Dell internal WLAN + SMC Barricade = Problems

Hi All,

my new Dell Inspiron 8500 (TrueMobile 1300 internal WLAN) seems to be
incompatible with SMC Barricade 7004VWBR. It seems to work but will lose
connectivity every couple of minutes, then regain it within 5-20secs. Laptop
stays stationary all the time. SMC card maintains perfect connection in the
same spot. No 2.4ghz cordless phones around, no microwaves in operation. So
far I've tried:

* upgrading Dell drivers
* downgrading Dell drivers
* fixing WLAN rate at 1,2,5.5mbps
* upgrading Barricade firmware
* contacting Dell support who told me to call Broadcom techsupp directly

Encryption is off, and site survey utility shows signal strength
within -57...-65dBm, noise 70..80dBm, SNR 10...24. During blackouts utility
shows me nothing. Tray icon is green all the time with signal strength
varying from Good to Excellent.

If everything else fails I'll try Broadcom techsupp, but would prefer to try
everything else before losing couple of hours & few million braincells on
the phone.

Any recommendations appreciated!

TIA,
Peter

Peter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> my new Dell Inspiron 8500 (TrueMobile 1300 internal WLAN) seems to be
> incompatible with SMC Barricade 7004VWBR. It seems to work but will lose
> connectivity every couple of minutes, then regain it within 5-20secs. Laptop
> stays stationary all the time. SMC card maintains perfect connection in the
> same spot. No 2.4ghz cordless phones around, no microwaves in operation. So
> far I've tried:

The SMC card may bot support Wireless Zero Networking, so it doesn't even
try, and the Dell Truemobile is trying and failing.
< http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;313242 >



--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

> > my new Dell Inspiron 8500 (TrueMobile 1300 internal WLAN) seems to be
> > incompatible with SMC Barricade 7004VWBR. It seems to work but will lose
> > connectivity every couple of minutes, then regain it within 5-20secs.
Laptop
> > stays stationary all the time. SMC card maintains perfect connection in
the
> > same spot. No 2.4ghz cordless phones around, no microwaves in operation.
So
> > far I've tried:
>
> The SMC card may bot support Wireless Zero Networking, so it doesn't even
> try, and the Dell Truemobile is trying and failing.
> < http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;313242 >

Didn't help... besides loss of connectivity happens at random. Sometimes I
can go 10-15mins without a hitch, although that's rare. If it were a system
process trying to do WZN or whatever, I'd get interrupts every X minutes.

Thanks anyway!
Peter

Peter wrote:
>>> my new Dell Inspiron 8500 (TrueMobile 1300 internal WLAN) seems to
>>> be incompatible with SMC Barricade 7004VWBR. It seems to work but
>>> will lose connectivity every couple of minutes, then regain it
>>> within 5-20secs. Laptop stays stationary all the time. SMC card
>>> maintains perfect connection in the same spot. No 2.4ghz cordless
>>> phones around, no microwaves in operation. So far I've tried:
>>
>> The SMC card may bot support Wireless Zero Networking, so it doesn't
>> even try, and the Dell Truemobile is trying and failing.
>> < http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;313242 >
>
> Didn't help... besides loss of connectivity happens at random.
> Sometimes I can go 10-15mins without a hitch, although that's rare.
> If it were a system process trying to do WZN or whatever, I'd get
> interrupts every X minutes.
>
> Thanks anyway!
> Peter

What, if anything, does Event View show?

Q

> >> The SMC card may bot support Wireless Zero Networking, so it doesn't
> >> even try, and the Dell Truemobile is trying and failing.
> >> < http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;313242 >
> >
> > Didn't help... besides loss of connectivity happens at random.
> > Sometimes I can go 10-15mins without a hitch, although that's rare.
> > If it were a system process trying to do WZN or whatever, I'd get
> > interrupts every X minutes.
> >
> > Thanks anyway!
> > Peter
>
> What, if anything, does Event View show?

nuthin'... checked both system and app logs

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 21:47:47 +0300, "Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>my new Dell Inspiron 8500 (TrueMobile 1300 internal WLAN) seems to be
>incompatible with SMC Barricade 7004VWBR. It seems to work but will lose
>connectivity every couple of minutes, then regain it within 5-20secs. Laptop
>stays stationary all the time. SMC card maintains perfect connection in the
>same spot. No 2.4ghz cordless phones around, no microwaves in operation. So
>far I've tried:
>
>* upgrading Dell drivers
>* downgrading Dell drivers
>* fixing WLAN rate at 1,2,5.5mbps
>* upgrading Barricade firmware
>* contacting Dell support who told me to call Broadcom techsupp directly
>
>Encryption is off, and site survey utility shows signal strength
>within -57...-65dBm, noise 70..80dBm, SNR 10...24. During blackouts utility
>shows me nothing. Tray icon is green all the time with signal strength
>varying from Good to Excellent.
>
>If everything else fails I'll try Broadcom techsupp, but would prefer to try
>everything else before losing couple of hours & few million braincells on
>the phone.
>
>Any recommendations appreciated!
>
>TIA,
>Peter
>

I have a 1400, that has similar problems at 54MB. Check out the dell
user forums at support.dell.com and you'll find a LOT of threads about
the 1300 and your exact problem. There are many many posts where
someone found something that worked for them. Several solutions, but
not all work for everyone. But worth a look since you may be one of
the lucky ones.

John

> >my new Dell Inspiron 8500 (TrueMobile 1300 internal WLAN) seems to be
> >incompatible with SMC Barricade 7004VWBR. It seems to work but will lose
> >connectivity every couple of minutes, then regain it within 5-20secs.
Laptop
> >stays stationary all the time. SMC card maintains perfect connection in
the
> >same spot. No 2.4ghz cordless phones around, no microwaves in operation.
So
> >far I've tried:

> I have a 1400, that has similar problems at 54MB. Check out the dell
> user forums at support.dell.com and you'll find a LOT of threads about
> the 1300 and your exact problem. There are many many posts where
> someone found something that worked for them. Several solutions, but
> not all work for everyone. But worth a look since you may be one of

Thanks for the pointer! I found the solution - uncheck "Allow Windows to
manage wireless" and use 1300 Client Util to connect to the network!

Thanks again!
Peter

I tried this. I guess it didn't work for me too. I have a Truemobile
1400 on a Dell D600, but the speeds I am getting are not very
consistent compared to my old Lucent Orinoco wireless. Thanks anyway,

- Himanshu

"Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<bha4je$vdnhc$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> > Thanks for the pointer! I found the solution - uncheck "Allow Windows to
> > > manage wireless" and use 1300 Client Util to connect to the network!
>
> > Where did you uncheck "Allow Windows to manage wireless"? I could not
> > locate this anywhere in XP.
>
> Wireless connection properties, "Use Windows to configure my wireless
> connection" checkbox