumbler, you may want to look at this book:
WarDriving: Drive, Detect Defend
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836035/ref=nosim/blackthornsy...
I wrote the chapters on the use of NetStumbler. (Hint: Look at the enlarged cover shot.) ;)
Thanks for the info!
After a quick scan at the offending location it appears the Linksys
WAP11 problem is the culprit there. It's tough to tell for sure with
Netstumbler as there are so many AP's in the immediate area, but one
Linksys entry in particular is consistently near or is the last entry
before the card stops responding.
There is no error in Netstumbler however. It usually shows two or three
access points as active, but if you drive down the road a mile or so it
still shows the same AP's active and doesn't pick up any new ones until
I reset the card.
Also using the XP wireless scanner from the most troublesome spot in
the house, only two networks can be seen, theirs and the same Linksys
AP that appears at the end of the Netstumbler logs.
Looks like you hit it right on Thorn, thanks again!
It appears to be bad 802.11 frames that cause the ORiNOCO cards to go
into these error states. There are a couple of conditions which are
known to cause this:
1) Detecting an older Linksys WAPs, specifically the WAP11 v2.2 with
the 1.009 and 1.01c Firmware versions. Firmware 1.01j and higher
corrects the issue.
http://www.netstumbler.org/showthread.php?t=4820
As people have upgraded equipment and/or firmware, this tends to be rarer than it had been. You may still see occationally.
2) Detecting some newer APs. The culprit appears to be Belkin "Pre-N"
routers. We've concluded this since most people have noticed that the
last entry in their NS logs is "Belkin" before the lockup. The
NetStumbler community is still trying to confirm that is specifically
that model.
If using NetStumbler, you should see an error code such as "ORiNOCO
ERROR 0005" in the status bar. The number will vary somewhat depending
on what actually caused the error condition.