WIFI CF Card Help

[hockeydude]

Ok, I have the card on the PC and the PPC set up and connected. I can sync with Activesync, but I cant get it to connect to the net. I have tried everything. I enabled ICS on my system and still nothing! This is the first time I have ever done this, and I dont really know what im doing. So a step by step would be great. Im using 56k, The PCI card is a Belkin and the CF card is a Ambicom. Thanks for any help.

[KidKomputer]

I'm pretty sure there's an passthrough option in Activesync that you need to set too.

[Sooner Al]

Ok, I have the card on the PC and the PPC set up and connected. I can sync with Activesync, but I cant get it to connect to the net. I have tried everything. I enabled ICS on my system and still nothing! This is the first time I have ever done this, and I dont really know what im doing. So a step by step would be great. Im using 56k, The PCI card is a Belkin and the CF card is a Ambicom. Thanks for any help.

I would download and install both vxUtil and vxIPConfig to help you troubleshoot this problem. You can see if your getting a valid IP and if the DNS information is correct. Also, you can ping local and remote hosts by name or IP to troubleshoot.

http://www.cam.com/vxutil.html
http://www.cam.com/vxipconfig.html

Look at this thread from the PocketPC Passion site for help using those tools...

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32108&highlight=vxutil

Also, I recommend you follow Chris De Herrera's Recommendations in his Connection Manager FAQ and set everything to Work Settings, Work Settings and Work.

http://www.cewindows.net/faqs/connectionmanager.htm

Note the comment about checking the This Network Connects to the Internet checkbox in the Work Settings in the second (middle) drop down box.

Also, MS has a Connection Manager How-To page that may help...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/resources/support/pocketpc/support_topic.asp?cid=1&tid=5

Since you can ActiveSync via the wireless link your ESSID/SSID and WEP keys are Ok and you can concentrate getting internet connectivity...

Note that ActiveSync Pass Through has NOTHING to do with this issue...

[hockeydude]

Ok, I have both of those programs, but Im still confused. The ip that my PPC is getting is really wierd. 169.254.**.** That is the first two sets of numbers. Shouldnt it be like 168.192 or something like that? I really dont get any of this. :( Also, last night I reinstalled all the drivers and the ICS and now I cant get it to Activesync either. I dont know what is wrong. I didnt mention before, this is an Ad-Hoc Connection between the desktop and the PPC. I have the CF card set to use a server assigned IP and such.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Are you connecting your Wi-Fi devices via ad-hoc (point-to-point) mode or via infrastructure mode (using a wap)? You mentioned your PC WiFi device and your PPC WiFi device but there's no mention of a WAP (wireless access point).

If you are going point-to-point, then your activities will be limited to ActiveSync and File Sharing. If you are using a WAP, then it's probably just a matter of configuring your connection manager correctly. Assuming you're using a PPC2002 device, I have my connection manager settings typically set to Internet, Internet, Work.

As for the IP address, that's the typical private IP address that gets assigned if you haven't specified any special TCP/IP settings. What OS are you using? WinXP?

[hockeydude]

Well, thats not what I have heard and read in other places. I have seen some articles and been told that it is possible to use Interent over an Ad-Hoc connection. It just requires a lot of work.....ICS or Proxy...something like that.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Well, thats not what I have heard and read in other places. I have seen some articles and been told that it is possible to use Interent over an Ad-Hoc connection. It just requires a lot of work.....ICS or Proxy...something like that.
Technically I've always figured there to be a way to bridge the ad-hoc connection with the internet connection, but I've yet to hear someone on this board achieve it.

Good luck and let us know if you find the method of achieving this. If you can afford it, I would still recommend investing in a WAP or WiFi Router. Much less headache overall.

[hockeydude]

Isnt that what ICS does?

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Isnt that what ICS does?
ICS will allow you to easily share an internet connection when your computers are all networked via an Ethernet hub (or a WiFi router which serves the same purpose in terms of network hubs). A WAP would just naturally extend the hub to include WiFi connections (in other words, all systems physically connected to the hub sees the wireless machines just as if they were physically connected as well). With your main desktop as the dial-up machine, you're essentially appointing it the role of internet gateway to which all other machines on that network will go to for public connections (this also opens up a host of security issues, but that's a different topic).

