Wireless

[windracer]

I have a new WZR-HP-G300NH running "DD-WRT v24SP2-MULTI (03/21/11) std (SVN revision 16519)" which it came with out of the box.

I set it up exactly like my old router, a WHR-HP-G54 which has been running DD-WRT v24SP2 (revision 14896) for quite a while. Everything is working, EXCEPT none of my TrendNet wireless cameras (two TV-IP121W cams and two TV-IP422W cams) can connect to the wireless network. I have tried in G-Only mode and Mixed GN. The site-survey on the camera "sees" my SSID, and I've double-checked my encryption settings (WPA2/AES) and password multiple times. All of my other wireless devices (two Foscam cameras, iPhones, iPad, laptops, etc.) re-connected to the wireless network after I swapped the routers without any changes necessary, it's just these four TrendNet cameras that won't connect.

If I watch the Status > Wireless page, under Wireless Nodes I can see the MAC addresses of the cameras blinking in and out. They appear briefly, and then a few seconds later disappear. Signal strength for all four is above 30%.

Checking DD-WRT's syslog, I see endless repeating messages like this:

Aug 4 21:25:00 WZR-HP-G300NH2 daemon.info hostapd: ath0: STA 00:14:d1:f1:79:d9 IEEE 802.11: associated
Aug 4 21:25:01 WZR-HP-G300NH2 daemon.info hostapd: ath0: STA 00:14:d1:f1:f0:a8 IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to local deauth request
Aug 4 21:25:01 WZR-HP-G300NH2 daemon.info hostapd: ath0: STA 00:14:d1:f1:f0:a8 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Aug 4 21:25:01 WZR-HP-G300NH2 daemon.info hostapd: ath0: STA 00:14:d1:f1:8f:2a IEEE 802.11: associated

Where those MAC addresses listed (starting with 00:14:D1:F1) are the TrendNet cameras.

What could be preventing these cameras from connecting to the wireless network? I never had any problems with DD-WRT on the WHR-HP-G54. Is it a Broadcom vs. Atheros issue? Any idea on how I can fix this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[windracer]

After spending two days messing around with this, I finally had to put my original G router (WHR-HP-G54 running DD-WRT) back in service to get the cameras back on the network. I had no luck at all getting the cameras to associate with the wireless network hosted by the WZR-HP-G300NH, which is disappointing.

I guess the upside to this is now the cameras have their own wireless network ... but still, I bought the G300NH to replace the G54, not to run in parallel. Oh well.

[seanford]

I have a few TrendNET cameras, and have gotten them to work with a few (less than optimal) settings.

Wireless Network mode: Mixed (NG-Mixed does not work)

Channel Width: 20MHz

Wireless Channel: Auto

For security, try WPA Personal with AES encryption.

Those settings worked for me.

However, I am experiencing an issue as noted here.

Cheers.

[windracer]

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I tried just "Mixed" mode (I already use WPA2/AES encryption) and the TrendNet cameras still wouldn't associate with the wireless network from the WZR-HP-G300NH. As soon as I flipped them to the old wireless network on the WHR-HP-G54, they worked fine.

It doesn't seem to be Buffalo's specific version of DD-WRT either. I went ahead and upgraded to the community build (rev 17201) and still had the problem. I can only guess it's something specific with this router hardware ... maybe the Atheros chipset?

[seanford · Accepted solution]

You're using WPA2/AES....try WPA Personal/AES.  Version 1 is what works for me.

[windracer]

Ugh ... I don't relish the thought of having to change the settings on all of my wireless network devices. I might try it just as an academic exercise but really, I should be able to use the same settings on a brand new router that have worked on my older router for years. Progress, right? :smileymad:

[seanford]

Agreed, but c'est la vie!  I didn't have an old router to go back to, as I just got the cameras.  It wouldn't be that big a deal if I could set-up a Wireless Vlan without encryption and then restrict just that by MAC address.

(Actually, that's one way you can test without changing all of your equipment...by adding another wireless Vlan with a different SSID and settings.)

Good luck.

--Sean

[windracer]

You're right ... that's not a bad idea. I'll give it a shot this weekend if I have some free time.

[windracer]

Wow, it worked! I created a wireless VLAN using WPA/AES and the TrendNet cameras were able to connect. I switched to WPA2/AES and they couldn't connect to the VLAN anymore. This was leaving the router in Mixed-NG mode so it seems to be a WPA vs WPA2 thing on this router.

Thanks for the tip and the help. Now I can put away the G54 like I was originally intending to do.

[windracer]

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seanford wrote:

However, I am experiencing an issue as noted here.

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Ok, yeah, now I'm having the same problem. The cameras connected at first to my new WPA/AES VLAN, but now they won't again. Arrgh! Looks like I'm going back to my second router setup again.