Achieving 54mbps

On my Desktop PC I have an Asus wl-138g v2 wireless card (Vista HP). My
laptop has an Atheros card. I'm connected to my router and wlan through
a Linksys WAP54G AP. On the laptop I get a 54mbps connection all over
the house. However, with the Asus card I always get 11mbps only, even
though the signal strength is reported as excellent (88%). I've
configured the AP to Wireless-G only.
Does anyone have any suggestions as of how to get the Asus card to
connect at 54mbps?

Mikkel

Mikkel <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>On my Desktop PC I have an Asus wl-138g v2 wireless card (Vista HP). My
>laptop has an Atheros card. I'm connected to my router and wlan through
>a Linksys WAP54G AP. On the laptop I get a 54mbps connection all over
>the house. However, with the Asus card I always get 11mbps only, even
>though the signal strength is reported as excellent (88%). I've
>configured the AP to Wireless-G only.
>Does anyone have any suggestions as of how to get the Asus card to
>connect at 54mbps?

That's weird. My guess(tm) is that the WAP54G thinks it's limited to
802.11b 11Mbits/sec, or is seeing a sufficiently high error rate to
limit the speed to 11Mbits/sec, or one manufactory goofed on Wi-Fi
compatibility. It can also be yet another Vista problem. Dunno.
Let's test these guesses one at a time, mostly by substitution.

1. Does the speed every go over 11Mbits/sec for the desktop? Does
the Asus client manager (or Vista wireless manager) anything other
than the 88% signal strength, such as a high noise level or 802.11b
only connection? Does it work (browse web sites, etc) at 11Mbits/sec?

2. Got the latest Asus WL-138G v2 driver from HP (or from Asus)? It
shows a Vista driver version 1.0.0.51.
<http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/WL-138g/Driver_vista.zip>
You might also want to dig through the FAQ. Some of the items look
interesting (but not directly related):
<http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=WL-138g>

3. Try connecting the desktop to a neighbors wireless network. No
need to get the encryption key or actually surf the internet, just get
a connection. It should show a connection speed. If it's 54Mbits/sec
the HP desktop is working correctly and the WAP54G has a problem. If
you can't find a suitable neighbor, borrow a different wireless AP or
router.

4. The WAP54G comes in various hardware mutation. V1 thru V3. These
are not my favorite devices and I've had stability problems with the
V2 versions. V3 with firmware v3.04 seems ok. Look on the serial
number tag for the hardware version. Check for updates.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Mikkel <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>
>> On my Desktop PC I have an Asus wl-138g v2 wireless card (Vista HP). My
>> laptop has an Atheros card. I'm connected to my router and wlan through
>> a Linksys WAP54G AP. On the laptop I get a 54mbps connection all over
>> the house. However, with the Asus card I always get 11mbps only, even
>> though the signal strength is reported as excellent (88%). I've
>> configured the AP to Wireless-G only.
>> Does anyone have any suggestions as of how to get the Asus card to
>> connect at 54mbps?

First of all, thanks for replying.

>
> That's weird. My guess(tm) is that the WAP54G thinks it's limited to
> 802.11b 11Mbits/sec, or is seeing a sufficiently high error rate to
> limit the speed to 11Mbits/sec, or one manufactory goofed on Wi-Fi
> compatibility. It can also be yet another Vista problem. Dunno.
> Let's test these guesses one at a time, mostly by substitution.
>
> 1. Does the speed every go over 11Mbits/sec for the desktop? Does

No. I've never seen it go above or even below 11mbps

> the Asus client manager (or Vista wireless manager) anything other
> than the 88% signal strength, such as a high noise level or 802.11b
> only connection? Does it work (browse web sites, etc) at 11Mbits/sec?

The signal/noise says -40 dBm / -90 dBm going up and down about 5 dBm
for each.
It can utilize the 2Mbit internet connection. The reason I want it to go
higher is local file transfers. I get about 400KB/S for that, which is a
lot slower than I would expect.
I'm also considering getting a faster internet connection and I don't
want the wireless connection to become a bottleneck.

