Dell Latitude 3380 / RADIUS / Wi-Fi Connectivity Issue

[MYK-IT]

Strange one...

 

We have a batch of Dell Latitude 3380 laptops, all setup to connect to a dedicated (Ruckus) WLAN, authenticated using RADIUS etc. that are experiencing random network drops.

(Similar issue: https://www.dell.com/community/Latitude/Dell-3380-WiFi-problem/td-p/6191878)

 

When first built, they were dropping (with no error logs) after a few minutes.

 

I rebuilt, with latest firmware / Dell CAB drivers etc and also disabled the power management for the wireless card too.... left them connected, constant pinging etc.. thought I had cracked it.

 

However, now (not all of them mind) appear to be playing up again.

 

Ruckus and RADIUS all appear fine, no error logs etc. (note I also have a few other model of laptops configured the same way and they don't drop). l'm contemplating trying an alternative USB Wi-Fi adaptor too.

 

The current (quick) fix is by to go to Ruckus ZD, select 'Monitor > Wireless Clients' and force disconnect the affected client (big red cross) - It then immediately shows as connected again and can ping / access the network.

 

Thanks,

 

Update:

Just to clarify, the laptops always show as connected within Ruckus ZD and locally in network / Wi-Fi status, they just cannot communicate (e.g. ping etc) on the network.

Edited September 4, 2020 by MYK-IT

[MYK-IT]

Still none the wiser on this... even tried a USB Wi-Fi adaptor - network dropped after a period of time. But still have other laptops, configured to use Ruckus/RADIUS exactly same way (via GPO) and they never drop network connectivity.

[MYK-IT]

Still firefighting with this...

 

Slow process of elimination really... so next stage, can anyone clarify differences / reasoning between authentication methods EAP & CPMK?

 

Reason being, laptops that don't drop are authenticated with CPMK, others that do are EAP (as shown within Ruckus ZD) - despite configured to connect using same method / GPO.

 

Thanks.

[MYK-IT]

Next update, feels like this is turning into a blog now..

 

The laptops are on, and stay on the network upon power on and including when first user logs in etc.

 

The issue appears to be when the user logs off, the laptop drops of the network despite still showing as connected in Ruckus - (having said that, previous testing has shown disconnection when someone is logged in! #confused).

Even a reboot of the laptop doesn't fix it. At that stage, the only way to remedy is to disconnect the client from within Ruckus itself.

 

 

Update: mmm, bang goes that theory... been logging in/out with different accounts and laptop has stayed connected throughout...

Edited September 10, 2020 by MYK-IT

[andy_b]

We had some usb wifi adapters that worked fine with Windows 7, but were terrible with Windows 10.

 

Dropped wifi randomly, no error messages anywhere - other than loss of internet connection (dns) message.

 

Tried power management, drivers everything we could find. In the end swapped to a completely different usb adapter (different chipset) and never had the problem again.

[CHiLL]

Still firefighting with this...

 

Slow process of elimination really... so next stage, can anyone clarify differences / reasoning between authentication methods EAP & CPMK?

 

Reason being, laptops that don't drop are authenticated with CPMK, others that do are EAP (as shown within Ruckus ZD) - despite configured to connect using same method / GPO.

 

Thanks.

Sorry to necro this thread, but did you ever get to the bottom of this? I know it's a lot to ask after 3.5 years.

 

We are encountering this behaviour with our Ruckus ZD1200 & R500 APs, on our HP ProBook 450 G9 laptops. Continuous pings will work, but we will see frequent drops, from one packet to multiple packets in a row dropped. The laptops are running Windows 10 22H2 and I've installed the latest WLAN drivers (v22.250.1.2) available from HPs website and also tried even newer drivers directly from Intel (v23.20.0). Power management is disabled (so the laptop can't turn it off).

 

We have two identical laptops, with the same WiFi module and driver version - but according to ZD, one is authenticated with EAP and the other with CPMK. The EAP authenticated device is the one dropping out.

 

We have a RADIUS server that adds devices that are members of our Dot1x authentication group into the relevant VLAN and that appears to be working as expected.

Edited February 21, 2024 by CHiLL