Putting the device in offline mode first can fix some of the client exiting problems, I think. The problem where it stops receiving updates after a few seconds seems to be random, but common: I did get it to work once (while talking with Dragorn on IRC ) for quite some time, but that has been the only time.

BTW - Dragorn (the author of Kismet) requests that problem reports or questions regarding Kismet be passed along to the forums at http://kismetwireless.net/Forum/General/ since it is likely that threads here will go unread by the people/person who might be able to fix the problems.