Microsoft MN-700 Incompatibilities with Mobile Devices?

[Jason Dunn]

A few weeks ago I replaced my <a href="http://pocketpcthoughts.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=614442&ut=44938f0ff8a6a864&found=2&search=MN-500">Microsoft MN-500</a> with an MN-700, which is an 802.11g firewall/gateway/wireless access point. It has worked flawlessly with my <a href="http://pocketpcthoughts.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=992723/search=5010D/ut=44938f0ff8a6a864">Fujitsu P5010D</a> 802.11g notebook, and the iPAQ 4100 series Pocket PC. Yet for some reason, I can't connect using the Socket 802.11b SDIO WiFi card, or with the Dell Axim 3Xi.<br /><br />When I connect the Socket card, it keeps blinking and trying to connect, but it never does. With the Dell Axim 3Xi, it connects, but the Axim doesn't report a valid IP address. On the router side of things, I can tell that the X3i has connected and received a valid IP (192.168.2.173) by comparing the MAC addresses. But the Axim is reporting an IP of...ok, after the fifth time, it found the correct IP address. How utterly strange! 8O [Later: the next time I turned it on, it had the invalid IP again!]<br /><br />I still can't get the Socket card to work however, and when I spoke to a Socket representative at CTIA in Vegas, this was the first they had heard of it. Any other MN-700 users having issues with connecting their Pocket PCs?<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> Well, it seems this was much ado about nothing, at least as far as the Socket SDIO card is concerned - after hard resetting my iPAQ 1945 and installing the latest Socket drivers for the SDIO WiFi card, I was able to connect to the network, enter my WEP key, and start surfing. Does anyone know of a good speed test site for Pocket PCs? I tried three but none would work properly. The Dell Axim X3i still seems to have issues with the MN-700 and WEP...

[johnm]

So far my new MN-700 is working fine with my Axim X5 and my original Symbol CF WiFi card. I've only used it lightly though (I'm still running my older Linksys access point on a different channel.) I usual like to phase in new stuff until I'm sure things are stable. I'll run some more tests and let you know if I bump into trouble.

[Dave Potter]

A little off topic...

Did you ever experience odd behavior from your Microsoft MN-500?
It seems to sieze up a couple of times per week -neither of the two PCs I have connected to it (one wired and one wireless) can access the Internet or each other. I have to unplug the power from the router and essentially re-boot it. I am VERY technical - so I am 110% sure that there is nothing wrong with the setup.

Just curious if you (or anyone else) had had similar experiences?

Dave 0X

[mar2k]

Did you ever experience odd behavior from your Microsoft MN-500?
It seems to sieze up a couple of times per week

I had the problem you speak of with the MN-500. It would freeze up occasionally. I wasn't keeping track of the frequency, maybe once every couple of weeks. I thought it was my ISP, but maybe not. Like you said, unhooking the power and powering backup (soft reset) did the trick every time.

There has been another firmware update for the MN-500 recently. I will say that since I did that I haven't noticed that problem. That has been a week or two since that update was downloaded.

Overall, I have been very happy with the MN-500 and I plan to upgrade to the MN-700 sometime next year. I really like the configuration software and the way it works with XP.

[jvcrabb]

I am by no means a wireless expert but in my experience I have found that some WI-FI devices using different chipsets (so far I know of two, prism and lucent) can have compatibility issues. I am not sure if Microsoft switched chipsets when moving from an 802.11b platform to 802.11g.

I have been trying to find a listing of manufacturers and chipsets but so far google has not found any sites. I definitely have problems with my setup at home due to conflicting chipsets (but I managed to get it to work using 64 bit encryption vs 128 bit encryption) and I have seen it at the office as well.

I hope this info helps.

[Dave Potter]

"I am by no means a wireless expert but in my experience I have found that some WI-FI devices using different chipsets ... can have compatibility issues"

Good point - but in this case, all of my wireless hardware comes from Microsoft. My hard wired PC, however is not. Perhaps this is the source of the problem...

Dave

[jvcrabb]

"I am by no means a wireless expert but in my experience I have found that some WI-FI devices using different chipsets ... can have compatibility issues"

Good point - but in this case, all of my wireless hardware comes from Microsoft. My hard wired PC, however is not. Perhaps this is the source of the problem...

Dave

Actually my comment was directed towards Jason's post. Sorry for the confusion, this was my first post. I guess I should have refrenced Jason's message.

John

[Dave Potter]

There has been another firmware update for the MN-500 recently. I will say that since I did that I haven't noticed that problem. That has been a week or two since that update was downloaded.

Just applied the firmware update - let's see if this helps!
Thanks!

Dave

[Rob Borek]

I was connected to one during the Mobile User Group Tour - connected just fine with an iPAQ 2215 and Socket WLAN card.

