Help Required Installing a Wireless Notebook Card

I am having difficulty installing a Belkin Wireless Notebook Card -
F5D7010uk VER 1212uk (802.11g 54mbps standard) - in my rather old Toshiba
Satellite 220CS LapTop running Windows 98SE.

After playing around with it for some time I realised first off that the
Bios settings in the PCMCIA section needed changing from 16 bit PCIC to 32
bit CardBus to support my new card. After some research I checked my
LapTop's specs and it stated that it was "CardBus Ready", whatever that
meant. After searching on the net I realised that ToPic95 drivers needed
installing for the card to be recognised (ie; the PCMCIA slots needed
updating to accept a card such as this) and after some more research, I
managed to track these down and successfully install them.

Before installing the new card however, I wanted to check that my existing
PCMCIA 56Kbps Modem and 10/100 mbps ethernet cards would still work - I
guess these are both 16 bit cards as they worked before altering the Bios
settings. They worked faultlessly. I may add that I connected the 10/100
ethernet card to my Router, a NetGear DG834G (802.11g 54mbps standard) and
obtained a 100mbps connection.

I then proceeded to install the drivers for the new card and at the prompt,
inserted the card and immediately rebooted as the software instructions
detailed.

After connecting, the two small LED's on the card were dimly lit but the
utility software showed that no adapters were installed nor did device
manager show it up. However unplugging the card and reinserting it provoked
some life into it, one of the two lights glowed brightly but after launching
the utility software the LapTop immediately froze. I have played around
with this card for days, uninstalling and reinstalling - at one stage
successfully managing to input the requisite IP address settings into the
LapTop - but still I get a freeze when pulling out the card and reinserting
it.

Surely the card should be recognised when booting up and the software should
indicate the presence of the NetGear Wireless Network?

I have managed quite easily to network my daughter's PC wirelessly to my
network, using Belkins DeskTop PCI Network Card - F5D7000 and it too works
faultlessly.

Something is wrong with the notebook card or it is incompatible with my
LapTop. I have been in touch with Belkin, who advise me to install it into
another LapTop, but I do not have access to another so my supplier is taking
it back and I've ordered another, this time a NetGear model, which at least
makes it compatible with my Router. I can persevere at present with my
10/100 mbps PCMCIA card, but we go ADSL on 11th February and I am keen to
have this sorted before then.

It possibly has something to do with the card's internal memory as when I
tried the diagnostics one time, before it froze once more, it showed that it
had failed on memory. At present when I try to reinstall, I get an
incompatible driver error message, when loading the utility software. I
have of course managed to uninstall and clean up the remaining files and
registry items, before rebooting and reinstalling - after removing any
belkin items/devices in device manager - I literally have tried everything I
know.

In addition to trying to sort out the problem, I am shackled with the LapTop
not possessing a CD-Rom drive nor do I possess the original Windows 98 SE
installation CD, which I could use, if I had it, across the network. I have
access to the OS's cab files though, which I have extracted and placed on a
zip disk as I have a zip drive attached to the LapTop again via a PCMCIA
slot and again which works perfectly with the cardbus Bios settings.

Naturally I have tried operating the card with and without the 10/100
ethernet, zip drive and modem cards but still I am having problems.

So that's the problem. Are there any gurus out there who can help me please
as this is doing my head in?

TIA

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Oh sorry - and I've tried several driver versions as well as the CD ones by
downloading European ones from Belkin's site - still the big freeze


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"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bu10v9$i1k$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am having difficulty installing a Belkin Wireless Notebook Card -
> F5D7010uk VER 1212uk (802.11g 54mbps standard) - in my rather old Toshiba
> Satellite 220CS LapTop running Windows 98SE.
>
> After playing around with it for some time I realised first off that the
> Bios settings in the PCMCIA section needed changing from 16 bit PCIC to 32
> bit CardBus to support my new card. After some research I checked my
> LapTop's specs and it stated that it was "CardBus Ready", whatever that
> meant. After searching on the net I realised that ToPic95 drivers needed
> installing for the card to be recognised (ie; the PCMCIA slots needed
> updating to accept a card such as this) and after some more research, I
> managed to track these down and successfully install them.
>
> Before installing the new card however, I wanted to check that my existing
> PCMCIA 56Kbps Modem and 10/100 mbps ethernet cards would still work - I
> guess these are both 16 bit cards as they worked before altering the Bios
> settings. They worked faultlessly. I may add that I connected the 10/100
> ethernet card to my Router, a NetGear DG834G (802.11g 54mbps standard) and
> obtained a 100mbps connection.
>
> I then proceeded to install the drivers for the new card and at the
prompt,
> inserted the card and immediately rebooted as the software instructions
> detailed.
>
> After connecting, the two small LED's on the card were dimly lit but the
> utility software showed that no adapters were installed nor did device
> manager show it up. However unplugging the card and reinserting it
provoked
> some life into it, one of the two lights glowed brightly but after
launching
> the utility software the LapTop immediately froze. I have played around
> with this card for days, uninstalling and reinstalling - at one stage
> successfully managing to input the requisite IP address settings into the
> LapTop - but still I get a freeze when pulling out the card and
reinserting
> it.
>
> Surely the card should be recognised when booting up and the software
should
> indicate the presence of the NetGear Wireless Network?
>
> I have managed quite easily to network my daughter's PC wirelessly to my
> network, using Belkins DeskTop PCI Network Card - F5D7000 and it too works
> faultlessly.
>
> Something is wrong with the notebook card or it is incompatible with my
> LapTop. I have been in touch with Belkin, who advise me to install it
into
> another LapTop, but I do not have access to another so my supplier is
taking
> it back and I've ordered another, this time a NetGear model, which at
least
> makes it compatible with my Router. I can persevere at present with my
> 10/100 mbps PCMCIA card, but we go ADSL on 11th February and I am keen to
> have this sorted before then.
>
> It possibly has something to do with the card's internal memory as when I
> tried the diagnostics one time, before it froze once more, it showed that
it
> had failed on memory. At present when I try to reinstall, I get an
> incompatible driver error message, when loading the utility software. I
> have of course managed to uninstall and clean up the remaining files and
> registry items, before rebooting and reinstalling - after removing any
> belkin items/devices in device manager - I literally have tried everything
I
> know.
>
> In addition to trying to sort out the problem, I am shackled with the
LapTop
> not possessing a CD-Rom drive nor do I possess the original Windows 98 SE
> installation CD, which I could use, if I had it, across the network. I
have
> access to the OS's cab files though, which I have extracted and placed on
a
> zip disk as I have a zip drive attached to the LapTop again via a PCMCIA
> slot and again which works perfectly with the cardbus Bios settings.
>
> Naturally I have tried operating the card with and without the 10/100
> ethernet, zip drive and modem cards but still I am having problems.
>
> So that's the problem. Are there any gurus out there who can help me
please
> as this is doing my head in?
>
> TIA
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This footnote confirms that this email message
> has been swept by Norton AntiVirus for the
> presence of computer viruses.
>
> This computer is protected
> by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>