KS_Sci

I'm on my third day of WiFi. Yeah, I held out for quite a while, until a sale on equipment really made it necessary.

I'm using a Netgear MR814 wireless router/AP, a Netgear MA701 compact flash card in a Dell Axim X5, and a Netgear MA521 PCMCIA card in a Win98 laptop.

I have been using Ministumbler on the Axim. When I first installed it, it seemed to work properly. It detected several AP's in the area, including my 814 and a few others. I took it downtown, and it found quite a few AP's in a couple of blocks (I knew a coffee shop there had an open public AP, but five others popped up as well).

I've set up a profile for ministumbler so that I can switch my Axim to ssid="ALL" and no encryption. At home, I have my AP set up for 64 bit encryption, no SSID broadcast and exclusive MAC address permission.

So when the Axim is in "Ministumbler" profile, it should be in the OEM configuration, and it should find all access points like it did before.

But it doesn't; now, my 814 is invisible even when I turn the ssid broadcasting back on and turn encryption and MAC exclusivity off. However, the card configuration utility on the Axim has an AP browser, and it /does/ see the AP. Mini just has a blank page. I've tried turning it off and on, and I've tried soft resets--to no avail.

It isn't just at home--I don't seem to be able to pick up the APs at the coffee shop now either.

Is it possible I've screwed up some configuration? Should I just delete and reinstall Ministumbler? Or is there something obvious I'm missing?

It is the newbie forum, and I'm not used to being a newbie in any tech area; but I'm late getting on this boat.

Jim

G8tK33per

Um...try "any". Without the quotes.

__________________
"Benjamin is nobody's friend. If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he'd be pralines and dick."

Sons of Confederate Veterans

KS_Sci

$h*&. I hate feeling stupid.

Alright, problem 2; Netgear's configuration software on the ppc lets me set it to "any". But then it immediately latches on to my ap. When I save the profile, it gets saved with the ssid setting for my ap, not "all".

Even with the auto-config button unpressed in ministumbler, the ppc latches to the ap. Same action with ministumbler completely stopped on the ppc.

It seems like the configuration utility is being 'helpful' and resetting the ssid immediately upon finding a nice ap. That's actually something I /don't/ want it to do, because then I could end up latching to a neighbors ap. Hmm.

Thanks for the response. I'm reviewing some results from searches on the netgear card, ministumbler, and variations on "immediately logs in" or "immediately connects" or "immediately latches". If/when I figure it out, I'll discuss here; until then, ideas are welcome!

Jim

KS_Sci

BTW, I did actually shut off my ap, create a profile on the ppc with "any" as the ssid and no encryption, and saved it.

It will let me load that profile, but as soon as it says hello to the ap, it resets all of the information.

Jim

G8tK33per

Good thing for you this post is in the Lounge. Anyway....on the PPC set the IP and netmask to all zeros in the 'any' profile. Try that.

__________________
"Benjamin is nobody's friend. If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he'd be pralines and dick."

Sons of Confederate Veterans

KS_Sci

Turned off ppc. Turned back on. MiniStumbler works, and detects my ap, but Netgear config has big red X through taskbar symbol.

So I close MiniStumbler (using the switcher bar), and the Netgear config goes back to green.

Restart MiniStumbler, and it doesn't work. Close the Netgear config utility, and MiniStumbler immediately begins to work.

So the answer appears to be that MiniStumbler can't work while the card config utility is running.

Problem would appear to be solved. Run the config utility only when trying to log into a network, run ministumbler only when trying to sniff networks.

Thanks for your help!

Jim

wrzwaldo

As has been said for both versions now going on forever.

KS_Sci

Which of course is why a search for "ministumbler config utility" returns exactly two results in forever: this thread, and the "Cards that reportedly DO NOT work with...ministumbler".

I tried to reference the first thread, but got stuck in a recursive loop and had to reset myself.

The second thread addresses a set of cards which does not include the Netgear MA701, so it does not apply.

Searches on variations of "ministumbler stops working", "ministumbler configuration", "netgear ministumbler config", and the familiar "ministumbler configuration utility" also returned no useful results.

I also didn't see it covered in the FAQ's, there is no help to consult, and the other guides weren't helping. The owners manual for my wireless materials, and the online support, do not address how to use a Netstumbler-like utility in conjunction with the OEM config utility.

So unless the discussions about this topic which have been going on "forever" are hidden somewhere that "search" can't find, they would appear to be nonexistant. Unless, perhaps there is some other parsing of search terms which works for you. Since it is non-obvious to a new user (at least this one), perhaps a little less snotty sarcasm is in order...particularly in the new user forum?

I don't really see where your post was helpful or on-topic at all.

You /might/ consider watching a new user's problem solving strategy and how it works out, and think about that strategy when deciding what to add or change in the FAQ, guides, and Readme files.

Or, you could just continue being rude.

Jim

p.s.--Thank you to G8tK33per for providing me with useful guidance in finding the solution.

wrzwaldo

I was just pointing out it was out there. If you read it as being rude well thems the breaks! You could have also elected to ignore my post but you did't so what does that say? There is also an ignore list and it works great.