1 card connects to Hotspot;another doesn't-WHY?

I'm wondering why the following situation exists:

There is a free open city owned WiFi hotspot covering Union Square in
San Francisco.Union Square is in the dead center of the city for
tourists,shoppers,and business,so it's useful to know for anyone coming
to SF.It seems to have a large footprint.I've connected to it from a
bookstore (Borders) off the Square.

But my question is this:I have 2 older 802.11b cards someone gave
me.One of the cards sees the AP,but the other doesn't.Why is this?Here
are the details.

My P3 laptop has Win98SE.The card that sees and automatically connects
to the AP is a 3COM 11Mbps.3CRWE737 96B.The 3rd party apps that I have
to find hotspots don't work with this card,but the SW that comes with
the card shows the details of signals it detects. It actually doesn't
show their SSIDs,but the APs MAC addresses.However,when it
automatically associates with an AP,it shows the SSID highlighted in
the text input field of the connection utility that allows you to enter
an SSID.Alternatively,I can manually enter an SSID and then the card
will only connect to that SSID and it works when I do this.So, I know I
am connecting to the U. Square AP.

The other card is a little newer,I think.It's a US Robotics
11 Mbps USR2410.Boingo's SW and Aerosol work with this card .I have
changed the variables in the connection SW that comes with the
card:5Mbps,11Mpbs,Fully Automatic.I have manually entered the SSID:
UNIONSQUAREWIRELESS2.It won't see the AP.The signal strength of the AP
is extremely strong,so that couldn't be the issue.And Boingo's SW and
Aerosol detect many other APs when I'm in Union Square (all WEP
enabled).Any ideas?

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I'm wondering why the following situation exists:
>
> There is a free open city owned WiFi hotspot covering Union Square in
> San Francisco.Union Square is in the dead center of the city for
> tourists,shoppers,and business,so it's useful to know for anyone
> coming to SF.It seems to have a large footprint.I've connected to it
> from a bookstore (Borders) off the Square.
>
> But my question is this:I have 2 older 802.11b cards someone gave
> me.One of the cards sees the AP,but the other doesn't.Why is
> this?Here are the details.
>


Two reasons I see all the time (I do computer repair and upgrades)... 1)
Some computers can NOT work with some wireless cards. My favorite was three
xxxx (don't want to be legally liable for saying the name, theres lawyers
out there!) with revision B C and E motherboards.. B and E would work fine,
no way rev C would work, not even with a USB wireless device. Not much you
can do except keep trying different devices.
2) Most people download/install all sorts of programs that may cause
problems. If you have a backup device (I use Ghost and a network drive) ***
ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE MADE A BACKUP FIRST! ****
back it up, wipe the hard disk, and install it completely fresh from the
emergency restore disks.. Then try installing the card and see if it works.

Peter Pan:

Thanks for trying to help,but you haven't understood the
problem.I have 2 WiFi cards as described in original post.Both cards
are recognized by Windows.Both cards work perfectly in connecting to
most Access Points.There are no conflicts or driver issues.

The issue is there is 1 (ONE) hotspot access point (the one described
in my original post) where one WiFi card sees the AP and associates to
it while for the other card this access point is invisible.

My qusetion was: why is this?









Peter Pan wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> > I'm wondering why the following situation exists:
> >
> > There is a free open city owned WiFi hotspot covering Union Square
in
> > San Francisco.Union Square is in the dead center of the city for
> > tourists,shoppers,and business,so it's useful to know for anyone
> > coming to SF.It seems to have a large footprint.I've connected to
it
> > from a bookstore (Borders) off the Square.
> >
> > But my question is this:I have 2 older 802.11b cards someone gave
> > me.One of the cards sees the AP,but the other doesn't.Why is
> > this?Here are the details.
> >
>
>
> Two reasons I see all the time (I do computer repair and upgrades)...
1)
> Some computers can NOT work with some wireless cards. My favorite was
three
> xxxx (don't want to be legally liable for saying the name, theres
lawyers
> out there!) with revision B C and E motherboards.. B and E would work
fine,
> no way rev C would work, not even with a USB wireless device. Not
much you
> can do except keep trying different devices.
> 2) Most people download/install all sorts of programs that may cause
> problems. If you have a backup device (I use Ghost and a network
drive) ***
> ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE MADE A BACKUP FIRST! ****
> back it up, wipe the hard disk, and install it completely fresh from
the
> emergency restore disks.. Then try installing the card and see if it
works.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Peter Pan:
>
> Thanks for trying to help,but you haven't understood the
> problem.I have 2 WiFi cards as described in original post.Both cards
> are recognized by Windows.Both cards work perfectly in connecting to
> most Access Points.There are no conflicts or driver issues.
>
> The issue is there is 1 (ONE) hotspot access point (the one described
> in my original post) where one WiFi card sees the AP and associates to
> it while for the other card this access point is invisible.
>
> My qusetion was: why is this?
>
>


Then try the free way.. Delete the software and reinstall it.. I would
surmise a setting got changed somewhere, but the easiest thing to try is
always delete and reinstall (or on AP's, reset).

Are the cards the same? What happens if you swap computers they are in? Have
you gone to the card manufacturers websites and seen if there are any
updates?