7982: Linksys Wireless Bridge Can't Connect

[phil_lochner_61]

I've been fiddling with a 7982 in my home network and can't get this to work. Hoping for some advice:

I have an older Linksys B/G router flashed with DD-WRT. I have it running in what it calls "Client Bridge" mode, basically forming a wireless bridge between this device and my Buffalo wireless router.

With the 7982 arriving, I disabled the Buffalo's wireless capabilities, connected the 7982 to the router, setup both 2.4ghz and 5.0ghz radios and my devices are able to connect without a problem. Unfortunately, the LInksys just won't connect.

Looking at Connected Devices for the 2.4ghz radio, I'll see the MAC of the Linksys appear there, but it'll be the wrong IP address. The linksys is set at 192.168.100.3, but according to the 7982, it's at 192.168.100.233.

From a computer wired to the Linksys, I try to continually ping the Buffalo router and receive a 75% packet loss (or more). When I can ping the router, I'll get 10 straight seconds worth followed by a minute or more of timeouts. Successful pings are always in succession. I do have internet access on the wired computer if I manage to bring up a webpage during the very brief window it's pinging successfully.

At first I thought the Channelfly feature was confusing the old Linksys, but I disabled that and set the 7982 to Channel 11. Linksys page confirms it's connected to the 7982 at Channel 11.

Both devices are probably within 6 feet of each other during this test process, but they're not like sitting directly on top of each other. 7982 security is set to WPA, WPA2, PSK, AES. Linksys security is set to WPA2 Personal, AES and it does have the proper PSK in it.

I am getting this on a regular basis in the logs (be:04 is the Linsys MAC)

Dec 6 04:15:12 RuckusAP daemon.warn Eved: STA-DISASSOC-REASON,nimac=00:1d:7e:d2:be:04,func=ieee80211_recv_mgmt,line=5648,hint=recv disassociate (reason 8),rx_rssi=54,ack_rssi=0,reason=0,freq=2462,chan=11,stats=(1077,106386,1337,142762)

Also, getting this at least 3 times a minute in the log files:
Dec 6 04:35:56 RuckusAP daemon.info channel-wifi1: channel 165 now UNBLOCKED
Dec 6 04:35:56 RuckusAP daemon.err channel-wifi1: unable to set wlan8 channel to 165
Dec 6 04:35:56 RuckusAP user.warn kernel: findchannel:830 Couldn't find matching channel for chan(165) flags(0X80100)

The only other interesting data point that I have is that my wife's Kindle Paperwhite was having intermittent internet access to the new 7982 last night. Sadly I haven't really tested out my other wireless devices other than "yup it connected and seems to be running pretty well with better range than my Buffalo".

Thanks for any/all help. This has been driving me nuts the past couple of days.

One more note before pushing Post: While typing this message, I have been constantly pinging my Buffalo from my wired computer, and it had a solid 2 minutes of successful pings before timing out. Best consecutive rate I've seen yet but sadly it started to time out right as I started typing this paragraph.. grr..

[keith_redfield]

So...you're using 40Mhz channel width on your 5Ghz at least - that's where those error messages are coming from (it's a bug where SmartSelect is choosing a boundary channel that can't be paired).

recv disassociate (reason 😎 means our AP thinks your Linksys "wandered off"

Things to try/check:

1) Set your 2.4 SSID to 20Mhz channel width
2) Make sure there's only one DHCP server...(sounds like maybe the Buffalo is also?)
3) Set a static channel, at least while testing - and 6' is pretty close for 2 loud talkers...
4) Make sure you didn't set OFDM-only or anything else which disabled non-11n

[phil_lochner_61]

The 2.4 SSID is already at 20mhz. Just realized this, but should I be using different SSIDs for both 2.4 and 5.0ghz? I currently have both 2.4 and 5.0 set to the same SSID.

I assumed this was okay, otherwise I'd have to know the capabilities of each device and then figure out "Oh this one needs to connect to SSID Phil-2.4 and this other device needs SSID Phil-5".

I'll try moving the Linksys further away from the 7982, but the end result is that once I put the LInksys back where it belongs it'll only be about 15 feet from the 7982.

I'll also try turning down the transmit power of the Linksys, pretty sure that's an option in DD-WRT.

Buffalo is the only DHCP server. My test machine that is wired to the LInksys has a static IP anyway. For the brief periods of time that my pings successfully go through the Linksys to the Buffalo, I do have internet access, so I know that the routing works properly. It just doesn't seem to "lock on and stick" to the 7982's 2.4ghz radio.

I thought it was pretty unusual that when I get the Status of the 2.4ghz Wireless 1, the Linksys's MAC address reports .233 instead of .3. No idea where it's getting .233 from. If I power cycle the Linksys and stare at the Status of Connected Devices, it will ever so briefly show up as .3 before it's usual disconnection and then reverts to .233.

When I screwed around with this on Day 1, the 7982 also picked .233 as it's go-to IP address for the Linksys. Not sure why it likes .233 so much.

Not sure how I would have set OFDM-only or anything else which disabled non-11n. I haven't setup VLANs either as this is a basic home network. I basically opened the box, setup the device as per the user documentation, and fully upgraded the firmware once I started to have problems with the LInksys. It's been a very easy setup except for getting this Linksys to talk to the 7982.

Thanks again for your help!

[keith_redfield]

Can you hard-code the IP address on the Linksys? That will at least eliminate DHCP as a variable.

The pattern of successful pings followed by sustained loss suggests something is re-booting (a process, a CPU, etc)

Our ability to troubleshoot this is pretty limited with standalone AP's

And do double-check the basics like netmask, etc to make sure everything is consistent.

You might also try a purely open SSID just to eliminate encryption ciphers as a candidate.

[phil_lochner_61]

Messed around with it for a few more hours last night and couldn't figure it out. Looks like it's some routing issue that I can't decipher. When I plug in a wired laptop to the Linksys and set it's IP to 192.168.100.123, I check the 7982's 2.4ghz Status and it's showing the Linksys' MAC address with an IP of .123. When I change the local wired laptop to .77, it reflects it instantly on the 2.4ghz status page as .77.

DHCP also isn't being passed through the Linksys to the Ruckus and thus to the Buffalo router. Setting my wired laptop to DHCP just gives the laptop a self assigned IP - it never grabs an IP from the Buffalo's DHCP server.

Regardless, when I set a static IP for devices connected via wire to the Linksys, I still get the 85% packet loss (10 to 20 seconds of solid pings followed by 30 seconds of time outs). So there's just something going on that I can't figure out.

Fortunately the Linksys only provides internet access to a handful of devices in my home theater that I can work around. My PS3 and Xbox 360 have built in wifi, so I just configured their internal radios to connect to the now amazingly strong signal of this 7982, instead of using ethernet and connecting it to the Linksys, It just leaves my DirecTV box without internet access but at this point, spending $100 on it's own wireless adapter is better than grinding away on my Linksys problem.

Unless you have any other ideas, I'll probably end up buying that DirecTV wireless adapter, or just pay someone to fish ethernet lines down the wall to the proper locations instead of fiddling with wireless bridging.

Also any other thoughts on that 5ghz Smartselect problem with channel 165? It's still doing that many times a minute, can't be good for the device to constantly be grinding away at it.