[Hardknox]

Computer A is using XP Pro with a Netgear WG311 wireless NIC and a standard 10/100 Mbit NIC. The 10/100 nic is connected to computer B via a crossover cable. All network interfaces have IP addresses on the same subnet. Computer A is bridging the wireless and wired NICs. Everything works great for a random amount of time. Both machines have access to the internet. At some point however, the wireless interface will go down. In order to regain connectivity I have to remove the wireless NIC from the bridge and re-add it. Again, everything will work fine for a random amount of time, and the wireless NIC will crash again. I have read the problem lies with the wireless NICs not supporting promiscuous mode. The suggested fix was to force compatibility via the "netsh" command. I have tried this to no avail. I also believe that if this was the case the disconnect would be immidiate and not random. Please, if anyone has any ideas what's going on, please help me out.

[Hardknox]

No one has any ideas?

[Monstrous Mi]

My first thought is that you are having problems because you have two NIC cards and they are even on the same subnet.

I would suggest you look at your network again and go to one NIC card. The best way to do this is to have your Internet connection attached to a router and then have any computers attached to the router.

It sounds like you have one computer on the Internet and the other computer connected to that one using a different NIC. This is not the best way to network.

[etaf]

is it only the wireless link going down - i have had a number of problems on a d-link and a firmware upgrade made it less troublesome butt i forced the dns ip address and its been solid for weeks now. so from going down upto 10 times a day to never in 6weeks

[Hardknox]

Monstous MI,

I don't know how much experience you have networking, but the whole purpose of a bridge is to connect two lan segments of different technology, such as wireless and wired ethernet. XP forms a new network interface for the bridge and virtually links the two interfaces together as one. Once the bridge is created the two interfaces no longer have an IP address of their own. There is just one IP address for both interfaces. A bridge functions on layer 2 not layer 3. This is not a layer 3 connectivity problem. The problem is with the wireless NIC actually losing communication with the AP. Then, it can't re-authenticate while it's part of the bridge. Imagine taking your wired NIC and unplugging the cable... It doesn't matter what you change the IP address to, it's not gonna fix the problem.

Etaf,

Was your NIC going down while it was part of a bridge in XP? I have upgraded the firmware in my NIC, but this is a known problem with wireless NICs in general... I think it has more to do with how XP creates the bridge. I also have absolutely no connectivity problems with the wireless NIC when it's not part of the bridge.

[Hardknox]

Monstrous MI,

I just re-read your post. I realize that this isn't the best way to network, however, software bridging in XP does have it's usefulness. For instance, in my case I have a wireless AP that is connected to a cable modem. I have a computer in my office with a wireless NIC.

Now, I'm building a computer for a client. That computer doesn't have a wireless NIC in it, and I don't want to run a cable all the way from my office to the wiring closet to gain connectivity to the internet. I also don't want to use ICS simply because I think it's sloppy, and it doesn't give me the control I want.

Bridging the two NICs in XP allows both computers to function as if the are directly connected to the wireless router. The only catch is that for the second computer to have connectivity, the bridging computer always has to remain on. In my case, that's not a problem because I never turn my computer off.

[Monstrous Mi]

Personally, I would put a wireless NIC in the second computer, remove one NIC from the first computer and forget about bridging.

I do have network experience and from that experience I stay away from bridging unless I need to connect two separate network segments which I do not believe is needed in your case.

[Hardknox]

Yeah, it would be that simple if I had the extra 50-60 bucks to go spend on a new wireless NIC that I won't need after I give this computer to the client. I'm quite aware of the alternatives to bridging, and I do appreciate your opinions, but the point of this thread was to try and get the bridge to work and not to find a way around it.

[nimsx]

Hi I have the very same problem... after a random amount of time the wireless connection dies. Here is my setup:

[Router] -cable-> [Computer with bridge] -wireless-> [laptop]

I have to stop & start the wireless interface on the laptop (so it reconnects) to make it work again.

Judging from the date of this post you have probably forgotten about this post, but if you havent and you find a fix, could you post it on here? (ill do the same).

[Hardknox]

Heh, yeah, I had forgotten about this thread, but I'm subscribed to it. So I saw your post. Are you using WPA by chance? I finally got my setup to work by using WEP instead of WPA. I still have problems sometimes, but only if I mess with the settings. For instance, if I remove the wireless nic from the bridge and try to add it again it never works. I have to restart my computer. But as long as I leave it alone it stays connected.

Let me know if you have any luck.

[nimsx]

doh.

I've tried WEP, WPA and no authentication but I get the same problem :/

What I have done for now is just use Internet connection sharing. it lets me use internet on my laptop which is ok for now.
But I want to access my network too so I'm going to continue playing to try and make it work - ill try it from a fresh boot and not touch it, almost like you have done. Also I'm just curious anyway as to why it's dodgy.

Ill keep searching for answers. Ill post here if i find any.

[Hardknox]

Have you tried setting your wireless nic to compatibility mode? If not use the following commands.

netsh bridge show adapter - This will show the number assigned to your wireless NIC.

netsh bridge set adapter 1 enable - Where "1" is whatever number is assigned to your wireless NIC.

you can also try putting your other nic in compatibility mode too... mine is.

[Hardknox]

I just had another thought as to why it screws up if you try to change networks, or disconnect and reconnect to your network. I think windows keeps the connection marked "not connected" until the device is able to register an IP. However, when the NIC is part of a bridge, the IP is assigned to the bridge instead of the NIC. Not that we can do anything about it if that is the case, but it would explain the behavior I'm experiencing.

[digitalhigh]

You know, I had the same problem with my wireless NIC for the longest time. It'd connect for a while, and then just drop, and I'd hafta reconnect it. This MAY work depending on your router's configuration. Go into the authentication tab for the properties of your network connection, and uncheck the "enable IEEE authentication". I did this, and the network hasn't dropped since.

[nimsx]

ill attempt that digitalhigh.

hardknox - i tried compatability mode n stuff to no avail.

recently i havent been at home so i cant try things. once i get home ill attempt to do it some more.

later