fulton.net.au

Quick Tip 121 - MR314 hangs with some non-Netgear NIC's

Introduction

Some users have reported a problem with the wireless-side of the MR314 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless router hanging when using it with some non-Netgear wireless cards.

Who is Affected?

The problem occurs when using the MR314 with some non-Netgear wireless cards, primarily those that use Agere (Orinocco/Lucent) chipsets, and most often when using them under Windows XP.  As well as Orinocco-branded cards, others affected appear to be Belkin, Dell and D-Link cards.

Users with only Netgear wireless cards should not encounter the problem.

The problem only affects the wireless-side of the MR314.  Users connected to fixed ports on the router are not affected.

The problem does not affect users of the ME102 Wireless Access Point.

What are the symptoms?

The symptom is that the wireless side of the router hangs, while everything else continues to work. The only way to recover is to reboot the MR314.  Rebooting the wireless-connected PC's doesn't help, even though the problem is actually provoked by one of the wireless-attached PC's.

What is the cause?

As we understand it, the problem is caused by a quirk in the driver for some wireless cards, where they repeatedly put the card into power-save mode to avoid lost packets during a regular network re-scan. Occasionally this confuses the router to the extent that the wireless-side hangs.

Is there a solution?

This problem is fixed in firmware version 3.27 and higher.  The currently recommended firmware version for the MR314 is 3.29.

The latest MR314 firmware can be downloaded from www.fulton.net.au/qt120.htm

Feedback

Did you find this Quick Tip useful?  Do you have any suggestions for improvement or notice any errors?  Are there any other topics you would like to see covered by a Quick Tip.  Please take a moment to send us some feedback.

Quick Tip QT121 - MR314  hangs with some non-Netgear NIC's

Version 1.1, 05-JAN-2003

Copyright © 2002, 2003 Fulton Network Technologies Pty Ltd.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or distributed in any form without prior permission.

All information contain herein is provided to the reader on the understanding that the reader is responsible for ensuring the correctness and suitability of the information for his particular needs.

VERSION HISTORY

1.0   15-JUN-2002   Initial Release

1.1   05-JAN-2003   Renumbered and updated for 3.29