[kismac] Re: Probescans differ on MacBook and MacBookPro


On 13/10/2006, at 5:58 AM, Lars Scheithauer wrote:

good evening, everyone!

First post to the list! A friend and I just got kismac to run passively on a MacBook Pro and a MacBook (non-Pro), thanks to the latest SVN-release (and you guys of course). So we started poking around and simultanously scanned from the same location to see which antenna is better[1]. However, we saw another huge difference: the MacBookPro saw someone probing our network, while the MacBook did not show any probe. Both were running in passive- mode and working, since the MacBook shows some normal networks, too.

We're having some trouble with the Atheros driver - it seems not to report data packets properly. We're trying to work out what's going on.


So we compared our two cards via the System Profiler, and both were the same[2][3], with one difference: The MacBook is from germany while the MacBookPro is from the US - which is where the cards differ. We have the same Kismac-versions (svn r203, compiled on the MacBook, application copied over to the MacBookPro). So, since the cards seem to be the same (according to the id), is there a huge difference between an US-card and a european-card? Anyone with a mac to scan passively and another box to send the needed probes, who could test and confirm that?

Perhaps it is something with the cards. Although the only difference that should be there is that the US card supports channels 1-11 and the European card should support channels 1-13.


Another thing that bugs me: When the probe stopped, we tried to verify our suspicion. So the MacBook was set to scan actively and the MacBookPro passively. However, no probes showed up. Is this after all just a glitch in the driver? 

I'm not sure.


Last point: Our wirelessrouter is jumping between two channels (which it shouldn't). We also experience some connectionproblems from time to time. Is this something that happens due to reflections and doublesignals through walls and other disturbances, so that the frequency changes?

If the signal is strong enough, it can bleed over onto other nearby channels. That's perfectly normal. When you're right next to a high power AP, it can even happen up to 6-7 channels away.

As for connection problems occasionally - what brand of gear is it all?


-- Lars

_______________________________________________
[1] it's the MacBooks, in case you wonder.
[2] MacBookPro:
Drahtlose Karte: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Funktionsbereich der Karte:     U.S.A.
Firmware-Version der Karte:     0.1.27
[3] MacBook:
Drahtlose Karte:        AirPort Extreme  (0x168C, 0x86)
Funktionsbereich der Karte:     Weltweit
Firmware-Version der Karte:     0.1.27



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