Point-to-point (in this case ad-hoc) connections are vastly different. There is no hub. There is no router. It's just a single connection. You'd have to find a way to bridge that point-to-point connection with a dial-up connection. I just haven't yet seen or heard of ICS working in these conditions (and I have tried myself).

[hockeydude]

ok, I see what your saying...but I still think there is a way to do it. I have seen posts about it on this forum and at Brighthand on other people doing it....atleast I think. :D I also found this website: http://www.cnds.jhu.edu/research/networks/archipelago/ which talks about doing it. (I dont understand it though.) If I cant get this to work, what type of hardware(other then the CF card) would I need? I think this would work.....could you please confirm:

http://www.computers4sure.com/product.asp?productid=287299&affid=874&adid=874

It has a 56k Modem connection, which is exactly what I need! If I got that, would I need any other hardware?? I really dont want to get messed up with the wrong hardware again.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

ok, I see what your saying...but I still think there is a way to do it. I have seen posts about it on this forum and at Brighthand on other people doing it....atleast I think. :D
I personally haven't seen any posts from this forum showing this to be possible (though it's possible I may have just missed them). I'm a frequent poster here (as you can see from my post count), so I've seen quite a few discussions on this topic.

I also found this website: http://www.cnds.jhu.edu/research/networks/archipelago/ which talks about doing it. (I dont understand it though.)
Just prerused it and it's discussing a "project" that would enable multiple ad-hoc connections to link together and access the internet. The project itself seems to be developing special software to make this happen. They're also describing specific components they're describing as "Archipelago nodes" that would be required, so I wouldn't look think this is something you can leverage with your home network.

If I cant get this to work, what type of hardware(other then the CF card) would I need? I think this would work.....could you please confirm:

http://www.computers4sure.com/product.asp?productid=287299&affid=874&adid=874

It has a 56k Modem connection, which is exactly what I need! If I got that, would I need any other hardware?? I really dont want to get messed up with the wrong hardware again.
Yes. That would work perfectly. My only reservation is that it doesn't mention (from what I can see) how many physical ethernet ports it supports (there is an inbound port for a broadband connection, but I think that's it). If all of your devices will be wireless, then this becomes a moot concern, but if you think you might be adding additional systems to your network in the future, then it's nice to know that physical connections are an option. Otherwise, you're requiring another WiFi receiver for every new system you add. Perhaps not a big deal, but something to consider.

[Sooner Al]

...at these pages for additional help. Modify as needed for your case...

http://www.pc-counselor.com/ad-hoc.htm

Note David Hettel's, an MS-MVP for Mobile Devices, advice in this thread...

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32503&highlight=adhoc

Windows ICS help...

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/

I don't do ad-hoc, I have a wireless access point, but I do have ICS setup on my home LAN and my iPAQ 3835 gets its IP and DNS routing information from an XP Pro ICS box. My access point is setup as bridge which means its built-in DHCP server and NAT functions are turned off.

http://www.oecadvantage.net/ajarvi/The_Illustrated_Network.html

[hockeydude]

This seems very possible on WinXP, so how come it is so hard to set up on Windows 98. Both have ICS, so what am I missing?

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

This seems very possible on WinXP, so how come it is so hard to set up on Windows 98. Both have ICS, so what am I missing?
WinXP is simply a better, more comprehensive OS. Also realize that ICS was first introduced with Win98SE (it wasn't even a part of the original Win98 OS).

[hockeydude]

But....does that mean that it is possible then? I have Win98SE. I think if it can be done in XP then it can be done in 98SE without too much trouble.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Sorry Hockeydude, I can't help you beyond this point. The link provided by Sooner Al was the first information I've ever seen on getting this to work in ad-hoc mode. If those instructions don't get you through, then you'll either need to continue looking for someone who's done it (may take a while as most eveyone uses a router or wap) or just get yourself that router you were looking at.

[gwinter]

I wrote a guide (http://www.geocities.com/grieg_winter/adhoc/index.html) on using ICS with wireless adapters in ad-hoc mode, but using Windows XP.

