DELL Wireless Issues

[ITGURU]

We have a stable, fast WiFi network which all other clients have no issues connecting via Device authentication using RADIUS and NPS authentication. Putting the government netbook devices to useful use (Dell 3190) we've had problems with the WiFi on them.

Driver has been updated to the latest from the site and the following issue occurs.

Laptop is on the domain and logs in fine using Ethernet.

However, I then connect the the device to the WiFi SSID, it connects straight away but comes up as 'unidentified network' and a 169.x.x.x address.

Patiently waiting between 5 minutes or even an hour or more on one today when it says this, the connection eventually turns to Domain and receives a proper IP address on the network just by leaving the network and connections screen open.

As soon as I click connect on the SSID, it registers on the NPS server and says granted access to a user, with the name of the device.

In Unify management it shows the device being connected to the AP with the 169.x.x.x address and then eventually when it decides to connect, changes to the proper network address and can login.

Any other device (non Dell) that we connect to the same WiFi network connects and gets the proper dhcp address immediately, so definitely something with the dells.

Not a fan of Dell as we have issues with the first Dell Laptops we had back in 2003, where even a Dell engineer came to site and couldn't work out what the issue was.

[FN-GM]

What is the make and model of the network card?

 

Have you checked you have enough spare IP addresses in the pool?

[ITGURU]

What is the make and model of the network card?

 

Have you checked you have enough spare IP addresses in the pool?

 

Not sure on model - device is at another site. DHCP no issue as any other device connects immediately and over 500 available addresses.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

What is the make and model of the network card?

 

Have you checked you have enough spare IP addresses in the pool?

 

Not sure on model - device is at another site. DHCP no issue as any other device connects immediately and over 500 available addresses.

[MYK-IT]

We have a stable, fast WiFi network which all other clients have no issues connecting via Device authentication using RADIUS and NPS authentication. Putting the government netbook devices to useful use (Dell 3190) we've had problems with the WiFi on them.

Driver has been updated to the latest from the site and the following issue occurs.

Laptop is on the domain and logs in fine using Ethernet.

However, I then connect the the device to the WiFi SSID, it connects straight away but comes up as 'unidentified network' and a 169.x.x.x address.

Patiently waiting between 5 minutes or even an hour or more on one today when it says this, the connection eventually turns to Domain and receives a proper IP address on the network just by leaving the network and connections screen open.

As soon as I click connect on the SSID, it registers on the NPS server and says granted access to a user, with the name of the device.

In Unify management it shows the device being connected to the AP with the 169.x.x.x address and then eventually when it decides to connect, changes to the proper network address and can login.

Any other device (non Dell) that we connect to the same WiFi network connects and gets the proper dhcp address immediately, so definitely something with the dells.

Not a fan of Dell as we have issues with the first Dell Laptops we had back in 2003, where even a Dell engineer came to site and couldn't work out what the issue was.

 

Hi @ITGURU,

 

I recently experienced a similar issue recently (well, common theme was Dell laptop, RADIUS, network connectivity issues etc.) whereby a Dell Latitude 3380 would connect to the Wi-Fi SSID ok (authenticated via RADIUS / NPS etc) and a user could log in, and access the network ok. But when they logged out, and the next user attempted to log in the laptop was no longer connected to the network...

 

The strange thing was, was the laptop was showing a connection to the Wi-Fi, but had no connectivity (e.g. no network drives, ping fails etc) - and Ruckus was still showing the laptop as being connected / authenticated!

 

Spent an age checking Ruckus / RADIUS / NPS / Laptop logs, but found nothing. Even ensuring that all latest BIOS / firmware / drivers were installed onto the laptop too.

 

The short-term fix was to manually disconnect the laptop via the Ruckus Admin Console, and it would immediately reconnect with 2-3 seconds and start working perfectly again! (But doing this after each lesson, every day is not an ideal solution).

 

It was only when I noted that same model of laptops being used within other areas of the school worked OK and didn't experience the same issue, that I realised the only difference was the model of Access Point they were connected to. In our situation the Ruckus AP7962 - I changed it over to the Ruckus R700 AP and it has been working perfectly since!

 

To condense all the above... perhaps try a USB Wi-Fi adapter in the first instance?

Edited May 6, 2021 by MYK-IT

[atcoates]

If it's the same as our DFE Dell then they are Lattitude 3190 with an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265. I've built one onto our system and it's been fine. Ours just picked up the drivers from our Windows Image.