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Auto-Start WiFi ?

TrevorAWright

TrevorAWright

New Member
Prior to installing the Custom Firmware, I always had to manually "Apply" the WiFi settings to enable the WiFi connection (I have nothing connected to the LAN socket). I seem to remember being told long ago that as I do not broadcast my router ID then this is the best I can expect.

Having installed the Custom Firmware yesterday, I noticed the Wireless Helper and thought this might automate this annoying restriction. I installed it and assume it is operational after a reboot as I could not find any other on/off button. No change however ....

Looking further I did see a note saying that if Wireless Helper is installed then you have to run /mod/sbin/wifi-up from the CLI to disable the LAN - is this the case ?

From reading other notes on the Forum it seems getting the WiFi connection automated is one of the Dark Arts so I wonder if there is any wizard out there who can spell out the magic incantations necessary.

Thanks for your help.
 
There have been some developments with this, I'm not sure but I think wireless-helper may have been made irrelevant. The relevant release statement is here: http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/cfw-3-02-customised-firmware-version-3-02-released.6048/, more useful info here: http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/webif-setting-of-lan-wifi-configuration.5990/. Certainly I now have no trouble getting a connection, relevant experience here: http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/wi-fi-connection-to-hd-hdr-fox.6049/

If you are having trouble with WiFi, even with the latest CF, I imagine af123 can suggest some logging you can do to find out why.
 
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re: my comment "run /mod/sbin/wifi-up from the CLI to disable the LAN" see:
http:// wiki.hummy.tv/ wiki/ Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes#Network_Settings
third bullet point under Notes
(please remove " " around / - I can place a link in this reply as I'm a new user of this forum)
 
You could just have a visible SSID. Use WPA2 security with AES. With a reasonable password this is virtually unhackable. In the unlikely event of someone in your vicinity having the tools and knowhow to crack WPA2, they wouldn't be stopped by a 'hidden' SSID.
I would still use WPA2/ AES with a 'hidden' SSID as such networks are quite easy to sniff out. EDIT: see posts below. I am not advocating the use of 'hidden' SSIDs, this is just a poorly-phrased comment. If you do want to 'hide' your network SSID, then use the best available security too.

There is an interesting article on hidden SSIDs here.
 
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TrevorAWright said:
Looking further I did see a note saying that if Wireless Helper is installed then you have to run /mod/sbin/wifi-up from the CLI to disable the LAN - is this the case ?
Click to expand...
The WiKi entry HERE, refers to af123's post HERE . I have edited the third bullet point to clarify, that you need to run mod/sbin/wifi-up when you want to use the Wi-Fi dongle while the Wireless Helper package is in use and an ethernet cable is attached to the LAN connector
 
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Trev said:
Why? Interesting stuff in the link though:)
Click to expand...
WEP security is useless, it can be broken in a few minutes. WPA is more robust but has been cracked: you don't have to look too far on the internet to find detailed methods on how to do this. WPA2 is the most secure protocol and is designed to work with AES encryption. It is also possible set up your router with WPA2 plus both AES and TKIP encryption. This gives you backwards compatibilty with older devices but will make your network more vulnerable. There is more info here. WPA2-AES is robust but is still vulnerable to a brute force attack, that is why you need a reasonably strong network password.
A 'hidden' SSID offers very little protection. In fact, devices on such a network will transmit all the information required to find the network. If you have a 'hidden' SSID without other security measures you effectively have an open network. To reiterate, don't bother to hide your SSID as this offers no real protection and just causes hassles. Do use WPA2-AES with a strong password.
 
On first reading, I misinterpreted your post 5 and I suspect other have also - leading to this traffic.
MontysEvilTwin said:
I would still use WPA2/ AES with a 'hidden' SSID as such networks are quite easy to sniff out.
Click to expand...
This was taken to mean you would use WPA2/AES and a hidden SSID. I now realise you meant that if you were using a hidden SSID, you would still use WPA2/AES security with it (but you see little benefit in hiding the SSID, and some disadvantages).
 
Well - thanks for your advice on my original enquiry. I tried defining a static IP via Network Settings, and installed the Network Helper and restarted, hoping this would give me a WiFi auto-start and be available during standby mode. The opposite was the result - no WiFi connect at all, whatever I did, and hence no ability to get back into the Custom Firmware...ho hum!!.
So, I had a pair of Powerline Adaptors and connected up via the LAN interface, removed the Wireless Helper, and everything works perfectly, no problems, and I can access the HDR in Standby etc.
I'm tempted to just give up on the WiFi link as it seems to be so difficult to get the settings correct - but have I done something silly and giving up too early ??
Thanks for your continued advice.
 
What do you mean about "access the HDR in standby"? If it is in standby, there is no processor activity, network activity, power to the USB port... so no you should not be able to access the HDR in standby by WiFi, HomePlug, wired Ethernet, or anything else.
 
@TrevorAWright, regarding setting up WiFi for the HDR-FOX, I use fixed IP addresses as it makes network shares easier. The simplest way to do this is set the HDR-FOX to use DHCP for the initial connection: this makes sure that all the necessary fields (gateway IP, DNS etc.) are populated. Then switch to manual and change your IP address as required. The fixed address should be in the same subnet as the router, but be outside the range allocated by the router using DHCP. In my set up the router's address is 192.168.0.1; the router is set to allocate IP addresses in the range 192.168.0.21 to 254 and I use 192.168.0.2 to 20 for devices with fixed IP addresses.
 
MontysEvilTwin said:
I use fixed IP addresses as it makes network shares easier. The simplest way to do this is ... change your IP address as required. The fixed address should be in the same subnet as the router, but be outside the range allocated by the router using DHCP.
Click to expand...

Another (IMO preferable) way to do it is to leave the device set to use DHCP, but add its MAC address to the router's DHCP table of devices which should be given a fixed IP address. That way, the administration of fixed IP addresses is all done in one place - the router - and there's no risk of manually setting the same fixed IP address on two different devices.

(I have found one way for this to go wrong, which is if you mis-type a device's MAC address - like I did when I installed a new router recently, and mis-transcribed the Humax' MAC address from the config screen on the old router :oops: The Humax still got an IP address, but it wasn't the one I expected, so my bookmark to log on to the webif returned 'not found'. Fortunately that didn't take very long to diagnose and fix. And it's not as if you need to completely recreate a router's DHCP fixed IP address allocation table very often.)
 
ejstubbs said:
Another (IMO preferable) way to do it is to leave the device set to use DHCP, but add its MAC address to the router's DHCP table of devices which should be given a fixed IP address. That way, the administration of fixed IP addresses is all done in one place - the router - and there's no risk of manually setting the same fixed IP address on two different devices.
Click to expand...
I agree with that, where possible, but I found I could not adhere to the policy with a WiFi dongle in my HDR-FOX since I want to allocate it an address outside my DHCP range. See HERE (click).
 
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