VPN connection problem with wireless router in network
Brett
I posted the following question in 2 other groups
(microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web &
microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless). Please excuse me if I
overlapped some.....Also please excuse the long and detailed
description. Hopefully it's not too long to dissuade you from digging
in and helping me solve my problem. Here it is:
My problem is related to a vpn connection/remote desktop connection
problem. Here is my current set up: I have a cable modem that connects
to a Lynksys WRT54GS wireless router. My desktop PC is connected to one
of the ports on the wireless router and my laptop computer connects to
the network using a wireless card. Everything works fine until I try to
connect to my workplace through VPN.
Connecting to my office computer though the VPN and remote desktop is
actually NOT the problem. The problem occurs after I disconnect. After
having been logged into my office. I log out of the remote desktop
connection, disconnect the VPN connection and then when I go to connect
to the internet on the laptop or the desktop, I get a pop up box that
says dial-up connection on it (I have a screen shot of it if someone
needs to see it).
By the way, this dial-up connection, comes up with my companies name,
my username and my password. The password doesn't look like my password
as my password only has 9 characters. So it's not even the same
password that is stored with the VPN connection. But back to the
problem, when the box comes up, I can click "connect" or I can just
close the box, which I guess means I cancel the option. But neither
option seems to rectify the situation. So instead I'll do one of the
below work-arounds.
1) I simply connect the desktop to the cable modem. When I do this
there are no problems after connecting to my office. This is why I
think it is the wireless modem.
2) I unplug the power cables from the cable modem and the wireless
modem and then turn off the desktop computer. Then I restart the cable
modem, wireless modem and desktop (in that order). When the computer
starts up, I can then connect to the internet on the desktop or the
laptop without getting a dial-up connection box asking for me to
connect.
3)Running this command from the cmd line seems to work: "netsh int ip
reset ****.txt"
Someone at Lynksys tech support suggested changes in "Internet
Connections" from the control panel by selecting the radio button that
says "Never dial a connection" for my VPN connection. But I have tried
this before and after talking to tech support and it doesn't seem to
permanantly fix problem.
If you need any more detail let me know. I've looked and looked and
looked at other posts and have not been able to figure anything out.
Thanks!
Brett
or less detail? Are there other groups I should post my question to.
Here are the 3 groups I've posted this in so far:
microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless,
microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web, alt.internet.wireless
thanks
Jerry Park
the post.
Try changing the connections order:
Start|Network Connections
Click the 'Advanced' pull down menu.
Select the 'Advanced Settings...' selection
Choose the 'Adapters and Bindings' tab.
In the 'Connections' box, move your '[Remote Access connections]' to the
bottom of the box.
do...@xrexxvpnxc.usenet.us.com
> connection, disconnect the VPN connection and then when I go to connect
> to the internet on the laptop or the desktop, I get a pop up box that
> says dial-up connection on it (I have a screen shot of it if someone
> needs to see it).
Tools-Internet Options-Connections: Never dial a Connection.
That might fix it.
Are you starting a new IE session, or using one that had a connection on
the VPN? I find that I sometimes cannot refresh a page on an old IE page,
but a new IE session works fine.
--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5
Brett
it works.
Brett
do...@XReXXVPNXc.usenet.us.com wrote:
> Brett <Brett...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > connection, disconnect the VPN connection and then when I go to connect
> > to the internet on the laptop or the desktop, I get a pop up box that
> > says dial-up connection on it (I have a screen shot of it if someone
> > needs to see it).
>
> Tools-Internet Options-Connections: Never dial a Connection.
> That might fix it.
Thanks for the response!! I've tried the never dial a connection under
internet options and that doesn't seem to work.
>
> Are you starting a new IE session, or using one that had a connection on
> the VPN? I find that I sometimes cannot refresh a page on an old IE page,
> but a new IE session works fine.
>
Sometimes this happens but it's an easy fix to just close IE and then
open up a new one and that's no problem. Actually the problem that I
have happens like 1 or 2 days afterwards and not just immediately after
I disconnect the VPN. Someone else also repsponded in a wireless
networking group and suggested that I change the order of my
connections under advanced network settings. I'm gonna try that when I
get home and advise what happened...
John Navas
<1150738739.2...@c74g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>:
>Any reason why no one has responded to this one yet?
Despite the long post, you've left out many important details, which
leaves us guessing.
--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
Brett
John Navas
On 25 Jun 2006 16:39:27 -0700, "Brett" <Brett...@gmail.com> wrote in
<1151278767.2...@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:
Bill Kearney
"John Navas" <spamf...@navasgroup.com> wrote in message
news:q9i1a2du8tqjekvri...@4ax.com...
> Pretty much all of them.
How useless John, if there's something missing how about asking for it
instead of being rude?
While it's great to help people, for free no less, there's no need to be
such a jerk about it.