>
> 2. Got the latest Asus WL-138G v2 driver from HP (or from Asus)? It
> shows a Vista driver version 1.0.0.51.
> <http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/WL-138g/Driver_vista.zip>

I believe that one is not for the V2. The V1 has a Marvell chip.
I'm using v4.102.15.56 which seems to be the latest from Asus.
I tried another driver v4.102.15.61 with the same result. The chip is a
bcm4318.

> You might also want to dig through the FAQ. Some of the items look
> interesting (but not directly related):
> <http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=WL-138g>
>
> 3. Try connecting the desktop to a neighbors wireless network. No
> need to get the encryption key or actually surf the internet, just get
> a connection. It should show a connection speed. If it's 54Mbits/sec
> the HP desktop is working correctly and the WAP54G has a problem. If
> you can't find a suitable neighbor, borrow a different wireless AP or
> router.

Unfortunately my neighbors don't have wireless. I'll try another AP when
I get the opportunity.

> 4. The WAP54G comes in various hardware mutation. V1 thru V3. These
> are not my favorite devices and I've had stability problems with the
> V2 versions. V3 with firmware v3.04 seems ok. Look on the serial
> number tag for the hardware version. Check for updates.
>

Seems I have a V1 with firmware v3.04 ...

Thanks again.

Mikkel <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>No. I've never seen it go above or even below 11mbps

Weird.

>The signal/noise says -40 dBm / -90 dBm going up and down about 5 dBm
>for each.

-40dBm is fairly strong and -90dBm is almost no noise/interference at
all. The -50dB SNR (signal to noise ratio) is more than adquate for
it to get to ODFM (802.11g) speeds. It's not a signal strength
problem.

>It can utilize the 2Mbit internet connection. The reason I want it to go
>higher is local file transfers. I get about 400KB/S for that, which is a
>lot slower than I would expect.
>I'm also considering getting a faster internet connection and I don't
>want the wireless connection to become a bottleneck.

Is that "bits/sec" or "bytes/sec"? My guess is Bytes.
400KBytes/sec = 3.2Mbits/sec, which is about what you'll get from an
11Mbit/sec wireless association. It's working normally, but at far
too slow a rate.

>> 2. Got the latest Asus WL-138G v2 driver from HP (or from Asus)? It
>> shows a Vista driver version 1.0.0.51.
>> <http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/WL-138g/Driver_vista.zip>

>I believe that one is not for the V2. The V1 has a Marvell chip.
>I'm using v4.102.15.56 which seems to be the latest from Asus.
>I tried another driver v4.102.15.61 with the same result. The chip is a
>bcm4318.

Yep. I missed. If I follow the pull down menus under downloads, it
only offers the WL-138G (no version number specified). However, if I
do a global search for WL-138G drivers, it offers:
Wl-138G v1, WL-138G v2, and WL-138GE
4.102.15.56 seems to be the latest for the v2.
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wir...ver_138gV2.zip
Interestingly, the download page says:
"2. The Vista driver does not support Afterburner function."
I wonder if there are other problems.

>Unfortunately my neighbors don't have wireless. I'll try another AP when
>I get the opportunity.

Yeah, that seems easier than dragging the desktop somewhere.

Reminder, you can always configure a wireless router into working like
a wireless access point by merely disabling the DHCP server and
setting the IP address to something that doesn't duplicate the main
router. Then connect an ethernet cable between LAN ports on the
router and wireless AP.

>> 4. The WAP54G comes in various hardware mutation. V1 thru V3. These
>> are not my favorite devices and I've had stability problems with the
>> V2 versions. V3 with firmware v3.04 seems ok. Look on the serial
>> number tag for the hardware version. Check for updates.
>
>Seems I have a V1 with firmware v3.04 ...

Oh-oh. That's the most likely culprit. I haven't seen this
particular problem, but there were plenty of other problems with the
older WAP54G units.

>Thanks again.
--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558