Dell Axim v 51 Wireless Network Problem

[kuntal.shah]

Hi there,

I have a Dell Axim v 51 PDA.

I have developed one multi user distributed application, which works on desktop, laptops and pdas.

The application works in a heterogeneous networking environment, there are some desktops connected in a wired network with one server.

In addition, the laptops and PDAs are connected with wireless network. The network is spanned over a building in which there are wireless access points at every 50 feet. There are 3 access points.

To brief up about the application backend. The application on the PDA uses web services located on the server through the wireless access points.

We are facing following problems while working with the PDA.


1. At every 2 minutes… when PDA is on battery we have done setting that it is switched off automatically. So when the user powers it on again at that time though the PDA is in network range of access point and the application will be on. Now it takes almost 10 seconds to get back to the network. Till that time the user keeps getting error network not available. Do we have any specific settings that makes this reconnection more speedy.

2. the same above case happens when we get out of the range of wireless network and then get back in the network.

3. Some times until a long time lets say 2 – 3 minutes, it does not get back in the network. And when we go in utility in PDA of Dell WLAN utility and try to ping. We are not able to renew the ip address. The ip address keeps showing 0.0.0.0. and then we need to restart the pda that is the only option left with us.

4. How does the PDA behave when it switches between 2 access points? Do we need to handle that specifically in the code.

Following is the settings of PDA for network
for dell axim x51 wlan
ip address 10.0.0.82
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
default gateway 10.0.0.254 ( ithink is neccesary to get to network )
DNS: 216.183.68.110 ( am assuming we can remove

5. the main problem we are facing right now is when we follow the below given sequence.

- Work on PDA in network with one sample web request to server in the network we get respoinse.
- get out of network.
- pda turns off after one minute
- come back in network
- turn on pda
- pda able to ping
- pda able to send webrequest to server
- pda not able to get respone get exception saying
unable to establish network (while we are able to ping and web service call also logged on the server.)

Thanks in advance.

[Mahstah]

Hello kuntal.shah-

1 & 2. 10 seconds to get on the network is not unusual. Have you upgraded your X51vs to A12? The newest ROM speeds up the Axim's overall system response time and network transfer speeds, although mine still takes about 10s to authenticate to the wifi network. See this thread.

3. Do you need to soft reset the PDA to regain an IP? You should be able to restart wireless only or (without restarting wireless) go to WLAN utility-->Setting-->Tools-->Renew IP.

4. Are your access points set up as range extenders (repeaters) or does each hand out its own set of IPs? If you have repeaters it shouldn't be a problem jumping access points because they all use the same primary access point to provide authentication and IP addresses. If your access points all provide their own authentication you will run into network switching problems. The Axim WLAN utility does not handle this well but other software is in the works that makes this possible. The program is called Hichhiker, it's very unstable in its current release but shows promise. See this thread for more details on Hitchhiker.

5. If you are a network administrator and have experience in protocol analysis, you will want to use ethereal to dissect the response from the server to the PDAs. A packet sniffer will be your best friend to resolve server/client network connectivity issues.

[kuntal.shah]

Hi there,

Thanks for quick reply.


1 & 2. 10 seconds to get on the network is not unusual. Have you upgraded your X51vs to A12? The newest ROM speeds up the Axim's overall system response time and network transfer speeds, although mine still takes about 10s to authenticate to the wifi network. See this thread.


I have downloaded the update from dell site.

i tried to install it the files are copied and then it is asking for hard reset to pda. when i do a hard reset it does not allow me to hard reset it automatically soft resets. meaning when i press for hard reset the selection dialog for reset to factory settings appears for a moment and disappears automatically. so i am not able to do the hard reset and that is why the rom is not updated.

please reply me if you know how to hard reset in these conditions.


3. Do you need to soft reset the PDA to regain an IP? You should be able to restart wireless only or (without restarting wireless) go to WLAN utility-->Setting-->Tools-->Renew IP.


We try Renew IP sometimes what happens is renew ip does not work out even if we are in network. so at that time we need to soft reset it and that is the only option left at that time.


4. Are your access points set up as range extenders (repeaters) or does each hand out its own set of IPs? If you have repeaters it shouldn't be a problem jumping access points because they all use the same primary access point to provide authentication and IP addresses. If your access points all provide their own authentication you will run into network switching problems. The Axim WLAN utility does not handle this well but other software is in the works that makes this possible. The program is called Hichhiker, it's very unstable in its current release but shows promise. See this thread for more details on Hitchhiker.


We use range extenders.


5. If you are a network administrator and have experience in protocol analysis, you will want to use ethereal to dissect the response from the server to the PDAs. A packet sniffer will be your best friend to resolve server/client network connectivity issues.

[Mahstah]

For your ROM upgrade problem, continue without a hard reset. The upgrade will work. See this thread for more details on the latest ROM upgrade procedure.

For your wireless problem, you should check all of your security settings on the APs and server. Upgrade the AP ROMs if needed. Have a professional sniff the packets to see what response the DHCP request is getting.