Mike Caldwell
06-25-2003, 01:26 AM
I think I've just put the last nail in the coffin. I finally had time
to conduct a few more tests:
#1 I plugged both modules into the same outlet.
#2 I tried changing the Network Password.
Neither of these affected the behaviour of the problem described below
at all. So for all intensive purposes, the SpeedStream Powerline equipment
doesn't work. Hopefully I can still send mine back.
..Mike
"Mike Caldwell" <mcaldwel.no@spam.starband.net> wrote in message
news:EUxHa.7596$3w3.2603270289@twister2.starband.net... I think I may have found a major flaw in either the SpeedStream 2521 WAP, or SpeedStream 2502 Ethernet adapter, or both! Most of my home network is wired directly to an Ethernet switch. But
I recently got a laptop, and wanted to add an 802.11b WAP for it. I
connected the SpeedStream 2502 Ethernet module to my switch, and plugged in the 2521 WAP where I could get the best coverage. In general it seems to work
great. After using it for a couple days though, I discovered that I couldn't play certain MP3 files on my laptop. (My MP3's are hosted off a MS file share on another computer connected to the Ethernet switch.) I decided to disect one of the problem MP3 files, and found out that
the problem was somewhere in the ID3v1 tag at the beginning of the file. The problem had nothing to do with file size. It couldn't even copy an 8K
file that contained just the ID3v1 tag itself. After some further disection, I discovered that all of the "problem" MP3 files contained the character 'U' in it hundreds of times. Which turned out to be what's triggering the problem! I also discovered that I had the same problem whether I copied the
file via MS file share (RPC or SMB), or FTP. I tried creating small text files containing only the character 'U' repeated 300 - 500 times, and found the following: #1 Uploading the file from my laptop via MS file share or FTP always
works, except at exactly 400 U's, FTP fails. #2 Downloading anything with 401 or more U's fails via FTP. (It creates a
0 byte file, but no error message.) #3 Downloading anything with 400 - 430 U's or so (it seems to vary slightly?) via file share is very slow, but eventually works. Beyond that it fails, and returns the error message: "The specified network name is no longer available." #4 Copying between two laptops over the SpeedStream WAP had no such problems. So the problem seems to be limited to communication between the two SpeedStream modules. I also tried text files containing other characters repeated hundreds
of times, but so far only 'U' seems to cause problems? I've found no discussion of any similar problems with the SpeedStream powerline
equipment. However I did find a couple threads describing problems with SpeedStream
DSL equipment that sounded very similar. If anyone else has SpeedStream equipment and wants to test this,
here's an easy way to create a "problem" file in Windows: debug test.txt rcx 1a0 f 100 2a0 55 w q Anyone know how to pass this on to real engineers at Siemens? I tried calling their tech support and they couldn't help me at all, and wouldn't pass me on to any higher level techs. Any ideas? TIA, .Mike
to conduct a few more tests:
#1 I plugged both modules into the same outlet.
#2 I tried changing the Network Password.
Neither of these affected the behaviour of the problem described below
at all. So for all intensive purposes, the SpeedStream Powerline equipment
doesn't work. Hopefully I can still send mine back.
..Mike
"Mike Caldwell" <mcaldwel.no@spam.starband.net> wrote in message
news:EUxHa.7596$3w3.2603270289@twister2.starband.net... I think I may have found a major flaw in either the SpeedStream 2521 WAP, or SpeedStream 2502 Ethernet adapter, or both! Most of my home network is wired directly to an Ethernet switch. But
I recently got a laptop, and wanted to add an 802.11b WAP for it. I
connected the SpeedStream 2502 Ethernet module to my switch, and plugged in the 2521 WAP where I could get the best coverage. In general it seems to work
great. After using it for a couple days though, I discovered that I couldn't play certain MP3 files on my laptop. (My MP3's are hosted off a MS file share on another computer connected to the Ethernet switch.) I decided to disect one of the problem MP3 files, and found out that
the problem was somewhere in the ID3v1 tag at the beginning of the file. The problem had nothing to do with file size. It couldn't even copy an 8K
file that contained just the ID3v1 tag itself. After some further disection, I discovered that all of the "problem" MP3 files contained the character 'U' in it hundreds of times. Which turned out to be what's triggering the problem! I also discovered that I had the same problem whether I copied the
file via MS file share (RPC or SMB), or FTP. I tried creating small text files containing only the character 'U' repeated 300 - 500 times, and found the following: #1 Uploading the file from my laptop via MS file share or FTP always
works, except at exactly 400 U's, FTP fails. #2 Downloading anything with 401 or more U's fails via FTP. (It creates a
0 byte file, but no error message.) #3 Downloading anything with 400 - 430 U's or so (it seems to vary slightly?) via file share is very slow, but eventually works. Beyond that it fails, and returns the error message: "The specified network name is no longer available." #4 Copying between two laptops over the SpeedStream WAP had no such problems. So the problem seems to be limited to communication between the two SpeedStream modules. I also tried text files containing other characters repeated hundreds
of times, but so far only 'U' seems to cause problems? I've found no discussion of any similar problems with the SpeedStream powerline
equipment. However I did find a couple threads describing problems with SpeedStream
DSL equipment that sounded very similar. If anyone else has SpeedStream equipment and wants to test this,
here's an easy way to create a "problem" file in Windows: debug test.txt rcx 1a0 f 100 2a0 55 w q Anyone know how to pass this on to real engineers at Siemens? I tried calling their tech support and they couldn't help me at all, and wouldn't pass me on to any higher level techs. Any ideas? TIA, .Mike