802.1x Authentication

[a-lloyd]

This is an intermittent issue I am experiencing. I have taken a packet capture using Wireshark on both a defective machine and one that works. Bascially, what I see is the Supplicant does not send an EAPOL-Start and therefore authentication does not begin and no DHCP address is assigned, hence no wireless connectivity. I see this on all models of Dell Laptops. Anyone see this behavior and know a fix. I can find nothing on the internet except a registry fix. Also, areas of the building are worse than others. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the APs and cannot provide IOS rev. information. These are Cisco Aironet 1100s. Any help is very much appreciated.

[Peter Nugent]

If this is on only Dells and other machines are OK it may be a driver issue, the first thing I generally do with client issues, if all is generally OK is check the latest client firmware.

If there is a registry hack then that is pointing at a client prob and unfortunately these things are often sent to try us you may just have to push the hack out

[a-lloyd]

I agree with you, however, we have a list a mile long of things to fix on the client side and they are not 100% reliable. I had one machine where I updated the bios, firmware, WLAN driver, ran gpupdate, rebooted more than once and could not get a DHCP address. I worked on the machine close to two hours. Unfortunately, I did not get a packet capture of this machine....it exhibited the same behavior as the other machines than cannot authenticate wirelessly - bouncing ball, then Network connectivity is limited. Then, the next day the user walks in, boots up and all is well. Really weird.

[Peter Nugent]

Ok have you tried a static IP to see if the prob is DHCP or authentication? Or even just poor RF?