[craiglud]

There has been another firmware update for the MN-500 recently. I will say that since I did that I haven't noticed that problem. That has been a week or two since that update was downloaded.

Just applied the firmware update - let's see if this helps!
Thanks!

Dave

I had the same problem and found that my wireless telephone was causing trouble with the router. I moved the phones bases station to another room and also applied the firmware upgrade and have not had any issues since.

[daveshih]

A few weeks ago I replaced my Microsoft MN-500 (http://pocketpcthoughts.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=614442&ut=44938f0ff8a6a864&found=2&search=MN-500) with an MN-700, which is an 802.11g firewall/gateway/wireless access point. It has worked flawlessly with my Fujitsu P5010D (http://pocketpcthoughts.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=992723/search=5010D/ut=44938f0ff8a6a864) 802.11g notebook, and the iPAQ 4100 series Pocket PC. Yet for some reason, I can't connect using the Socket 802.11b SDIO WiFi card, or with the Dell Axim 3Xi.

When I connect the Socket card, it keeps blinking and trying to connect, but it never does. With the Dell Axim 3Xi, it connects, but the Axim doesn't report a valid IP address. On the router side of things, I can tell that the X3i has connected and received a valid IP (192.168.2.173) by comparing the MAC addresses. But the Axim is reporting an IP of...ok, after the fifth time, it found the correct IP address. How utterly strange! 8O [Later: the next time I turned it on, it had the invalid IP again!]

I still can't get the Socket card to work however, and when I spoke to a Socket representative at CTIA in Vegas, this was the first they had heard of it. Any other MN-700 users having issues with connecting their Pocket PCs?

Jason, just want to state the obvious, in case they were missed.
1. I'd try without any form of security, WEP, WPA, 802.1x, CKIP, whatever.
2. Then, just use 802.11b only, don't mix in 802.11g equipments just yet.
3. Make sure all the settings (channel, preamble, AP or ad hoc, etc) are the same on all devices.

If it works, then gradually turn on the aforementioned features to see at which step it breaks.

Hope this helps,

David
P.S. Have you posted the questions to the MS-operated broadband newgroups? MVP's in there are pretty knowledge, too.

[Jason Dunn]

Thanks for the tips daveshih, I'll give those a try.

Just to confirm the previous behaviour, after turning the radio off and on a few times, then hitting the "renew IP" about 10 times over a 5 minute period, I now have a valid IP and can connect. &lt;sigh> :?

[Paragon]

A little off topic...

Did you ever experience odd behavior from your Microsoft MN-500?
It seems to sieze up a couple of times per week -neither of the two PCs I have connected to it (one wired and one wireless) can access the Internet or each other. I have to unplug the power from the router and essentially re-boot it. I am VERY technical - so I am 110% sure that there is nothing wrong with the setup.

Just curious if you (or anyone else) had had similar experiences?

Dave 0X

Yup, mine freezes about once a month..reset and away it goes.....Otherwise this is great router. My grandmother could do the install and setup. ;)

Dave

[DHeckler]

On a related note, I installed the MN-700 so that I could take advantage of the WPA-PSK + TKIP 256 Kb encryption between it and my Dell 802.11G Inspiron. Because Windows XP requires a special update to make it compatible with WPA-PSK and TKIP, I just figured that my WM 2003 devices are not currently compatible due to the lack of firmware upgrades for my CF 802.11b Dell WiFi card and the lack of support in the OS.
Does anyone know if Windows Mobile 2003 supports WPA? TKIP? I would sure like to get those devices back on my office and home networks.

[galego2]

Jason,

If I remember correctly, the MN-700 introduced a setting within the control system allowing you to support only 802.11g or support both 802.11b/g. By default I think it only has the 802.11g turned on and in that mode it won't support your 802.11b devices. When you make the switch, you will have a speed decrease as well.

[Jason Dunn]

If I remember correctly, the MN-700 introduced a setting within the control system allowing you to support only 802.11g or support both 802.11b/g. By default I think it only has the 802.11g turned on and in that mode it won't support your 802.11b devices. When you make the switch, you will have a speed decrease as well.

Actually, by default it has the g/b mode turned on, and as I said in my original post I'm able to connect with my iPAQ 4150, so "b" mode is certainly turned on and functioning. :-)

[andbrown]

Interesting - I just recently got the MN-700 myself. I'm using it primarily with a Dell Axim X5 and Dell TrueMobile CF WiFi card, although I connect with a Viewsonic Smart Display and Compaq Evo laptop on occasion as well. I haven't seen any problems at all, yet - works great! :mrgreen:

[Glen8]

I'm using the MN-700 successfully with my iPAQ 2210 and the Linksys WCF12 (with updated WM2003 driver from Senao), with 128-bit WEP security turned on, in a mixed 802.11g/802.11b environment. I agree with another's post that Microsoft's routers are extremely easy to set up. :D