I hope the workings of it is similiar, although they look very different in the Network Properties panel. In that case, a few things that might be helpful:
Make sure no other DHCP server is on network
The host where the dail-up adapter is will have its wireless network adapter set to 192.168.0.1
If the host also has wired network adapter (i.e. 3 adapters - dail-up, wireless, wired), you probably can have sharing only one of the network adapters. In Windows XP, sharing can be done on both of them by bridging, but this is not available in other versions of Windows.

Good luck!

[Sooner Al]

...excellant post gwinter...I am sure that will help a lot of folks... 8)

[hockeydude]

Ok, Im back from a trip.....and I have once again had no luck with this. I have ICS set up on my computer. It is set to use sharing under Internet properties. I went into Network Settings under Control panel and set the IP and Mask of the TCP/IP Belkin PCI Card adapter to 192.168.0.1 and 255.255.255.0 . Then I went onto my pocket PC and tried those two numbers under the IP and Mask in the Program that connects my cards together. When I tried it, my computer gave an error saying that the IP above needed to be changed. So I changed it on my PPC to 192.168.0.2. Then I tried it, and NO Error, but it still didnt work. Then on my PPC I changed it to Get IP automatically and it keeps getting one of those Ip's like 169.254.***.*** which I think is for a VPN. But for some reason it wont assign the other 192.168 Ip. WHY?!? :( Someone please walk me through this. I really want this to work after spending all the money on it.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

A few comments:

-I've found with ad-hoc WiFi (and point-to-point networking in general) that I can only establish one successful connection before I need to recycle both machines. So if I turn off my PPC or if my PPC goes out of range or if something interferes with the signal for even a split second, I've lost connectivity and can't get it back without rebooting.

-*I believe* that IP addresses starting with 169.254.*.* indicate that there was no DHCP found to assign your PPC an IP address (and is thus a self-assigned address), which is strange if you have both WiFi receivers configured for ad-hoc. You've mentioned that you've gotten ad-hoc to work previously with ActiveSync... what IP addresses were being assigned then?

[hockeydude]

Im not really sure if there was an IP assigned when the Activesync was working. Right now it isnt again, so I cant really say for sure. It seems to work if ICS isnt installed. But I think I will need ICS to do the internet thing. How about setting up a Proxy.....would that work? or even a VPN

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Im not really sure if there was an IP assigned when the Activesync was working. Right now it isnt again, so I cant really say for sure. It seems to work if ICS isnt installed. But I think I will need ICS to do the internet thing. How about setting up a Proxy.....would that work? or even a VPN
You're experiencing the same thing I experienced when I tried to do ICS over a ad-hoc connection (obviously, I gave up). Couldn't tell you myself about setting up a proxy or vpn... if you have a WAP or a WiFi Router, you never have to worry about those things. It's basically plug-n-play... :wink:

[hockeydude]

DANG......SOMEONE HELP!!!!!!!!! :( :cry: :cry:

About the router....that is coming soon if I dont get this to work.

[Sooner Al]

Ok, Im back from a trip.....and I have once again had no luck with this. I have ICS set up on my computer. It is set to use sharing under Internet properties. I went into Network Settings under Control panel and set the IP and Mask of the TCP/IP Belkin PCI Card adapter to 192.168.0.1 and 255.255.255.0 . Then I went onto my pocket PC and tried those two numbers under the IP and Mask in the Program that connects my cards together. When I tried it, my computer gave an error saying that the IP above needed to be changed. So I changed it on my PPC to 192.168.0.2. Then I tried it, and NO Error, but it still didnt work. Then on my PPC I changed it to Get IP automatically and it keeps getting one of those Ip's like 169.254.***.*** which I think is for a VPN. But for some reason it wont assign the other 192.168 Ip. WHY?!? :( Someone please walk me through this. I really want this to work after spending all the money on it.

If you setup your PocketPC for a static IP address, you need to make entries for the assigned IP (ie. 192.168.0.2 for example), the subnet mask (ie. 255.255.255.0), the gateway IP (ie. 192.168.0.1 in this case) and the DNS server IP(s) as provided by your ISP (get those from your desktop/laptop).

Once you set those, remove the wireless card and reinsert. If your connection manager is setup correctly you should be able to ping by IP and name remote hosts.

Of course, this all presumes the ESSID/SSID and WEP keys match on both machines.

