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[9ds]

Hi All,

I have a DIR-651 and saw other 651 owners posting to this board. My router problem is that I can't reliably connect wirelessly. Any wired connection works great though.
My Android devices connect to the wireless no problem as does my Windows 7 HTPC. My Ubuntu netbook and MacBook Pro are BOTH having problems though. These 2 machines will continually try connecting but never establish a wireless connection.
The strange thing is, once I connect either laptop to the router using an ethernet cable, they'll establish a wireless connection a few minutes after establishing a wired connection. Any ideas on what's going on here?

My wireless network information:
802.11 Mode: Mixed n/g/b
Enable Auto Channel Scan: Enabled
Transmission rate: Best
Security mode: WPA Personal
WPA Mode: Auto (WPA or WPA2)
Cipher Type: AES
Visibility Status: Invisible

All of my devices have their MAC address assigned to an IP address for the router.
NAT ENDPOINT FILTERING:
UDP Endpoint Filtering:Endpoint Independent
TCP Endpoint Filtering:Endpoint Independent

I've tried 802.11 b, g or n only to no avail. I've created a new SSID with a new password which worked until I shutdown the laptops for the night. When I booted them up the next day I was back to the same problem. I tried making the network visible and that didn't work.

Here's a page from the logs showing my laptop attempting to connect wirelessly to the router:

Sep 1 11:16:31   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is associated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA
Sep 1 11:16:31   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: WPA2-AES PSK authentication in progress...
Sep 1 11:16:31   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is associated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA
Sep 1 11:16:04   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is disassociated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA
Sep 1 11:16:04   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is disassociated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA
Sep 1 11:15:21   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: Open and authenticated
Sep 1 11:15:21   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is associated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA
Sep 1 11:15:21   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: WPA2-AES PSK authentication in progress...
Sep 1 11:15:21   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is associated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA
Sep 1 11:15:07   user.warn: kernel: wlan0: A wireless client is disassociated - xx:xx:xx:xx:C7:DA


Thanks in advance for any help provided,

9ds

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!
What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under router.
Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on routers web page under status.
What region are you located?

Some things to try: - Log into the routers web page at 192.168.0.1.
Turn off ALL QoS or Disable Traffic Shaping (DIR only) GameFuel (DGL only and if ON.) options. Advanced/QoS or Gamefuel.
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices ON the router. Setup/Networking
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP under Advanced/Firewall.
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking.

Link>Wireless Installation Considerations
Try mixed G and N?
Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only.
Try setting a manual channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear.
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto.
Any cordless house phones?
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many?
Turn off WISH, and WPS under Advanced.
Try turning off Short GI, WLAN Partition,and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

Wireless adapter drivers up to date as well?

[9ds]

Hey FurryNutz,

Thanks for giving me a few ideas to try. Things are working to a degree but before I explain that, below are inline answers to your earlier questions.

What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under router.
Hardware version: A2
Firmware: 1.10NA

Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on routers web page under status.
What region are you located?
Firmware: 1.10NA.
I checked for a newer version (Tools > Firmware) but there wasn't anything newer.
I am located in Toronto, Canada.

Some things to try: - Log into the routers web page at 192.168.0.1.
Turn off ALL QoS or Disable Traffic Shaping (DIR only) GameFuel (DGL only and if ON.) options. Advanced/QoS or Gamefuel.
QoS and traffic shaping are now turned off.

Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual.
Advanced DNS is now turned off.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
This is on
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices ON the router. Setup/Networking
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
All my devices are assigned an IP address based on their MAC address. All my devices are setup to auto obtain an IP address as well.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP under Advanced/Firewall.
Done
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking.
uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming are enabled.

Link>Wireless Installation Considerations
Try mixed G and N?
This used to be mixed b/g/n. I switched this to mixed g/n
Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only.
I can't seem to find this setting although I remember seeing it once before.
Try setting a manual channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear.
I tried channels 1 & 6 with no noticeable difference. I turned this back to auto for now.
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto.
My security is WPA-Personal. WPA2 Only. Chiper was AES. I changed this to TPIK and AES now and I noticed a difference. Up this point I was trying to connect after every settings change. Once I switched to TKIP and AES I was able to connect. There's a catch though....
Any cordless house phones?
No cordless phones. Just 2 cell phones.
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many?
I haven't installed this yet but I know there are other WiFi routers near me. On my Mac book or Ubuntu netbook I can see a dozen of them listed. A couple are excellent signal strength while the others are half signal strength or less.
Turn off WISH, and WPS under Advanced.
I didn't see these two settings under my advanced wireless screen.
Try turning off Short GI, WLAN Partition,and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.
Done. All those settings are now disabled.

Wireless adapter drivers up to date as well?
I don't see any updates for my drivers for my MacBook or my Ubuntu netbook.

As I said inline once I switched the chiper mode in the security settings to TKIP and AES my macbook was able to connect wirelessly. The hitch is I can't connect the Ubuntu netbook while the MacBook is using wireless. The reverse is true as well, connecting the ubuntu netbook to the wireless first prevents me from connecting the MacBook pro wirelessly.
My Windows 7 PC and 2 Android devices are still able to connect.

I'm one step closer to my goal now. The next step is to allow both laptops to connect at the same time.
Any thoughts? This seems to be interference related but I don't know how.

Thanks,

9ds

[FurryNutz]

Your FW is out of date, you might want to try to update to v1.35NA and see if getting 2 wireless devices connected at the same time will be fixed.

Please follow this for updating:
FW Update Process

Don't load any saved configuration files after updating. If you have any specialized settings currently, take screen captures of each page for settings on the routers web page so you have record of them.  I would highly recommend setting up the router from scratch after the update using some of the wireless suggestions made earlier. You should be able to connect multiple wireless devices all at the same time. Make sure each wireless device supports the programed cipher type, i.e. WPA or WPA2 and AES or TPIK. Some older devices only support WEP. 

Keep us posted.

[9ds]

Hmmm, I'll look at updating the firmware on the router. Downloading the firmware update is easy but I'd like to verify it some how first before I install it. Is there an MD5 sum of all the firmware updates that I can compare my download with?

[FurryNutz]

Not that I'm aware of. Just download the zip file and unpack it from the zip. Send the .bin file using the web UI. There router will check to make sure it's a valid file for use before loading it. Just follow the FW Update Process. Please use only IE or FF for upgrading. We have seen problems using Chrome.

[9ds]

Here's my latest update. I hate to say this but this suddenly everything started working properly. I really hate it when things break without reason or fix themselves and I can't figure out why.

After completing the laundry list of things to try that FN provided, I was up and running but I was only able to connect 1 laptop at a time. ONce the first was connected, the second would try forever but never obtain a connection. They were each assigned their own IP address so they weren't stealing the IP address from one another.

A few days later I was about to upgrade the firmware on the router when I tested the laptops one last time. They both managed to connect wirelessly and it's been that way for over a week now. Go figure.

I might still upgrade the router firmware but why fix what isn't broken. Maybe on a rainy day when I have nothing better to do.

Thanks FN for all the help.

9DS

[FurryNutz]

I recently had tested a 655 with v2.00 FW on it. Had a hard time getting multiple devices to connect via WiFi at once. Once I upgraded to v2.03. They all connected well and all at the same time. I would update if you see this again.

Enjoy.