Assuming everything is set up correctly with the AP's (they all have the
same SSID, the same security configuration, and user the same DHCP server),
it's still possible that you're losing your wireless connection. This would
be a function of the wireless driver, not XP. Ideally the driver will switch
between access points seamlessly (without disconnecting). XP only plumbs
down the SSID and the security settings.
That said, you can try an experiment to check your connectivity: walk around
running "ping <ipaddress_of_database_server> -t -w 1". There may be some
"dead" spaces in your network coverage that would cause the driver to
disassociate from the AP. You can optionally experiment with ping's length
value (see ping -? for help) to see if the problem only happens with larger
packet sizes.
You also might want to do an "ipconfig /all" after you lose a connection -
to make sure you have the same IP (all AP's should be served by the same
DHCP server so you get the same IP address).
If you actually ARE losing connectivity (meaning that the network
disconnects), then you won't be able to send or receive packets, the media
state of your adapter may change, etc. Ideally your application would be
robust enough to accomodate brief network outages, but if this is not the
case, you can try using a static IP address (and excluding that address from
the DHCP lease pool).
If you do know for sure that you are losing connectivity, make sure your
network is at the top of the list in the wireless settings and the SSID is
NOT hidden on the AP's. Some wireless drivers have a tough time with hidden
SSID's and Windows only looks for them when all visible networks have been
ruled out as possible connections.
If you try to use a static address, as a last resort you might also want to
try changing the DisableDHCPMediaSense registry value. I haven't personally
tried this, but it might help your laptop think the connection is still
active (even when it is not). Only try this with a static address (not
DHCP). See
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=239924 . You may need to
reboot for it to take effect.
You are likely using a TCP connection for your database access. If you want,
you can try sniffing with netmon to see whether (and why) the database
connection is closing. (Does it happen on the client side or server side?)
Does the routing infrastructure you have in place take time to start
shifting packets from one subnet to another? If each AP is on a different
subnet then you're probably using different DHCP servers anyway and the TCP
connection dropping would be a side-effect of an IP-address change.
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"Dave Ploch" <> wrote in message
news:...
> We have recently expanded our site and now need to add 2 more access
> points. The first was an Aironet 1100 (Cisco). We have purchased two
> more of these.
>
> With all three ap's set to the same SSID / different channels I have a
> tablet (Toshiba running Tablet XP w/ Intel 2200b/g wireless) and roam
> around the area doing production management functions using an app
> (purchased) connecting to an MSSQL db in the office. Everything seems to
> work fine, it roams to each of the AP's but every once in a while it
> causes the app to lose communications with the db. It appears that this
> happens if the system decides to roam while a query is being processed.
>
> At this point the only authentication being done is MAC address filtering
> and no encryption. (starting out as easy as possible since the security
> issues are fairly limited in this installation).
>
> I read the thread going on about WDS and have read the tech notes on the
> Cisco site but this looks quite complex and I don't want to start down the
> wrong path since it looks like a significant learning curve.
>
> Any ideas on what we can do to resolve this issue?
>
> DaveP
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