Did you look at gwinter's ad-hoc page for help. He lays it out very well...

[hockeydude]

How do I get that DNS stuff.......remember......I have never done any of this before.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Your internet service provider should know that. You can also dial into your ISP with your computer, pull up the command prompt (Start->Run and type "Command"), then type "nslookup" and watch the the numeric IP address that gets spit back. If that doesn't work, contact technical support with your ISP, they typically should be able to provide primary and secondary DNS addresses.

[hockeydude]

that nslookup didnt work...and my ISP told already told me before that they wouldnt provide Tech support for my networking problems. Is there another way to get those numbers? If not, I will try to email them.

Also, When I go into that VXutil program on my PPC, it gives me that weird Ip and Subnet......169.254 under my CF card, But when I scroll down it shows "PPP1" and then the Ip: 192.168.55.101 and subnet: 255.255.255.0 and gateway:192.168.55.100. I tried using those numbers in the IP and Subnet and Gateway of the CF Card, but it didnt work. Right now I have it set to: IP: 192.168.55.102, Subnet: 255.255.255.0 and Gateway: 192.168.55.100 under my CF card, but that still didnt work. What do I need to do yet?

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

that nslookup didnt work...and my ISP told already told me before that they wouldnt provide Tech support for my networking problems. Is there another way to get those numbers? If not, I will try to email them?
Uhhh... why do they need to know about your networking problems?

Just ask for the DNS addresses... that's it! You're asking for information, not for any support.

[Sooner Al]

that nslookup didnt work...and my ISP told already told me before that they wouldnt provide Tech support for my networking problems. Is there another way to get those numbers? If not, I will try to email them.

Also, When I go into that VXutil program on my PPC, it gives me that weird Ip and Subnet......169.254 under my CF card, But when I scroll down it shows "PPP1" and then the Ip: 192.168.55.101 and subnet: 255.255.255.0 and gateway:192.168.55.100. I tried using those numbers in the IP and Subnet and Gateway of the CF Card, but it didnt work. Right now I have it set to: IP: 192.168.55.102, Subnet: 255.255.255.0 and Gateway: 192.168.55.100 under my CF card, but that still didnt work. What do I need to do yet?

If your on a Windows Me/9X box go to Start -> Run and type winipcfg at the command line. That should give you the DNS information your PC is using. On an XP box go to Start -> Run and type cmd at the command line. Next type ipconfig /all at the prompt.

The PPP1 information is for a VPN link. Do you somehow have and are trying to use a VPN connection? Look at this small page that details how to setup a static IP address on a PocketPC.

http://www.oecadvantage.net/ajarvi/PpcIPConfiguration.html

Make sure you do NOT have a VPN connection defined in the second (middle) drop down box for Work Settings in the Connection Manager.

As a side note, its still possible you do NOT have the correct ESSID/SSID and WEP key set. That would also explain the 169.254.x.x address. Look at this thread, from the PocketPC Passion forums, for help with wireless encryption troubleshooting...

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32132&highlight=encryption

[hockeydude]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :D :D :D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU PEOPLE!!!!! I COULD JUST HUG ALL OF THOSE WHO HELPED ME!!!!!!........I was just about to post another dispairing message about it not working when I went into connection manager and changed a few things and also went into winipcfg and got the DNS....and now all of the sudden it works!!!!!!!! IM SO HAPPY!!!!

But, there is one problem.........Still no syncing. When I tried it gave an Error on the desktop. May have something to do with the Connection manager. Also when I click on the little internet connection sharing Icon, It says that only 1 computer is sharing the conection....shouldnt it say 2? Other then That, I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sooner Al]

...This thread, from the PocketPC Passion forums, has a lot of information concerning ad-hoc wireless ActiveSync from various folks.

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23501

What was/is the error message you get on the desktop?

[hockeydude]

Thanks again for all the help.....I looked into the Activesync problem, and I messed with it once and it worked and all was good, but the next time I tried it, it didnt work again. SO I will just keep trying. The main thing was the internet....so im very happy. I also installed VNC for Remote desktop access and that is great.

[hockeydude]

Ok, it works. I just wasnt waiting long enough. Im posting from my PPC! WOOOHooo