Bill Kearney
> open up a new one and that's no problem. Actually the problem that I
> have happens like 1 or 2 days afterwards and not just immediately after
> I disconnect the VPN. Someone else also repsponded in a wireless
> networking group and suggested that I change the order of my
> connections under advanced network settings. I'm gonna try that when I
> get home and advise what happened...
I've found IE can get pretty confused about how it's supposed to be getting
it's connection to the internet. I found the cure was to stop using IE and
switch to firefox. For the few cases where you 'need' IE you learn to live
with it's oddities. Otherwise Firefox is a tremendously nice alternative.
You could try resetting the various config options in IE. Or setting them
as 'disabled as possible'. Like usng the 'never dial' option, and not using
automatic browser configuration or proxies. But your office setup might
require the proxy. IE and windows don't easily allow you to reconfigure
applications and how they connect based on a per-session or specific
subnets. But nothing else really does either. As in, only use a proxy or a
VPN connection when making requests from IE for device in domain x.y.z or a
particular subnet. It'd sure be handy but there's no way to configure this.
I suspect that's more or less what's happening in your situation. Both IE
and windows are confusing themselves about what sort of connections should
be used.
I'd just switch to firefox and see if that makes things 'less worse'.
-Bill Kearney
John Navas
<wkear...@hotmail.com> wrote in
<WNOdnZ3NoLTXfD7Z...@speakeasy.net>:
>"John Navas" <spamf...@navasgroup.com> wrote in message
>news:q9i1a2du8tqjekvri...@4ax.com...
>> Pretty much all of them.
>
>How useless John,
I disagree.
>if there's something missing how about asking for it
>instead of being rude?
I did.
>While it's great to help people, for free no less, there's no need to be
>such a jerk about it.
That's just what your post was. No offense intended.
John Navas
<wkear...@hotmail.com> wrote in
<EJudnR75n6f0fD7Z...@speakeasy.net>:
>> Sometimes this happens but it's an easy fix to just close IE and then
>> open up a new one and that's no problem. Actually the problem that I
>> have happens like 1 or 2 days afterwards and not just immediately after
>> I disconnect the VPN. Someone else also repsponded in a wireless
>> networking group and suggested that I change the order of my
>> connections under advanced network settings. I'm gonna try that when I
>> get home and advise what happened...
>
>I've found IE can get pretty confused about how it's supposed to be getting
>it's connection to the internet. I found the cure was to stop using IE and
>switch to firefox. For the few cases where you 'need' IE you learn to live
>with it's oddities. Otherwise Firefox is a tremendously nice alternative.
Never seen any such problem with IE. Doubt that Firefox will help.
Jeff Liebermann
>My problem is related to a vpn connection/remote desktop connection
>problem. Here is my current set up: I have a cable modem that connects
>to a Lynksys WRT54GS wireless router. My desktop PC is connected to one
>of the ports on the wireless router and my laptop computer connects to
>the network using a wireless card. Everything works fine until I try to
>connect to my workplace through VPN.
Do you have this problem with BOTH the laptop and the desktop?
(I suggest you do most of your testing with the wired desktop as it
eliminates wireless as one possible source of interference).
Are they both running the same version of XP?
Do you have XP SP2 installed with all subsequent patches?
Any other connectivity related software installed (firewalls,
connection managers, IPSec VPN clients, shims, etc).
>Connecting to my office computer though the VPN and remote desktop is
>actually NOT the problem. The problem occurs after I disconnect. After
>having been logged into my office. I log out of the remote desktop
>connection, disconnect the VPN connection and then when I go to connect
>to the internet on the laptop or the desktop, I get a pop up box that
>says dial-up connection on it (I have a screen shot of it if someone
>needs to see it).
OK, that might be Microsoft PPTP VPN. Can you identify the program
that owns the pop-up box? Does it look like a Microsoft VPN
connection dialog:
| http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Client_Based_VPN_via_PPTP.html
at the bottom of the page?
>By the way, this dial-up connection, comes up with my companies name,
>my username and my password. The password doesn't look like my password
>as my password only has 9 characters. So it's not even the same
>password that is stored with the VPN connection.
It's customary for dialer to obscure the number of characters in the
password. Knowing the password length dramatically reduces the number
of iterations required for a brute force attack.
Can you identify what program is offering to dial? There are some
programs that have built in dialers. Do you have an old copy of
Netscape Communicator or Navigator installed? Do you have a 3rd party
dialer installed by a former dialup ISP?
Do you have any dialup networking connections configured?
Control Panel -> Networking
You should have a list of your connections. Run each one until you
see one that looks familiar.
>But back to the
>problem, when the box comes up, I can click "connect" or I can just
>close the box, which I guess means I cancel the option. But neither
>option seems to rectify the situation.
