Very Slow FTP Download Fixed

When I download files from our FTP server using my notebook on the company LAN, the download speed was 10 to 20 kbits/sec, which is very slow compared to using a local desktop, where the download speed was closer to 150 kbits/sec. There was no problem downloading files from external Internet sites. The IT guy and I puzzled over this problem off and on; it was annoying but not critical. I tried different FTP clients but there was no difference. Then the IT guy suggested turning off Deterministic Network Enhancer (DNE) (open Local Area Connection Properties and clear the DNE's checkbox). When I restarted my FTP client, the download speed improved to the same level as the desktop.

It turns out that DNE was installed with the VPN software on my notebook. I have to remember to re-enable the DNE when I use the VPN. Still beats me why it only affected FTP downloads from our local server.

14-Nov-2007. It's not DNE. When I reset the network adapter after I start the FTP client, the download speed improved. IT Guy thinks my notebook may require an updated network adapter driver or BIOS.

Updated my Asus BIOS from 214 to 218 and the networking problem seems to be fixed.

15-Nov-2007. It's not the BIOS either. Updated my Realtek RTL8160/8111 network adaptor driver from 5.666.301.2007 to 5.680.1023.2007 and I'll see what happens the next time I restart my notebook.

16-Nov-2007. Success! My notebook download speed went past 130 kbits/sec on the first go.

Windows MAC Addresses

There's at least three ways to get MAC addresses for Windows computers:

• Open Network Connections applet from the Control Panel, Device Manager or run ncpa.cpl, then look at the properties of each network adaptor. This method is rather hit-and-miss and depends on the information provided by the drivers. My Intel PRO/Wireless driver shows the MAC address in the Advanced property sheet but the Realtek NIC driver doesn't show the MAC address at all.
• In the command shell, enter ipconfig /all. ipconfig provides a lot of networking information and you have to look for the Physical Address field.
• In the command shell, enter getmac /v. getmac provides just information about network adaptors.

The last method, getmac -v, provides just the required information. If you use the /fo csv option, you can even get the output formatted for a spreadsheet or database.

Why is it useful to know MAC addresses? If you're setting up a wireless router, you can restrict the computers that can use the router by specifying a list of allowed MAC addresses. If your company uses a software license manager such as FlexLM, you may need to provide the MAC address of your users' computers to your software vendor to obtain node-locked licences.

Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Constant Authentication

My wireless adaptor software now always prompts me for a password to connect to my router, even though I've already provided a valid password in my profile. Turns out that I had enabled the Cisco Compatible Extensions, probably when I was trying different options to get my wireless adaptor working. It's not obvious that this setting is enabled in the Intel PRO/Wireless client program. Try this:

1. Start the Intel PRO/Wireless client.
2. Examine your wireless profile. The client doesn't display the Cisco options if you the Personal Security radio button selected.
3. Select the Enterprise Security radio button. Now the Enable 802.1x Authentication Type field and Cisco Options ... button appear.
4. Press the Cisco Options ... button to display the Cisco Compatibility Extensions Options dialog.
5. Uncheck the Enable Cisco Compatibility Extensions check box.

It would have been more obvious to the user if the extra field and button were always visible but only enabled when Enterprise Security was selected.

Later .... The problem persists, so it's nothing to do with the Cisco Compatibility Extensions. I let Windows manage the wireless adaptor and (ping!) it works. Tried Standby and Restart options for Windows and there's no problems connecting to the wireless router. Could this finally be the end of the wireless annoyances?

Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG versus Asus HControl.exe

I thought I had solved my wireless networking problems when I decided to let Windows manage my wireless network adaptor. When my Asus notebook computer starts, it establishes a connection. However, when I put Windows on Standby and then Resume my session, Windows still has the same connection problem.

