MN-510 - Wireless light flashes, no signal.

Hello -

I've got an all-MS hardware wireless network here at home.
MS-500 base station
MS-510 USB wireless adapter to a Dell desktop
MS-520 wireless adapter in a Toshiba laptop.

For the past 2-3 months, the adapter on the desktop has
started acting more and more strangely. Meaning: some
random amount of time after the computer is started, the
adapter "Wireless" light begins flashing regularly: on
for 1 second, off for 1 second. It is a very different
pattern than the normal, high-speed "flickering" during
normal data transfer.

This adapter worked fine in the exact same setup from
February of this year, but as I mentioned began acting
strangely over the last few months.

The Dell is a bit old, but no new software gets installed
on it. My wife uses it to read email, surf the web, and
that's about it. (It's a 400 Mhz machine, so not beefy
enough for much else.)

It has now degraded to the point where it keeps the
connection open for no longer than a minute or two before
the light begins flashing and the MSBN Util says "No
Signal". The strange thing is, I brought the laptop into
the same room, and set the USB wireless adapter on top of
the laptop - meaning, the two adapters (one plugged into
the laptop, the other tethered by USB to the desktop)
were no more than 2 inches apart, but the laptop told me
it had very good signal, while the desktop said no signal.

I spent about 8 hours on this today (a Saturday), and
have reached the end of my rope. Things I've tried:

- Rebooting the Dell (dozens of times)
- R'd the F-in M.
- Trying to get MSBNDownload.exe onto the Dell (it never
kept the connection open long enough for me to complete
the transfer. Then I tried using Winzip to Split it into
10 1-meg files, but the Dell had an old version of Winzip
that couldn't re-assemble them. So I zipped Winzip
itself, got the new version onto the desktop, but no joy -
it wants the split files on a floppy, and I decided that
path was a waste of energy.)
- Moving the laptop around and hitting "Refresh" on the
Available Networks" screen in the MSBNUtil, to see what
other signals it could pick up in the area of the
desktop. I did notice intermittently that networks
called "linksys" and "NETGEAR" would appear. (Our
network has a unique SSID name - my name and my wife's
name.) So it's possible that I'm picking up the default
names of some neighbors' adaptors, no?
- Checking to see if there was a firmware or software
upgrade. Both the MN-510 (desktop) and MN-520 (laptop)
are running version 2.2.0.731 or MSBNU, and the MN-500
has version 1.11.017 of the firmware, which I noticed is
the latest.
- Pawed through the search function on this board to see
if it had already been answered.

So I guess I have 2 questions:
1) What should I try next?
2) What might be causing this?

My theories on 2) are things like some neighbor finally
got a new network installed and there's some radio
interference. Or maybe a cel tower or radio antenna was
put up in the neighborhood recently or something.
There's been no change in our house that we can think of
at the time the flakiness began.

Thanks a million - I hope someone's able to help!

Aaron

PS - If you could shoot me an email to let me know if you
post a reply, I'd be really grateful. It's already on
the spam lists, so I don't care about that. Thanks!

Try changing the wireless channel. Also get both "Spybot Search &
Destroy" as well as "Ad-Aware" installed, updated, & run a scan with both.

Some questions.

What version of Windows is the desktop running?

What Service Pack is the OS on the Desktop running?

Aaron C. wrote:

