Wireless PCMIA card woes :(

[GlenMH]

As some of you may have read, I have got the network working using Cat5 cable. Then the fun started when I tried installing the wireless network card.

Laptop is a Dell latitude with half a gig of RAM, XP home and very happily running a Linksys wired network card. McAfee firewall is disabled at the moment whilst I get this sorted.

I downloaded the latest drivers for the US Robotics 802.11g card, reboot as it needs to, installed the card and all is well..... until I reboot again. At which point, the PC loses all abilities to get an IP address off the router.

It makes no difference whether the Linksys card is in or not when I do the installation, in or not when I do the reboot, the installation removes the ability of both cards to get an IP address. Even if I stop and remove the USR card and insert the Linksys, or even just boot with the Linksys, no IP address is forthcoming.

What do I need to tweek to get this to work?

Surely this stuff should be plug'n'play??

Cheers for your help

Glen

[Jay-Aim]

Sounds silly I know.....

but is it a wireless router?
(as you mention going from wired to wireless)

[Muncher]

Have you loggede onto the router and enabled wireless?

What about encryption?

Rebooted the router?

[GlenMH]

Thanks for the replies - yes, it is a router.

I have set the SSID, enabled the encryption key for WEP etc. When I install the card with both cards in the machine and set the right details, both cards get an IP address. I prove this using ipconfig.

I can then unplug the cat5 to the linksys card or stop and remove the card and I can continue surfing etc, no worries.

The fun starts if I then reboot the machine Then it doesn't matter which card is in the machine, neither of them are able to get an IP address...

I am currently in the state that I have installed the wireless card drivers, and bounced the box and the wired card still works (gets IP address etc.). I haven't yet tried the wireless card...... Job for later this evening!

Glen

[pmanson]

It could be that your using XP Home I had real problems setting up my wireless network at uni using XP Home.

A quick upgrade to XP Pro and that seemed to sort it out.

[GlenMH]

pmanson said:

It could be that your using XP Home I had real problems setting up my wireless network at uni using XP Home. A quick upgrade to XP Pro and that seemed to sort it out.

I had wondered about this.... But it doesn't mention that on the box!! It mentions all operating systems from 98SE onwards.

An update - I tried installing this card and using Windows to do the management etc, NOT the USR utility. Connection went OK, could surf, see NAS etc.

Reboot...... and it is sh@gged again Both cards... time for yet another system roll back.

I can feel a call to USR tech support coming on tomorrow!

Glen

[pmanson]

GlenMH said:

pmanson said: It could be that your using XP Home I had real problems setting up my wireless network at uni using XP Home. A quick upgrade to XP Pro and that seemed to sort it out. I had wondered about this.... But it doesn't mention that on the box!! It mentions all operating systems from 98SE onwards. An update - I tried installing this card and using Windows to do the management etc, NOT the USR utility. Connection went OK, could surf, see NAS etc. Reboot...... and it is sh@gged again Both cards... time for yet another system roll back. I can feel a call to USR tech support coming on tomorrow! Glen

How many PC's are using to surf? We've got a NTL connection shared between 4 PC's. We had to register one PC with NTL and then run the setup disk on both PC's

The other problem I had (and still have occasionally) was that the network card wouldn't pick up an IP address so would default back to "Automatic Private Address" instead of an IP address. Check this and change it back to IP and then reboot. This should then allow you pick to find the network again

[FunkyGibbon]

I had a similar problem with a linksys USB wireless card. Turns out that the card would not work with SSID broadcast turn-off at the router. i.e. even though you hard code the SSID the wireless card would not connect. Turn SSID broadcast back on a hey-presto all is fine.

Linksys said this was a problem with XPHome and the USB drivers.

[GlenMH]

pmanson said:

How many PC's are using to surf? We've got a NTL connection shared between 4 PC's. We had to register one PC with NTL and then run the setup disk on both PC's The other problem I had (and still have occasionally) was that the network card wouldn't pick up an IP address so would default back to "Automatic Private Address" instead of an IP address. Check this and change it back to IP and then reboot. This should then allow you pick to find the network again

That is exactly the snag I am having - it reverts back to an automatic private address and there is nothing I can do to force it to look for an external IP address. If I try an ipconfig /release followed by an ipconfig /renew, I get an error message that says something about attempting to do DHCP with something that is not a socket!

I am only using 1 PC to surf, which it does very well behind either the netgear or USR routers, using its wired card. It is only when I insert the wireless card that all hell breaks loose with the IP allocation!

This is soo frustrating

Glen

[GlenMH]

FunkyGibbon said:

I had a similar problem with a linksys USB wireless card. Turns out that the card would not work with SSID broadcast turn-off at the router. i.e. even though you hard code the SSID the wireless card would not connect. Turn SSID broadcast back on a hey-presto all is fine. Linksys said this was a problem with XPHome and the USB drivers.

Thanks for the thought - I have already come across this with the USR too. My SSID is on and I have proved surfing with 128bit WEP no worries - until I restart the machine, then neither bl00dy card works!

I am already using cat5 connections all over the network, so no USB issues here....

Glen