Installing PCMCIA WIFI Card Kills Internet

I'm running WinME.

After attempting to install a PCMCIA WIFI card I can no longer access the
internet. Before the installation I can access the internet using either a
USB WIFI dongle or my cellphone via the COM port.

If I go through the installation for a PCMCIA card, then the new card cannot
access the internet and, if I try to use the USB or the cellphone, they
can't access the internet either. In all cases I get, "The page cannot be
displayed".

I have tried both a Linksys PCMCIA card and a Sandisk PCMCIA card.

Uninstalling the software that came with the card doesn't allow the USB WIFI
or cellphone to work. The only way that I can regain internet access is to
do a system restore to a time before I installed the PCMCIA.

(Note, I have spent many hours trying all kinds of variations of installing,
uninstalling, removal of dialup networking, deleting devices, etc. I even
spent many hours on the phone with Linksys, In the end they said they can't
make their card work.)

Even without internet access, the PCMCIA card seems to work somewhat. (Note,
most of what I describe below is true for the Sandisk board but I believe
the Linksys might perform similarly).

With the PCMCIA board installed, I can access my local network. I can also
open a DOS window and PING my router and various external sites like yahoo
and google. However, I can ping them using only numerical urls. That is,
"ping 216.109.112.135" works as does "ping 64.233.167.99" but "ping
yahoo.com" or "ping google.com" won't work. (After a system restore, either
ping format works.)

I don't get it. Something tells me the problem isn't with the WIFI card
drivers but something outboard of that. Like TCP/IP is getting effected or
something in the registry that doesn't get returned when I uninstall the
board(s).

Any ideas?
Thanks in Advance.

PeteC

Since you can apparently access the net using a site's IP address it would
appear the problem is with DNS resolution. Have you tried removing and
then reinstalling TCP/IP? You can do this by selecting My Network Places
and clicking Properties, then select TCP/IP on the Configuration tab (or
if more than one entry the entry bound to your Wi-Fi adapter) and then
clicking Remove. To reinstall click Add, select Protocol and then click
Add, and then finally select TCP/IP from the list of Network Protocols and
click OK. Now highlight TCP/IP and select Properties and check that on
the IP Address tab it is set to obtain an IP address automatically and
that on the DNS Config tab "Disable DNS" is checked. Now try pinging an
external site, first using its IP address and then its alias. Can you now
ping a site using its alias?
--
Mike Maltby
(E-Mail Removed)


PeteC <u23511@uwe> wrote:

> I'm running WinME.
>
> After attempting to install a PCMCIA WIFI card I can no longer access
> the internet. Before the installation I can access the internet
> using either a USB WIFI dongle or my cellphone via the COM port.
>
> If I go through the installation for a PCMCIA card, then the new card
> cannot access the internet and, if I try to use the USB or the
> cellphone, they can't access the internet either. In all cases I
> get, "The page cannot be displayed".
>
> I have tried both a Linksys PCMCIA card and a Sandisk PCMCIA card.
>
> Uninstalling the software that came with the card doesn't allow the
> USB WIFI or cellphone to work. The only way that I can regain
> internet access is to do a system restore to a time before I
> installed the PCMCIA.
>
> (Note, I have spent many hours trying all kinds of variations of
> installing, uninstalling, removal of dialup networking, deleting
> devices, etc. I even spent many hours on the phone with Linksys, In
> the end they said they can't make their card work.)
>
> Even without internet access, the PCMCIA card seems to work somewhat.
> (Note, most of what I describe below is true for the Sandisk board
> but I believe the Linksys might perform similarly).
>
> With the PCMCIA board installed, I can access my local network. I
> can also open a DOS window and PING my router and various external
> sites like yahoo and google. However, I can ping them using only
> numerical urls. That is, "ping 216.109.112.135" works as does "ping
> 64.233.167.99" but "ping yahoo.com" or "ping google.com" won't work.
> (After a system restore, either ping format works.)
>
> I don't get it. Something tells me the problem isn't with the WIFI
> card drivers but something outboard of that. Like TCP/IP is getting
> effected or something in the registry that doesn't get returned when
> I uninstall the board(s).
>
> Any ideas?
> Thanks in Advance.
>
> PeteC

I COULD NOT ping using the alias. Using IP address worked as before.

I followed your directions three times to be sure. I had to rerboot each
time so something was happening.

I forgot to metion. The sandisk card has a setup program (WEP etc). It
includes a "Link Test" function. I specify a IP and click a "Ping" button.
The response is "Socket open fail". When I was messing wih the Linksys card,
I sometimes got a "Error 10038 Socket Operation on non-socket". but not
always.

Sorry I didn't mention that before. I have been trying so many things and
getting many inconsistant results that I get confused about what I may have
caused verses actual results.

Mike M wrote:
>Since you can apparently access the net using a site's IP address it would
>appear the problem is with DNS resolution. Have you tried removing and
>then reinstalling TCP/IP? You can do this by selecting My Network Places
>and clicking Properties, then select TCP/IP on the Configuration tab (or
>if more than one entry the entry bound to your Wi-Fi adapter) and then
>clicking Remove. To reinstall click Add, select Protocol and then click
>Add, and then finally select TCP/IP from the list of Network Protocols and
>click OK. Now highlight TCP/IP and select Properties and check that on
>the IP Address tab it is set to obtain an IP address automatically and
>that on the DNS Config tab "Disable DNS" is checked. Now try pinging an
>external site, first using its IP address and then its alias. Can you now
>ping a site using its alias?
>> I'm running WinME.
>>
>[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
>>
>> PeteC

I did some more testing. The PCMCIA card installation has the same effect on
the built in NIC. Before installing the PCMCIA card I can access the
internet fine using the NIC or the USB WIFI or the cellphone modem. After I
install the PCMCIA card, none of the devices can get to the internet and ping
works as described below. I have to do a system restore to get back access.

PeteC wrote:
>I COULD NOT ping using the alias. Using IP address worked as before.
>
>I followed your directions three times to be sure. I had to rerboot each
>time so something was happening.
>
>I forgot to metion. The sandisk card has a setup program (WEP etc). It
>includes a "Link Test" function. I specify a IP and click a "Ping" button.
>The response is "Socket open fail". When I was messing wih the Linksys card,
>I sometimes got a "Error 10038 Socket Operation on non-socket". but not
>always.
>
>Sorry I didn't mention that before. I have been trying so many things and
>getting many inconsistant results that I get confused about what I may have
>caused verses actual results.
>
>>Since you can apparently access the net using a site's IP address it would
>>appear the problem is with DNS resolution. Have you tried removing and
>[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>>>
>>> PeteC

--
Message posted via WindowsKB.com
http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forums....rking/200606/1

Well, I am still trying to get a PCMCIA WIFI card working. I seem to have
the Sandisk card working (maybe a little flakey) but not the Linksys. I
found this Microsoft page:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;158474

I edited my registry as described there and then rebooted. I got (and still
get on every reboot) a message that there is a problem with networking and I
may not have all services.

After the reboot I installed the Sandisk wifi card and was able to access the
internet. When I try to access a disk on another computer in my network,
sometimes I get a message that it is not available and have to keep retrying.
Sooner or later it seems to work.

I have done, maybe 20 reboots, always the same network message, I can always
access the internet, I sometimes have to keep retrying to get to network
disks. Trying to install the Linksys PCMCIA causes a major problem. The
only way I can get back any internet access (USB, Cellphone, NIC, or Sandisk
PCMCIA) is by doing a system restore.

PeteC

--
Message posted via WindowsKB.com
http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forums....rking/200606/1