> Hello -
>
> I've got an all-MS hardware wireless network here at home.
> MS-500 base station
> MS-510 USB wireless adapter to a Dell desktop
> MS-520 wireless adapter in a Toshiba laptop.
>
> For the past 2-3 months, the adapter on the desktop has
> started acting more and more strangely. Meaning: some
> random amount of time after the computer is started, the
> adapter "Wireless" light begins flashing regularly: on
> for 1 second, off for 1 second. It is a very different
> pattern than the normal, high-speed "flickering" during
> normal data transfer.
>
> This adapter worked fine in the exact same setup from
> February of this year, but as I mentioned began acting
> strangely over the last few months.
>
> The Dell is a bit old, but no new software gets installed
> on it. My wife uses it to read email, surf the web, and
> that's about it. (It's a 400 Mhz machine, so not beefy
> enough for much else.)
>
> It has now degraded to the point where it keeps the
> connection open for no longer than a minute or two before
> the light begins flashing and the MSBN Util says "No
> Signal". The strange thing is, I brought the laptop into
> the same room, and set the USB wireless adapter on top of
> the laptop - meaning, the two adapters (one plugged into
> the laptop, the other tethered by USB to the desktop)
> were no more than 2 inches apart, but the laptop told me
> it had very good signal, while the desktop said no signal.
>
> I spent about 8 hours on this today (a Saturday), and
> have reached the end of my rope. Things I've tried:
>
> - Rebooting the Dell (dozens of times)
> - R'd the F-in M.
> - Trying to get MSBNDownload.exe onto the Dell (it never
> kept the connection open long enough for me to complete
> the transfer. Then I tried using Winzip to Split it into
> 10 1-meg files, but the Dell had an old version of Winzip
> that couldn't re-assemble them. So I zipped Winzip
> itself, got the new version onto the desktop, but no joy -
> it wants the split files on a floppy, and I decided that
> path was a waste of energy.)
> - Moving the laptop around and hitting "Refresh" on the
> Available Networks" screen in the MSBNUtil, to see what
> other signals it could pick up in the area of the
> desktop. I did notice intermittently that networks
> called "linksys" and "NETGEAR" would appear. (Our
> network has a unique SSID name - my name and my wife's
> name.) So it's possible that I'm picking up the default
> names of some neighbors' adaptors, no?
> - Checking to see if there was a firmware or software
> upgrade. Both the MN-510 (desktop) and MN-520 (laptop)
> are running version 2.2.0.731 or MSBNU, and the MN-500
> has version 1.11.017 of the firmware, which I noticed is
> the latest.
> - Pawed through the search function on this board to see
> if it had already been answered.
>
> So I guess I have 2 questions:
> 1) What should I try next?
> 2) What might be causing this?
>
> My theories on 2) are things like some neighbor finally
> got a new network installed and there's some radio
> interference. Or maybe a cel tower or radio antenna was
> put up in the neighborhood recently or something.
> There's been no change in our house that we can think of
> at the time the flakiness began.
>
> Thanks a million - I hope someone's able to help!
>
> Aaron
>
> PS - If you could shoot me an email to let me know if you
> post a reply, I'd be really grateful. It's already on
> the spam lists, so I don't care about that. Thanks!

--
Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.

Aaron C. wrote:
> Hello -
>
> I've got an all-MS hardware wireless network here at home.
> MS-500 base station
> MS-510 USB wireless adapter to a Dell desktop
> MS-520 wireless adapter in a Toshiba laptop.
>
> For the past 2-3 months, the adapter on the desktop has
> started acting more and more strangely. Meaning: some
> random amount of time after the computer is started, the
> adapter "Wireless" light begins flashing regularly:

Aaron
I am so relieved to read yer post, thought I was going crazy. Tues Night
I watched VP debates. I was sitting out in den with Dell Inspiron(Also
the name of computer)with a 520 Card , I have a MN500 base station and a
veriszon Broadband. This is all hooked to an elderly DellDimension
Pent3. In the fron room I have a Gateway Solo(celeron with a Linksys 11b
card) Equivalent to the MN520 card/ VERY SIMILAR TO YOUR ARRANGEMENT.Whoops.

Her tis again Dell Inspiron MN520 Win xp
Dell Dimension MN500 (Basestation) Hardwired to BS) win98se
Gateway Solo Laptop with Linksys 11b Win ME

ANyway the contrasting op systems havent been an issue. Wed morning
After being up late with the sysytem(No problems)It started that
flashing ctrap. Didnt matter if I switched cards, put MS card in solo or
vice versa. Still flashes, about 50 times a minute. And icon in systray
says no connectionn .

It had never messsed up. In fact I have moved recently to this house and
I have rearranged this system several times, around the house to get
best signal, but Ive had weak signal, but nevr NO SIGNAL.