I have never seen a situation rectified (passes something only in one
direction). Does the lack of rectification mean that the dialup
networking box keeps appearing repeatedly?
Basically, what's happening is that something on your desktop wants to
do something on the internet. It doesn't matter what. However, your
desktop IP stack thinks it's NOT connected to the internet. So, it
cleverly brings up a dialup connection. You can make this go away by
selecting "Never Dial a Connection" but I suggest you leave it until
we figure out why the desktop is doing this.
First test is to see if you can renew the DHCP IP lease after you
disconnect from the VPN.
Start -> Run -> cmd <enter>
ipconfig
What do you get? It should be 192.168.1.xxx for the IP address and
192.168.1.1 for the Gateway.
Incidentally, when connected to the VPN via MS PPTP, you should get
TWO IP addresses like this (I'm connected to my office VPN).
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
PPP adapter WRT54G PPTP:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.111.141
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
Note the blank gateway IP address for the PPTP connection. This very
important and probably part of the problem. Hit the properties button
on the PPTP connection window:
Properties -> Networking -> TCP/IP -> Advanced
and UNCHECK the box labeled "Use default gateway on remote network".
I don't want to go furthur until you identify the OS and VPN client in
use.
>So instead I'll do one of the
>below work-arounds.
>
>1) I simply connect the desktop to the cable modem. When I do this
>there are no problems after connecting to my office. This is why I
>think it is the wireless modem.
Well, that takes the router completely out of the picture. The DHCP
client in your desktop releases the IP address lease, and gets a new
routeable IP address from the cable ISP. Effectively, you've reset
the network connection.
Try the same thing with the router still in the system. Disconnect
from the wireless connection and plug the CAT5 cable into one of the
LAN ports on the router. Does the box go away?
>2) I unplug the power cables from the cable modem and the wireless
>modem and then turn off the desktop computer. Then I restart the cable
>modem, wireless modem and desktop (in that order). When the computer
>starts up, I can then connect to the internet on the desktop or the
>laptop without getting a dial-up connection box asking for me to
>connect.
The grand reset? Well, that always works but doesn't prove much. The
trick is to find out what changes from before you connect to the VPN
and after you connect to the VPN. Try:
Start -> run -> cmd <enter>
ipconfig
(connect to the VPN)
ipconfig
(disconnect from the VPN)
ipconfig
Are the first and last IPCONFIG results different? They should be
exactly the same.
>3)Running this command from the cmd line seems to work: "netsh int ip
>reset ****.txt"
Hmmm... Could be the routing table is getting munched. Same ritual as
above except instead of IPCONFIG, see if the output from:
route print
is changing from before and after the VPN connection. Pay particular
attention to the Gateway column, the Default Gateway line at the
bottom, and anything labeled Persistent Routes.
You may have accidentally set a persistent route (with the rout -p
option). These stay between reboots and must be removed manually.
If you want to just "flush" the routing table, run:
route -f
to clear it. Ooops, bad idea. That disconnected me from the internet
and wiped out my mess of static routes I had setup for packet radio,
etc. It also wiped the default gateway. The docs says it's not
suppose to flush the default gateway:
| http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/route.mspx?mfr=true
Run:
route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
route add 192.168.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1
to put the local route and default gateway back.
Grrrrr....
>Someone at Lynksys tech support suggested changes in "Internet
>Connections" from the control panel by selecting the radio button that
>says "Never dial a connection" for my VPN connection. But I have tried
>this before and after talking to tech support and it doesn't seem to
>permanantly fix problem.
Yeah, that's a good first step to keep it from dialing out. However,
we haven't determined if it's the Windoze dialer that's popping up or
some other programs or ISP's dialer.
>If you need any more detail let me know. I've looked and looked and
>looked at other posts and have not been able to figure anything out.
As others have mentioned you are lacking in supplied detail. If you
read through my above comments, you'll see a large number of
questions. Most of those revolve around detail that you've failed to
supply, mostly in what equipment and operating systems you're using.
In general, the more numbers and versions you supply, the easier it is
to figure out what you're using. For example, the WRT54GS has 6
hardware versions and I don't know how many firmware versions.
--
Jeff Liebermann je...@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Brett
and also have been on vacation for a week.
In regards to suggestion for another browser, I'll put firefox on my
desktop and see if it has the same problem. Also I can try some other
free browser or maybe the new IE 7 or whatever the newest IE is will
work.
Jerry Park had suggested changing the connections order. I did that on
both computers and now I'm not getting the annoying pop-up that asks me
to connect to some dial-up connection. Meaning that the problem I
described is still there when I'm working on the desktop and someone
gets on the internet on the laptop, but when that VPN connection is
severed all I have to do is simply re-connect and I'm back working
through a VPN connection. So right now this work around of just
re-connecting is working fine.
Thanks so much for the help!!!