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Evenin'
I've got... many wireless adaptors. For some reason all of them can do monitor mode but I have a couple which also do packet injection. Because I like to play and deauth my phone for fun.
My favourite is an Alfa AWUS036NHA but this only does 2.4GHz, so I got myself a 2.4/5GHz Alfa AWUS036ACH.
I use the former in Kali quite a lot but the latter I don't use because it has been seriously unreliable and I do not know whether it is the adaptor playing up or what I'm doing in Linux isn't working as expected. Because I'm an amateur.
I have been using the ACH 5/2.4GHz adaptor under Windows 10 as my standard wifi adaptor for quite some time.
My last PC build had USB issues right from the start and so when I got wifi problems responding to a hard adaptor reset, I put it down to that and thought it would resolve on my new build. It did not.
The problem manifests as losing, in the middle of use, the IP address, etc. The IP gets listed as 169.254.177.131 (no IP given from DHCP). Windows says that it is connected to the network but there is no internet. It's like the router's DHCP is't working. It is working as nothing else, including adaptors from the same brand, manifests the same issue.
My new build has a new mobo, CPU, SSD and a fresh install of Windows 10. The problem persists.
I have contacted Alfa and their tech support is getting frustrating, repetitive and I feel I'm going round in circles. I have already tried most of what they suggested. I even plugged in my 2.4GHz Alfa adaptor, popped it into monitor mode and starting sniffing what was happening between my dodgy adaptor and the router. The signal power was all over the place so I sent them the airodump-ng results. The power was osscilating between ~-5 and -57 which is the equivalent of being next to the adaptor (correct) and about 20 meters away. They put this down to either the adaptor flicking between low and high output power (several times a second?), or to interference from having two high powered adaptors next to each other.... despite one being in monitor mode and (as far as I'm aware) only Rx, not Tx. (Is it worth running Wireshark on the computer it's connected to and seeing what happens just before a D/C?).
I've installed three lots of drivers, tried different USB ports, surveyed the local channels for the best one and locked the router, I've tested different adaptors and so on. I'm going round in circles and I've attached my last message to their tech support below.
Does anyone has any ideas as to other things I could try before I pressure them into an RMA? I'd really rather like to be using 2.4/5Ghz for my Kali exploits (pun... not intended) but I can't start using an adaptor which might be a point of failure, not knowing if it's the adaptor playing up or what I'm doing isn't working properly.
Cheers.
---- Last Email to Alfa Tech Support ----
Hi,
The adaptor is still disconnecting.
- It is not the computer as it has shown the same problem on two different machines. One was using a fresh installation of Windows 10.
- It is not the location as other devices work fine in this room. I have five different wireless adaptors just on my desk, only this one has any issue and I tend to only use one at a time. I only used two at a time in order to analyse the data passing between the adaptor showing issues and the router.
-I think we can rule out interference as I have mapped the area and chosen the quietest channel and no other wireless devices have issues, whether attached to the same computer or attached to another device and in the same area. No other devices attached to this network / in this area show this problem.
-Signal strength and link quality are consistently good. Again, interference or range issues would manifest here.
-We have tried three different sets of software / drivers (Windows default, the packaged software and then also the last lot you sent me). It is therefore not the drivers.
-It is not the router as no other devices attached to the router display this issue. The router is a popular model using common hardware.
-It is not the USB port on the PC as we have tried several. It is not connected through an external hub but directly to USB on the motherboard.
-Requesting a new IP address using “ipconfig /renew” in Windows does not work, yet a hard reset of the adaptor does. This suggests to me the adaptor is the side not properly requesting or receiving the IP address via DHCP. If it was the router, resetting the USB device would have no effect. I would also expect manifest symptoms on other devices.
-The cable and the antennae in use are the ones which came in the box and are not subject to movement. I have checked the connections.
-The location of the adaptor is static.
-Resetting the router does not resolve the problem.
The only thing remaining is the firmware or hardware? Is there any way to either run direct diagnostics on the hardware or to update / reflash the firmware?
Cheers,
Phil
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