Now for the best part of the story. Tues night I notice a strange name
on my MSBN utility...John2655ersjwe or some such thing, y'see my
computrts have names like this....Solo Inspiron and Dimension. Now I
see this strange name like you are given when you install. SOOO I have
never used wep...I use mshome and channel 6. ANd usually firewall. But I
have trouble transferring files from den to bedroom so I dont see how
some wahoo down the street is messing me up. Is it that he has given it
a wep code or something?Like I say, since wed morning Ive had to run
cables all over the house. I havent connected wireless since then. Was
on phone with a Hindu from MS for 5 hours Sat.. didnt help. We reset to
generic(using pin) cut everything off, unpliugged, I even reformatted my
HD on Inspiron lost a million files, And reinstalled clean/ Just
finished getting my feelings hurt again. Im thinking it cant be the
cards...one is new anyway. Why would both die at same time? But Ive
never had any trouble at all???
Let me know if you figure it out. I dont know my neighbors that well, so
I have no idea who it is.
walt

Here would be a few things I could think to try:

1. Turn off all encryption, see if it makes a difference.
2. If feasible.....can you move the laptop around and see if you can get on
one of those neighbor's networks? I ask that because if you're picking up
multiple signals, I would lean against your laptops card not working, as you
would not pick those signals up either. The MN-500 may be the issue,
possilby failing. Perhaps restting it would help?
3. For the test, try to hard wire to the MN-500, and see if that works
also.


--
Steve Sullivan, MVP
Microsoft Hardware Products

One thing I forgot....have you installed any software recently, around the
time the problem began occurring?


--
Steve Sullivan, MVP
Microsoft Hardware Products

1. if you have XP on all machines, uninstall the BNU. make sure your
XP machines are updated to SP2. Use windows native wireless zero
configuration to handle the settings on the wireless adapters.

2. change the CHANNEL on the base station. use a wired computer to do
this. use your web browser to go to 192.168.2.1

3. make sure that you have WPA (or WEP) enabled on your wireless
computers.

On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 23:08:51 -0700, "Aaron C."
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hello -
>
>I've got an all-MS hardware wireless network here at home.
>MS-500 base station
>MS-510 USB wireless adapter to a Dell desktop
>MS-520 wireless adapter in a Toshiba laptop.
>
>For the past 2-3 months, the adapter on the desktop has
>started acting more and more strangely. Meaning: some
>random amount of time after the computer is started, the
>adapter "Wireless" light begins flashing regularly: on
>for 1 second, off for 1 second. It is a very different
>pattern than the normal, high-speed "flickering" during
>normal data transfer.
>
>This adapter worked fine in the exact same setup from
>February of this year, but as I mentioned began acting
>strangely over the last few months.
>
>The Dell is a bit old, but no new software gets installed
>on it. My wife uses it to read email, surf the web, and
>that's about it. (It's a 400 Mhz machine, so not beefy
>enough for much else.)
>
>It has now degraded to the point where it keeps the
>connection open for no longer than a minute or two before
>the light begins flashing and the MSBN Util says "No
>Signal". The strange thing is, I brought the laptop into
>the same room, and set the USB wireless adapter on top of
>the laptop - meaning, the two adapters (one plugged into
>the laptop, the other tethered by USB to the desktop)
>were no more than 2 inches apart, but the laptop told me
>it had very good signal, while the desktop said no signal.
>
>I spent about 8 hours on this today (a Saturday), and
>have reached the end of my rope. Things I've tried:
>
>- Rebooting the Dell (dozens of times)
>- R'd the F-in M.
>- Trying to get MSBNDownload.exe onto the Dell (it never
>kept the connection open long enough for me to complete
>the transfer. Then I tried using Winzip to Split it into
>10 1-meg files, but the Dell had an old version of Winzip
>that couldn't re-assemble them. So I zipped Winzip
>itself, got the new version onto the desktop, but no joy -
> it wants the split files on a floppy, and I decided that
>path was a waste of energy.)
>- Moving the laptop around and hitting "Refresh" on the
>Available Networks" screen in the MSBNUtil, to see what
>other signals it could pick up in the area of the
>desktop. I did notice intermittently that networks
>called "linksys" and "NETGEAR" would appear. (Our
>network has a unique SSID name - my name and my wife's
>name.) So it's possible that I'm picking up the default
>names of some neighbors' adaptors, no?
>- Checking to see if there was a firmware or software
>upgrade. Both the MN-510 (desktop) and MN-520 (laptop)
>are running version 2.2.0.731 or MSBNU, and the MN-500
>has version 1.11.017 of the firmware, which I noticed is
>the latest.
>- Pawed through the search function on this board to see
>if it had already been answered.
>
>So I guess I have 2 questions:
>1) What should I try next?
>2) What might be causing this?
>
>My theories on 2) are things like some neighbor finally
>got a new network installed and there's some radio
>interference. Or maybe a cel tower or radio antenna was
>put up in the neighborhood recently or something.
>There's been no change in our house that we can think of
>at the time the flakiness began.
>
>Thanks a million - I hope someone's able to help!
>
>Aaron
>
>PS - If you could shoot me an email to let me know if you
>post a reply, I'd be really grateful. It's already on
>the spam lists, so I don't care about that. Thanks!

