EAPOL question.....

HI all,
I'm still new here and I've got a question that I'm not quite sure what category it should fall under.
So, I'll type it here.
On my tiny(4 PC) home LAN I am using ICS to share access to the 'net. I know it'd be better to build a server box, but I just dont know enough about Linux to do this.
1 of the PC's runs 98SE
2 run win2k(1 is Chinese version)
and the gateway machine is an XP box,
Here's my problem(apart from being a slave to MS):
At seemingly random intervals, a service called EAPOL kicks up and loads wzcsvc.dll.
When this happens, my entire network dies and only the gateway computer can still browse.
MS's response was "remove your NICs, reboot, then reinsert .." yeahh, thanks...
So, if anyone can offer me any sage advice, I would be most appreciative!

ummm, not sure what your setup is here.....

EAPOL = Extensible Authentication Protocol Over LAN's
wzcsvc.dll = Wireless primitative....

In other words, your authentication program is looking for a wireless computer....
Unless you are using an 802.11 network, I would disable wireless networking. That may do it. If not, then disable the EAPOL.

Soul, thanks for the reply,
The only wireless device on the PC is my mouse...
BUT, hehehehehe this is the fun part, when I disable the Wireless Zero Configuration service my LAN goes away entirely.....
My MS support rep has assured me that this cannot be the case. Yeah.....Thanks......
I am tempted to flatline the POS and install 2kserver on it.
Has anyone else run into this kind of thing in XP? did you figure a way around it?

Does your event viewer give an error or warning when EAPOL is started? I had an issue with my XP for a while that I would get (if I remember correctly) a warning every time that EAPOL started up. I had the problem because (for some reason, I still haven't been able to ascertain, and Microsoft's been no help) EAPOL was activated every time my network card was automatically turned off by my computer to conserve power. When I disabled this feature, it worked perfectly. To see if you have it enabled, go to your System Properties in Control Panel (WINDOS-KEY+BREAK if you want to use a keyboard shortcut). Click the tab labeled "Hardware" and click "Device Manager". Right click on your network card (listed under Network Adapters) and click "Properites". Click on the tab labelled "Power Management" and uncheck the box labeled "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Hope that helps you!

AJ

avdven,
Yeah, it shows up in the event viewer, thats how i was able to finally figure out which the culprit was.
I turned off the auto shut off on the card, but i still get the same thing happening.
If it were happening at a consistent interval...but it isn't. Some nights it wont happen at all and some nights I'll have to reboot my box 4 times in 2 hours.

Is there any particular thing that occurs before EAPOL is activated? Does it simply stand idle for a long time and then start the EAPOL service? Also, how is your Wireless Zero Configuration set in services? It should be set to automatic for optimum performance. I have a wireless network so I can't test it, but I believe if you set it to manual, there may be some performance problems, and as you said if you disable it, you're pretty much S.O.L..

Another question, what networking services do you have enabled for the XP box (both for the LAN and the WAN (since you mentioned it was a gateway))? You may have something running which is conflicting with something. As far as I know, for ICS, you only need "Client for Microsoft Networks" and "TCP/IP" installed and running... I may have that wrong, though, considering I haven't worked with ICS in quite some time... If I'm wrong on that, someone let me know, so I don't give out bad advice. :-)

AJ

avdven,
It SEEMS to be completely random.
The only comonality I find between the different instances is that I have at least two of the machines up and online.
My network isnt wireless, it's good old-fashioned cat5 and NICs.
The wireles zero configurator is set to auto.
And you're right about the requirements, all you need for ICS or (Winnetworking at all really)
is tcp/ip and one of the file sharing clients.
I'm guessing this has got to be some 'arcane baseball' crap that one person in the universe actually knows how to deal with.

Are you sharing a broadband or modem connection? You may want to check the Power Managment feature on either the NIC or modem, respectively, which is being shared. Honestly, that's the only advice I can give to get rid of the EAPOL error. I searched Microsoft for ages when I had the problem and found only a slight blurb discussing the APM features causing a problem. Otherwise, like you said, it may be one of those problems which only one person can fix (though, let's hope it's someone here... hehe)

AJ

yeah it's broadband,
it's an external modem
perhaps i will take this weekend to introduce my LAN to the joys of 2k server.....
heheheh