Since there are no newer drivers from Asus, I tried the latest drivers from Intel. They're available from either the PRO/Wireless 2200BG support page or use the Intel support site and enter pro/wireless 2200bg in the search field. Download the PROSet/Wireless Network Connection Software (WIRELESS_TIC_131935_V10.5.2.0_XP32.EXE) which contains the drivers and Windows GUI. After installing it, my wireless adaptor driver was upgraded to version 9.0.4.27. Now I can use my wireless connection after Standby and Resume.

As per course, I rebooted my laptop. Now the Asus HControl.exe could not start. On Asus laptops, users can use keyboard shortcuts to turn off and on features such as the DVD player, display output, speaker volume and (you guessed it) the wireless adaptor. I've fixed this problem previously for another Asus notebook simply by reinstalling the not-so-obvious ATK0100 ACPI Utility. This time, no luck with using the support software for my M6R model. Then I found another version but for the Asus A3 model. Installed it and it works!

Windows Network Places Rubbish

I was thinking of using SyncBack to synchronize files from an FTP site to my local drive. Problem is that you can't specify an FTP location as the source, only Network Addresses (or UNC paths, the ones that start with a double backslash). What if I create a Network Place? No go, because Explorer treats Network Places differently from Network Addresses. I think FTP Network Places is only a bookmark for MSIE, no different from having a "ftp://blah.com" URI. You can't map a drive to a Network Place without using a program such as NetDrive or WebDrive. However, NetDrive requires a Novell licence. Stone the crows!

Acquiring Network Connection Solved

One Windows XP computer at home took a 10 to 15 minutes to connect to our wireless network. Its Wireless Network Connection Status dialog would show a status of Acquiring Network Connection and that the computer was receiving packets from the wireless router but no packets were being sent from the computer. There was no problem connecting to the router using a wired connection.

Our other computer connected with no problems, the wireless router's configuration had been re-done to avoid clashing with the neighbours' networks and the computer's DHCP service and its dependencies were running. I started Windows Task Manager when the computer started and watched which processes were launched. When the wireless connection was finally established, I saw that ZCfgSvc.exe was also launched. Checking the list of services, the Wireless Zero Configuration services was disabled. I configured it to start automatically, re-started the computer and now the computer establishes a wireless connection within a couple of minutes. Microsoft has some information on solving this problem.

(Lest it sound like I knew what I was doing, I've been working on this problem off and on for a month. I had reconfigured the wireless router and computer's wireless adapter numerous times and searched high and low on the Web for an answer.)

11 Feb 2007. Ergh, wrote too soon. Another computer that was connecting successfully started having the same problem. This is too weird. Time to try a different tack.

This time, I reconfigured the router and network adaptors to use 802.11b/g instead of just 802.11g. The second computer started connecting again.

Back on the first computer, I used the Intel PROSet software to manage the network adaptor. That computer stopped connecting again. When I let Windows manage the network adaptor again, all was fine.

So it seems that different solutions are required at the moment for the two computers. One possibility is that the first computer was newer and had all Windows updates installed, while the second computer never had an update installed.

One hour later. I installed all 69 (!) Windows XP updates on the second computer and sure enough, it couldn't connect to the wireless router if I used the Intel PROSet software to manage the network adaptor. Switch to the Windows client and reboot. No problems. Turn on both computers and connect. No problem. Think I've finally solved it.

Configuring Netgear Router

Been having problems with our new home wireless network. Sometimes our computer takes minutes to get an IP address while other times it never gets an IP address. The computer used to work most of the time when I associated its network adapter's MAC address with a fixed IP address on the router. Today, it couldn't get a network address at all. Now I noticed that there were two other local wireless networks with the same SSID and using the same channel as mine. Seems that by default, all Netgear routers use "NETGEAR" as an SSID and use channel 11. Changed my router's SSID and channel and everything works now.

27 Jan 07. Only enabled 802.11g band on both router and computer. Can't see any point using the slower and less secure 802.11b standard. Wonder if I should change to channel 6 but I don't yet understand what "overlapping" channels mean (see Que excerpt).

Also turned on MAC address filtering to stop unrecognised computers from accessing my router.

29 Jan 07. The router and computers have been buzzing away without any problems for the last couple of days.