Linksys WMP54G PCI card with Windows 98?

Hi all-

I hope someone here has some ideas that can help me.

I'm trying to set up a wireless network at home using a Linksys WRT54G
router,
a WPC54G notebook adapter for a Win2K laptop, and a WMP54G PCI card
for a Dell Optiplex GXpro running Windows 98 (not second edition).

The router part works fine (using the wired ethernet ports), but
setting up the wireless part has been a chore, to say the least. I
finally got the WPC54G adapter working (actually, after a lot of
fiddling it just started getting a signal and I'm not exactly sure
what was wrong), but I have not been able to get the WMP54G PCI card
to work in the Windows 98 machine.

Originally, I installed the PCI card and then tried to load the
software, but apparently you have to install the software first before
installing the card. I removed the card, uninstalled the software,
and deleted all of the LINKSYS registry entries. Then I installed the
software, rebooted, and installed the card. I could not get a
wireless connection.

I updated the software with the latest version from the Linksys
website (version 1.3 of the WMP54G drivers), and now the machine hangs
when the system is almost up. If I remove the PCI card, the system
works fine, so I assume that it is hanging somewhere in the driver for
the card.

I've been reluctant to upgrade the system to Windows 98 SE as the next
step in trying to get this to work, because I have found postings on
Usenet from people who couldn't get this to work with Windows 98 SE
either.

Can anybody give me any ideas? Or can anyone recommend a different
card to try that is known to work with Windows 98. I'm pretty
dissappointed in Linksys. In fact, the main reason for buying all of
the other Linksys components was to get this Windows 98 machine hooked
up (I didn't want to run any CAT5 in the house), so if I can't get
this working I may just return all of it.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

-Ewan

(E-Mail Removed) (Ewan D. Milne) wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed) om:

> Can anybody give me any ideas? Or can anyone recommend a different
> card to try that is known to work with Windows 98. I'm pretty
> dissappointed in Linksys. In fact, the main reason for buying all of
> the other Linksys components was to get this Windows 98 machine hooked
> up (I didn't want to run any CAT5 in the house), so if I can't get
> this working I may just return all of it.
>
> Thanks in advance for any replies.
>
> -Ewan


I plan to be doing the same thing soon. I have an old P-133 which already
has an ethernet card that works in it. But I'm moving it to a room with no
network.

I was going to install a Linksys 11g wireless game adapter, which basically
makes it a wireless bridge. Plug the adapter into the ethernet card on the
PC. As long as the PC ethernet already works, there should be no problem,
and no need for new drivers. Costs more, but should work with less hassle.
No idea how performance would compare to a wireless PCI card, but this PC
is strictly for web surfing and email so bandwidth is not an issue.