americanwhitehat Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I am having the mysterious ghostly Internet connectivity issue from hell. Please help me. I am a dumb ignorant end user and you are the wise and noble gurus!! OK, maybe that last bit was over the top but I will be VERY grateful. Seriously, if you solve my problem and the problem doesn't return then I'll like give you an iTunes gift or something if you like. I've been having trouble since I moved into a new apartment in a downtown urban area. I've spent countless hours trying to make my Internet connection work properly on my own and several more hours (like 12+) on the phone over the course of several months. Core problem: Every few minutes my WiFi Internet connectivity is lost, even though I'm still connected to the AP. There's a lot of variability but on average I'm online for about 4-6 minutes then offline for about 2-3 minutes. This problem persists for a long time despite tons of corrective steps, then it seems to be fixed and goes away for a while, only to come back in a day or two. Hardware details: Dell Laptop Intel WiFi Link 1000 BGN Apple Time Capsule router Arris modem 2.4Ghz network I'm sitting within 2 feet of the access point Software details: Windows 7 Lots of VPN software installed (once a suspected cause, but evidence is inconclusive - problem persisted after uninstalltion) Windows Firewall Firefox Steps taken: powercycling everything billions of times, in all different orders uninstalling/resinstalling TUN/TAP and VPN software -- it seemed like this worked at first, but then the problem came back anyway Had the ISP change the IP Refreshed caches Renewed DHCP lease Toggled NAT Changed radio stations Tried ethernet -- yes, that works Tried using a Macbook -- sometimes the MacBook worked when the Dell didn't, but sometimes neither one had connectivity Tried changing DNS servers (for a while that also seemed to work, must have been a co-incidence tho, the problem returned) Tried verifying the permissions and repairing the disk I'm at my wits end. Help me Hak 5 gurus, you're my only hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnd2Pwnr Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 One thing I did not see is if you checked your firewall. Your firewall maybe to blame. Could be your AP, though. Do you have another router you could test? That would eliminate the router issue, I believe. One other thing; connect your PC via ethernet cable; open your browser of choice (mine is chrome); type 192.168.1.254; check the settings in there for static DNS... I ran into that issue a while back and had my router set to dynamic; opposed to static. Meaning, your AP should properly detect any changes made to your IP if it changes. I do believe I explained that right, but I know that I am just a fly on the wall compared to the Gurus. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
americanwhitehat Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Thanks Pwnd2Pwnr. I did try toggling the firewall though, forgot to mention that :P It's so annoying. Last night it seemed like the problem was gone for maybe 2 hours, but it came back and it's still here. Kill me. I tried typing in 192.168.1.254 with the ethernet cable plugged in but nothing happened. Is that supposed to be the address of my router? If so it's an Apple router so I think it's managed through the Airport Utility.I don't really see anything about static v. dynamic DNS. The DNS settings are under TCP/IP but it just ask the following settings: Configure IPv4: Using DHCP Subnet Mask: [some numbers] Router Address: [ip] DNS Server(s): 8.8.8.8 IPv6 DNS Servers: [none] Domain Name: [none] DHCP Client ID: [none] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnd2Pwnr Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Are you using Linux or Windows; or... errp... Mac? There should be no reason your AP just cuts in and out. I put the ass in assumption; the 192.168.x.x is your local IP for your router; bust in there and I bet your issue can be resolved... but I know nothing of Apple routers; truthfully, I think you are the first person I know with one. Your subnet will be 255.255.255.0 The DNS is for Google I do believe (8.8.8.8) Sorry to see no one else is getting involved; there are some pretty sharp knives in the Hak5 toolset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murder_face Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Why not throw your router into WEP mode the next time it happens, fire up airodump and watch clients? It sounds like a deauth to me and if it is, at least you will be able to watch who is doing it for a minute when they run aireplay on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murder_face Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Why not throw your router into WEP mode the next time it happens, fire up airodump and watch clients? It sounds like a deauth to me and if it is, at least you will be able to watch who is doing it for a minute when they run aireplay on you. Scratch that. I read through too fast and didn't see that you were staying connected to your AP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murder_face Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but when I would plug my set top box into my network, and run nmap on it various options would cause my box to lock up and I would have to reset the box. I figure it had something to do with UPnP on the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
americanwhitehat Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the ideas guys. I hadn't even considered the possibility that someone might be hacking or something. But I kind of doubt just because they would have to be *so* persistent for such a long period of time and I don't really have any enemies that I know of or anything. It's Windows 7. I also had a little trouble with my MacBook too, but I rarely use the Macbook anyway. I don't currently have any hacking / advanced WiFi tools on Windows just b/c if I want to do hacking then I run BackTrack or BackBox live. So it's not nmap that's causing it; could be something else to do with upnp, but I don't know what or how to check. I can run any tool like nmap or the -ng suite if it would help though. Hmmm any other thoughts? Thanks again for the ideas. Edited October 31, 2012 by americanwhitehat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SystemD Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Well, I can't think of any other software related things, but have you considered the hardware itself as the culprit? Do you have an option to swap out to a different wireless modem for an afternoon by begging a favour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) Steps to start over. first, disconnect the apple time capsule. Test without it completely. 2, reload the firmware on your main router, start with a fresh config reset to factory settings, and then login, change default password. Disable remote administration from both wifi and the wan side. Disable uPnP, SSDP, and if possible tftp, or just port forward port 69, to a non working IP or out of range for your subnet. Change the IP subnet also, to limit the total number of devices needed for your network. You can use Subnet Calculator to help with that.http://www.subnet-calculator.com/ After thats done, disable WPS if your router has it, disable it. Manually connect all devices, don't use WPS, ever. Also, enable WPA2 if capable, or WPA at a minimum. Never use WEP or no enryption at all. If your devices allow 802.11N on the WIn7 box and Macbook, change the router, to only use N only, and change the routers radio to 5ghz and pick an upper channel. They wont be 1-11 like the 2.4ghz channels. they'll be in the 100's and up. Once that is done, make sure to turn logging on in the router if it has the capabilities. Do all of the configurations over wired obviously. Also, change the default SSID for the wifi, and pick a new wifi password to be safe. You can also enable mac address filtering, and just white list only your home devices. After you do all of that, test the wifi. Then if working, add back in the Apple Time Capsule router, and see what happens. Does the Time Capsule router offer wired connections, or only wifi? If only wifi, make sure its set to bridged mode(if capable) but if it has wired capabilities,use them only. Two wifi routers in the same room, can often cause all sorts of interference with one another. Thats where I would start with things, then work from there to see whats happening, but those would be my first steps, starting fresh, with known firmware, and reset to factory, and setup everything a new via wired side, then setup the wifi, and later, introduce the Apple Router product after you isolate the normal router issues. Edited October 31, 2012 by digip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnd2Pwnr Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Digip; you are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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