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63468
July 7th, 2004 21:00
Wireless disconnects with Cisco VPN Client
Hello All,
We have been working on D-400's & D-600's trying to get the wireless to stay connected with our Cisco VPN client. Quick rehash: We connect and stay connected through our Linksys WRT54-G Router while surfing the internet (tested for 24 hours straight without a single drop.) We also have Zero problems with our VPN clients when connected directly to the Wireless routers via a Cat-5 cable. BTW, we are using and old Cisco Client and one of the newest clients (3.5.2 & 4.04 respectively), and our results are always the same; Either we are dropped within seconds/minutes or it only lasts for upwards of 20 minutes before dropping completely. This is obviously unacceptable to our users and we have yet to find a resolution. Cisco has been contacted and all configurations have been verified with no noticeable improvement. Anybody have a similar experience out there? Help would be so much appreciated
We have been working on D-400's & D-600's trying to get the wireless to stay connected with our Cisco VPN client. Quick rehash: We connect and stay connected through our Linksys WRT54-G Router while surfing the internet (tested for 24 hours straight without a single drop.) We also have Zero problems with our VPN clients when connected directly to the Wireless routers via a Cat-5 cable. BTW, we are using and old Cisco Client and one of the newest clients (3.5.2 & 4.04 respectively), and our results are always the same; Either we are dropped within seconds/minutes or it only lasts for upwards of 20 minutes before dropping completely. This is obviously unacceptable to our users and we have yet to find a resolution. Cisco has been contacted and all configurations have been verified with no noticeable improvement. Anybody have a similar experience out there? Help would be so much appreciated
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oracle_jock
13 Posts
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July 19th, 2004 16:00
I believe I have the answer to your question.
First there was a thread on this at this forum link: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_network&message.id=18988&highlight=1350+intel+cisco+vpn#M18988
I'm assuming that you have Dell TrueMobile 1300 (or later models of TrueMobile) WiFi Mini PCI in the laptops. TM 1300 WiFi is actually made by Broadcom and rebranded for Dell. According to people on the thread I mentioned earlier, Broadcom doesn't follow technical standards closely so it causes Cisco VPN client to break. In my experience with TM 1300 in D600 XP Pro, wireless connection via TM 1300 works perfectly fine via any WiFi AP or Router, but when I open Cisco VPN client(VPN 5000 Client 5.2.3 3DES, old and EOF vpn box but no $ to upgrade) via WiFi I lose both internet/VPN connection in about 10 minutes or so. As soon as I close the VPN client, internet connection is established again immediately. I used to reopen Cisco VPN connection every 10 minutes to my office to work on servers and also practice on linux box etc I set up at work but it got very old very quickly. I initially thought the problem was caused by my netgear MR314 Wireless Router so I upgraded its firmware. I also tried upgrading TM 1300 drivers and bios firmware but still no go. I even tried Netgear WAG511 WiFi PCMCIA but same result after reading the forum thread. I didn't try opening Cisco VPN connection via Wired Ethernet since it's so much pain to get the wire out from the Netgear MR314.
I'd like to recommend these solutions:
1) Return the laptops. Or,
2) Replace the TM 1300 cards with INTEL PRO Wireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Card available at this Dell link for $32.95
( http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?category_id=&k=&mnf=&brandid=&prst=&prEnd=&sku=430-0913&mnfsku=&SearchType=&Page=DellItemsProductListing.aspx&spagenum=2&Pageb4Search=&InStock=&items_per_page=50&orderby=&mnfname=DELL&brand=Latitude+D600&SubmitSearch=&image_flag=True&refurbished=&c=us&l=en&cs=04&iCompatid=157951 )
See if you can make Dell pay for the replacement.
The product description page for Intel 2200 b/g card claims it's Cisco compatible with CCXv1 certification and I haven't found any complaint about it not working with Cisco VPN client on Dell forums so I believe it will work. But I suggest testing 1 laptop with it first before doing whole sale replacement.
BTW, someone on Dell forum wanted latest driver for Intel 2200 b/g at this link (http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_wireless&message.id=6842&highlight=intel+2200+ibm#M6842
) and he was pointed to this url at ibm.com (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-54956)
Also, make sure to contact your Cisco Tech support contact and let him know about the problems with Broadcom WiFi. Make sure it's in their Knowledge Base DB.
I hope this helps you.
ossifrage
1 Message
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August 4th, 2004 18:00
I have the same network configuration including a Cisco VPN but am using a Dell C640 laptop. My connection would drop when transferring large files (> 20 MB) over the network.
I reset the MTU packet size. This is an option in the Cisco Software. I moved it down to 1300 or 1200 bytes. (change it to a low enough size so the drops don't occur but high enough that performance isn't affected negatively)
The idea is that the VPN adds a wrapper layer around IP packets that may make the packets too large for some routers to accepts as valid so it eventually rejects them and drops your connection.
By decreasing the packet size you get within a tolerable packet size for the router.
Whether or not this hypothesis is correct, chaning the MTU size solved my disconnect problem.
Good luck,
Tom Bullers