--
Barb Bowman
Expert Zone Columnist
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
MS-MVP (Windows)

Steve Sullivan, MVP wrote:
> Here would be a few things I could think to try:
>
> 1. Turn off all encryption, see if it makes a difference.
> 2. If feasible.....can you move the laptop around and see if you can get on
> one of those neighbor's networks? I ask that because if you're picking up
> multiple signals, I would lean against your laptops card not working, as you
> would not pick those signals up either. The MN-500 may be the issue,
> possilby failing. Perhaps restting it would help?
> 3. For the test, try to hard wire to the MN-500, and see if that works
> also.
>
>
Steve

I have done all that stuff, right this minute I am using my laptop WInXP
unit that previously had MN520flasher) I have it hardwired. I have also
tried using a linksys 802.11b, nothing. If I can hardwire does it mean
Base is OK?
I must say this, only recently I have viewed an interloper on my MSBN
utility, I dont use wireless security , and I have workgp named mshome
and channel 6. Nothing complicated. I had never seen him before. I dont
know who he is only that he is new.He uses a genric name for his unit
which is like you get when yer installing...John87N6Yr43 (something to
that effect) Mine all have names like...Inspiron, Dimension..and Solo.
SO when I look on utility to see whats running I jump at the sight of
this strange name. Thats the only thiing dif. I dont see his info
anymore, but I cant connect wirelessly either. Has he screwed me up..has
he encrypted my unit or put a wep in there that makes my cards flash
impotently??
walt in VA
pissed in Petersburg

Hello Barb, Joker, and Steve!

Here are the answers to the various questions that have
come up:

1) The desktop (with the trouble) is running Win98 SE,
looks like build 4.10.2222 A. (I'm not quite sure where
to find the Service Pack info on 98 anymore...) The
laptop (which works fine) is running WinXP Home. Since
one machine is not running XP, I'm not going to uninstall
the BNU as you suggested, Barb.

2) I've changed the channel from 11, to 9, to 6, and now
it's on 5. All exhibit problems, but again, only on the
desktop

3) WEP is enabled on all computers. We're using full 128-
bit security.

4) I'll try to run Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware, but since it
can't connect to the router at all, we might have a catch-
22 there...I'll work on other methods, maybe burning it
to CD from the laptop.

5) Regarding moving the laptop around to see if I pick up
other signals in the neighborhood - that's a good idea,
but in mycase it's the desktop with the problem. (I'm
not sure if you were replying to walt or myself with
that...it gets a little confusing trying to deal with two
people on the same thread.)

6) I tried it without encryption...no difference. Turned
it back to 128-bit, and again, no change. The desktop
just can't see the darned base station. It says there
are no available networks (while the laptop, again in the
same room, not 4 feet from the desktop's antenna, is
getting an Excellent signal).

7) Because the dell is so old, it doesn't really get any
new software on it. The only thing I can think of that
might have changed was the last MSBNDownload update.
Does anyone know exactly when that was released?

Thanks a million for the help - I'll check back here and
let you know if I can get Spybot or Ad-Aware running on
the problem computer.

Looking forward to the next round of ideas!

Aaron

Quick update - after seeing all of Joker's messages
pounding the table about uninstalling BNU on XP machines,
that's what I did on the XP laptop. Rebooted the
desktop, and it's still FUBAR.

Chuggin' along...

