red dot o doom?

[rage]

Hey, was wondering if anyone else has experienced this phenomenom in other platforms:

Wardriving along, happily, and I come across a weird peer, with no ssid, and a snr of 0, but a secific MAC (different every time). The dot by it in NS turns red, and afterwords, very few nets are detected, if any, and those that are, never change status. Takes a reboot to fix this. I've seen this now, across 4 different laptops, of widely varying stats (p2-300,p3-666,amd 2400,p4-2.66) and across several Wlan NICs. Haven't SEEN it in kismet, but I very very seldom use linux, due to some hardware incompatibility... I seem to run across one of these a day, and once it's hit me that day, rarely does the same one hit me again. However, it always hits in the same place. Right as i'm coming up to the corner of E. Powell Rd, and S. Old State Rd. in Lewis Center, Ohio (43035). only seems to be an issue when heading eastbound, or southbound, leading me to beleive it's in the SE corner of the road (no buildings anywhere near there....) There are a couple other places where it does this, but that's the main one that jumps to mind.... ANYHOW, was wondering if anyone else's come across something similar, particularly in other software packages....

[wrzwaldo]

Hey, was wondering if anyone else has experienced this phenomenom in other platforms:

Wardriving along, happily, and I come across a weird peer, with no ssid, and a snr of 0, but a secific MAC (different every time). The dot by it in NS turns red, and afterwords, very few nets are detected, if any, and those that are, never change status. Takes a reboot to fix this. I've seen this now, across 4 different laptops, of widely varying stats (p2-300,p3-666,amd 2400,p4-2.66) and across several Wlan NICs. Haven't SEEN it in kismet, but I very very seldom use linux, due to some hardware incompatibility... I seem to run across one of these a day, and once it's hit me that day, rarely does the same one hit me again. However, it always hits in the same place. Right as i'm coming up to the corner of E. Powell Rd, and S. Old State Rd. in Lewis Center, Ohio (43035). only seems to be an issue when heading eastbound, or southbound, leading me to beleive it's in the SE corner of the road (no buildings anywhere near there....) There are a couple other places where it does this, but that's the main one that jumps to mind.... ANYHOW, was wondering if anyone else's come across something similar, particularly in other software packages....

What wireless card are you using when this happens with NS?

[rage]

happened so far with:
TI ACX111 based minipci card (made by abocom)
Buffalo WLI-USB-54G USB wifi adapter
Linksys WPC11 PCMCIA Card

[Dutch]

happened so far with:
TI ACX111 based minipci card (made by abocom)
Buffalo WLI-USB-54G USB wifi adapter
Linksys WPC11 PCMCIA Card

None of those cards are SUPPORTED by NetStumbler. They might work, and suddenly stop working, they might work perfectly on one persons rig, and on another persons similar rig be totally fubar'ed.

As repeated countless times over at the NS forums, and clearly stated in the included NetStumbler documentation :
The ONLY fully supported cards, are cards based on the HermesI chipset, which means Proxim/Lucent/Agere ORiNOCO Classic cards (model 8410-WD), and the rebadges sold by companies like Dell and IBM.

Dutch

[rage]

While I appreciate the marginally hostile responce, I wasn't asking if it's a NS bug. In fact, I was asking if anyone had encountered similar phenomenom in other software packages. If I wanted to ask if it was a NS problem, I likely would have done so @ the NS forums. I saw the same behaviour in kismet today, so, it's likely not limited to NS.... i'll see if I can figure a way to get a good packet dump on it soon....

[Dutch]

While I appreciate the marginally hostile responce, I wasn't asking if it's a NS bug. In fact, I was asking if anyone had encountered similar phenomenom in other software packages. If I wanted to ask if it was a NS problem, I likely would have done so @ the NS forums. I saw the same behaviour in kismet today, so, it's likely not limited to NS.... i'll see if I can figure a way to get a good packet dump on it soon....

Just stating facts in my post, so any perceived hostility in my reply above is purely a figment of your own mind.
Remember, just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get ya

Dutch

[wrzwaldo]

While I appreciate the marginally hostile responce, I wasn't asking if it's a NS bug. In fact, I was asking if anyone had encountered similar phenomenom in other software packages. If I wanted to ask if it was a NS problem, I likely would have done so @ the NS forums. I saw the same behaviour in kismet today, so, it's likely not limited to NS.... i'll see if I can figure a way to get a good packet dump on it soon....

You also said in your OP that

The dot by it in NS turns red

and

Haven't SEEN it in kismet, but I very very seldom use linux, due to some hardware incompatibility

So by that info provided I was going to provide the same reply as Dutch. The fact remains that the cards you listed are not "supported"and using NS as a reference in this case is pointless.

[rage]

I really don't wanna turn this into a Netstumbler discussion, so i'll make this last part quick.

