TechIdiots Forum

The latest Vistsumbler version (9.8 b2) reports my Linksys Router as being "DEAD" about 80% of the time (in the "ACTIVE" column). The display switches randomly back & forth from "Dead" to "Active".

The Router is very much alive, and Benchmarks show a constant DL speed of 4.85mbps (rated 5).

Also, other AP scanners, such as "inSSIDer" show a constant active connection with no problems.

The previous Vistumbler version I had installed (9.4) does not exhibit the behavior described above, and shows my router to be constantly "ACTIVE".

Any hints?

Thanks for your great software...

WWR

Are you scanning with both InSSIDer and Vistumbler at the same time? Do you have multiple Vistumbler windows open? I was just testing and it seemed to cause something like what you described when multiple scanners where going at once on the same card.

I did a quick look through the changes from v9.4 to v9.8b2 and didn't see anything that looks like should cause your problem.

ORIGINAL "BUG" INQUIRY:
The latest Vistsumbler version (9.8 b2) reports my Linksys Router as being "DEAD" about 80% of the time (in the "ACTIVE" column). The display switches randomly back & forth from "Dead" to "Active".
The Router is very much alive, and Benchmarks show a constant DL speed of 4.85mbps (rated 5).
Also, other AP scanners, such as "inSSIDer" show a constant ACTIVE connection with no problems.
The previous Vistumbler version I had installed (9.4) does not exhibit the behavior described above, and shows my router to be constantly "ACTIVE".

REPLY FROM VISTUMBLER:
RE: Are you scanning with both InSSIDer and Vistumbler at the same time? Do you have multiple Vistumbler windows open? I was just testing and it seemed to cause something like what you described when multiple scanners where going at once on the same card.
I did a quick look through the changes from v9.4 to v9.8b2 and didn't see anything that looks like should cause your problem.

REPLY TO VISTUMBER:
1) No, I am scanning with only ONE app. No, I do not have "multiple Vistumbler windows open".
2) Regarding v.9.4 & 9.8b2 differences you investigated, I did complete installs and reinstalls of 9.4 & 9.8 and tested each of them. 9.8 always exhibits the "DEAD" problem; 9.4 does not (whatever the interior differences may be).
3)After writing last night, I discovered that setting EITHER OR BOTH of following settings cures the problem:
1. "Refresh loop times(ms)": Change from "1000" (apparently the default) to "2000".
and/or:
2. "Time to wait before marking AP dead (s)" : Change from "2" (apparently the default) to "3". [Incidentally, we are curious as to the meaning of that trailing "(s") ].

If possible, could you let me know which of the above 2 tweaks would be preferable in terms of Vistumbler impact or performance?

Thank for your reply, and thanks for your great work Viststumbler.

WWR

The only thing I can think of that may have cause this is my addition of milliseconds to the timestamps. Could you possibly download v9.6 and see if the problem existed in that version (https://sourceforge.net/projects/vistum ... r_v9-6.exe)

I would recommend option 2, raising "Time before marked dead". I will continue to look to see if i can find anything else that would have caused this.

Andrew...

Per your suggestion, I uninstalled v.9.8 and tested v.9.6. The same "DEAD" problem occurs with 9.6 as with 9.8 (and 9.4, even though I erroneously reported 9.4 as not having the problem in an earlier post).

There is a difference! Version 9.6 exhibits the "DEAD" problem FAR less frequently (perhaps 10% of the time) compared to 9.8 (where the problem appears perhaps 80% of the time). The behavior described is slightly sporadic and unpredictable, although I have confirmed it with 3 different machines (including XP-SP3 & Vista-SP2), and 2 different routers.

With any of the versions, the tweaks I previously described apparently stop the problem, causing the display to remain steadily as "ACTIVE".

Thanks again... WWR