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Thread ID: 82671 2007-09-04 03:21:00 hard to connect to AP when ESSID hidden heni72847 (1166) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
587773 2007-09-04 03:21:00 more of an annoyance than a problem this one..

at home my AP doesn't broadcast its ESSID
however this somehow makes XP unable to find this AP and connect to it
I'm using XP's wireless manager not third party ones
and XP is configured with manual settings to know that this AP is there

if I run netstumbler it can easily pick up the signal, and its not weak either
but XP simply don't want to connect to it
it'll rather connect to my neighbors AP since it broadcasts its ESSID

sometimes when the AP can't be found, a simple repair of the network can help to reconnect it
but sometimes a restart i required, especially when I wake my notebook from standby/hibernate

is there a way to tell XP to look for my AP manually? or just get it to connect more easily?
heni72847 (1166)
587774 2007-09-04 06:24:00 So is the "Access Point to be connected automatically when its hidden"? beeswax34 (63)
587775 2007-09-04 09:28:00 the ESSID is hidden, yes
but already entered manually into xp's wireless setup
and can be connected.. most of the time
like right now!
but might not do it next time...
heni72847 (1166)
587776 2007-09-04 11:26:00 no but in the manual settings, there is a box that allows that connection to be used even when its not broadcasting. You have to tick that one. beeswax34 (63)
587777 2007-09-04 13:08:00 yes it is set to automatically connect when I'm within range
but the thing is it doesn't do this all the time
sometimes it works perfectly sometimes it decides not to connect
this is the problem/annoyance I have

or maybe the box to tick you mention is different from what I'm looking at here
please tell me exactly which one you meant
thanks
heni72847 (1166)
587778 2007-09-04 13:19:00 Nope, then you have the box I'm talking about. Have you tried manually setting it up again just in case there were issues the 1st time?

EDIT: This is the box I'm talking about (I know they are Vista images):
www.itc.virginia.edu
www.itc.virginia.edu
beeswax34 (63)
587779 2007-09-04 20:28:00 thanks heaps, I think I got this problem solved
I looked for the option you mentioned
it was different from what I was ticking before
but even after following the vista screenshot, I couldn't find it in XP...

googled a bit and some on some other forum someone mentioned that to see that option in XP SP2 you need KB893357 and KB917021 updates
weird enough I was missing one of them..even though my windows updates runs automatically?!

then finally I found the option, different place to vista though
but already ticked by default after updating, so now everything seems to work nicely

..sigh..maybe other people don't have this problem because their XP updated correctly
heni72847 (1166)
587780 2007-09-05 09:38:00 Good to see you got it sorted:thumbs: beeswax34 (63)
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