NO card is technically supported by NS, judging by the compat list at http://www.stumbler.net/compat/ , Simply, some cards have been reported to work, some have not. At least, the compat list was the best 'official' card list I could find....

Secondly, about halfway down, you'll see:

Linksys
Instant Wireless - Network PC CARD
Yes

That would be the 'unsupported' the wpc11 that I had mentioned.....

You are correct however, the ACX100 (and i'm sure by pure similarity the 111 model) has a big fat NO by it for win2k (which I don't use.... WAS using XP, however, I've ended up moving to linux now, so the whole thing is kinda moot, imho....)

Oh, and the buffalo card mentioned, is a broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN chipset which is in the compat list as well....

Anyhow, I *did* technically mention NS, which was probably a mistake, it seems, at this point.... so let's start again....

Anyone out there noticed a phenomenom where their wlan card (or generic monitoring program) continues reporting AP's as in range (even after you're 5 miles or more away), and no longer updates thier status after coming across a specific AP? (i.e. the same AP seems to cause it every time) Seems the only way to circumvent this situation is a reboot....

[Dutch]

I really don't wanna turn this into a Netstumbler discussion, so i'll make this last part quick.

NO card is technically supported by NS, judging by the compat list at http://www.stumbler.net/compat/ , Simply, some cards have been reported to work, some have not. At least, the compat list was the best 'official' card list I could find....

Not true. Since the first version of NetStumbler, one card and one card only has been fully supported : ORiNOCO Classic cards, i.e. cards based on the Hermes1 chipset. That is also clearly stated in the included NetStumbler documentation, as well as been posted several times on the NS forums by Marius himself.

Dutch

[rage]

thank you for clarifying that for me, I probably should have gone deeper than the first google link. now that that's behind us, hopefully, someone has some idea about the odd behaviour mentioned above... ;]

[argh]

i've not seen that reaction in 'driving. my only experience is Kismet with Hermes I, prism2, and an old aironet card once. if you can pin the behaviour to *only* a specific location, then try to replicate the situation on other platforms, to rule out operating system-specific issues while 'driving. different OS's may react differently to the many possible choices available on FakeAP, airjack, file2air, hotspotter, the Aircrack suite, Void11, airsnarf, and sundry rogue AP programs.

or, go knock on the door at E. Powell Rd, and S. Old State Rd. and introduce yourself. he may be glad to meet you.

[carrottop]

I had a similar thing happen to me on my first wardriving experience. I use netstumbler on XP Pro with a Linksys WPC54GS. I picked up a network and it just got stuck. Showed it was still connected several miles later. The dot didn't turn red, though. Once I made it home, I was still "connected". The signal stayed constant. I rebooted and it was gone. This hasn't happened to me again, so I just assumed it was a hiccup in either netstumbler or XP.

[wrzwaldo]

I had a similar thing happen to me on my first wardriving experience. I use netstumbler on XP Pro with a Linksys WPC54GS. I picked up a network and it just got stuck. Showed it was still connected several miles later. The dot didn't turn red, though. Once I made it home, I was still "connected". The signal stayed constant. I rebooted and it was gone. This hasn't happened to me again, so I just assumed it was a hiccup in either netstumbler or XP.

It's due to the unsupported card you are using. Without looking I would say that card has an Atheros chipset. Hmmm, looks like Broadcom (the worst). What version is your card?

[goldfndr]

I've had this happen with an unsupported (heh) USB WiFi adapter - the Motorola WU830G. Happened in a particular spot in Federal Way, WA, and another in northern Seattle; I don't recall whether it was related to the dreaded error 0005.

My restart-free approach to coping with this in NetStumbler:

1. Press Ctrl+B or push triangle (pause scanning)
2. Unplug adapter
3. Wait for sound event of disconnection
4. Plug in adapter
5. Wait for sound event of recognition
6. Press Ctrl+B or push triangle (resume scanning)

Of course, since the adapter is unsupported, these instructions might not work for anyone else, but they did for me.

[carrottop]

I had a similar thing happen to me on my first wardriving experience. I use netstumbler on XP Pro with a Linksys WPC54GS. I picked up a network and it just got stuck. Showed it was still connected several miles later. The dot didn't turn red, though. Once I made it home, I was still "connected". The signal stayed constant. I rebooted and it was gone. This hasn't happened to me again, so I just assumed it was a hiccup in either netstumbler or XP.

It's due to the unsupported card you are using. Without looking I would say that card has an Atheros chipset. Hmmm, looks like Broadcom (the worst). What version is your card?

I believe it's version 1. I'm not exactly sure how to find the version. In device manager it says "WRC54GS V1", so I figured version 1, but in netstumbler it says the same "WPC54GS V1", but out from it is "NDIS 5.1". How do I find what chipset it uses?