>-----Original Message-----
>1. if you have XP on all machines, uninstall the BNU.
make sure your
>XP machines are updated to SP2. Use windows native
wireless zero
>configuration to handle the settings on the wireless
adapters.
>
>2. change the CHANNEL on the base station. use a wired
computer to do
>this. use your web browser to go to 192.168.2.1
>
>3. make sure that you have WPA (or WEP) enabled on your
wireless
>computers.
>
>On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 23:08:51 -0700, "Aaron C."
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Hello -
>>
>>I've got an all-MS hardware wireless network here at
home.
>>MS-500 base station
>>MS-510 USB wireless adapter to a Dell desktop
>>MS-520 wireless adapter in a Toshiba laptop.
>>
>>For the past 2-3 months, the adapter on the desktop has
>>started acting more and more strangely. Meaning: some
>>random amount of time after the computer is started,
the
>>adapter "Wireless" light begins flashing regularly: on
>>for 1 second, off for 1 second. It is a very different
>>pattern than the normal, high-speed "flickering" during
>>normal data transfer.
>>
>>This adapter worked fine in the exact same setup from
>>February of this year, but as I mentioned began acting
>>strangely over the last few months.
>>
>>The Dell is a bit old, but no new software gets
installed
>>on it. My wife uses it to read email, surf the web,
and
>>that's about it. (It's a 400 Mhz machine, so not beefy
>>enough for much else.)
>>
>>It has now degraded to the point where it keeps the
>>connection open for no longer than a minute or two
before
>>the light begins flashing and the MSBN Util says "No
>>Signal". The strange thing is, I brought the laptop
into
>>the same room, and set the USB wireless adapter on top
of
>>the laptop - meaning, the two adapters (one plugged
into
>>the laptop, the other tethered by USB to the desktop)
>>were no more than 2 inches apart, but the laptop told
me
>>it had very good signal, while the desktop said no
signal.
>>
>>I spent about 8 hours on this today (a Saturday), and
>>have reached the end of my rope. Things I've tried:
>>
>>- Rebooting the Dell (dozens of times)
>>- R'd the F-in M.
>>- Trying to get MSBNDownload.exe onto the Dell (it
never
>>kept the connection open long enough for me to complete
>>the transfer. Then I tried using Winzip to Split it
into
>>10 1-meg files, but the Dell had an old version of
Winzip
>>that couldn't re-assemble them. So I zipped Winzip
>>itself, got the new version onto the desktop, but no
joy -
>> it wants the split files on a floppy, and I decided
that
>>path was a waste of energy.)
>>- Moving the laptop around and hitting "Refresh" on
the
>>Available Networks" screen in the MSBNUtil, to see what
>>other signals it could pick up in the area of the
>>desktop. I did notice intermittently that networks
>>called "linksys" and "NETGEAR" would appear. (Our
>>network has a unique SSID name - my name and my wife's
>>name.) So it's possible that I'm picking up the
default
>>names of some neighbors' adaptors, no?
>>- Checking to see if there was a firmware or software
>>upgrade. Both the MN-510 (desktop) and MN-520 (laptop)
>>are running version 2.2.0.731 or MSBNU, and the MN-500
>>has version 1.11.017 of the firmware, which I noticed
is
>>the latest.
>>- Pawed through the search function on this board to
see
>>if it had already been answered.
>>
>>So I guess I have 2 questions:
>>1) What should I try next?
>>2) What might be causing this?
>>
>>My theories on 2) are things like some neighbor finally
>>got a new network installed and there's some radio
>>interference. Or maybe a cel tower or radio antenna
was
>>put up in the neighborhood recently or something.
>>There's been no change in our house that we can think
of
>>at the time the flakiness began.
>>
>>Thanks a million - I hope someone's able to help!
>>
>>Aaron
>>
>>PS - If you could shoot me an email to let me know if
you
>>post a reply, I'd be really grateful. It's already on
>>the spam lists, so I don't care about that. Thanks!
>
>--
>Barb Bowman
>Expert Zone Columnist
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>MS-MVP (Windows)
>.
>

Aaron C. - the Original Poster wrote:

> Hello Barb, Joker, and Steve!
>
> Here are the answers to the various questions that have
> come up:
>
> 1) The desktop (with the trouble) is running Win98 SE,
> looks like build 4.10.2222 A. (I'm not quite sure where
> to find the Service Pack info on 98 anymore...) The
> laptop (which works fine) is running WinXP Home. Since
> one machine is not running XP, I'm not going to uninstall
> the BNU as you suggested, Barb.

Windows 98 SE includes SP1 (the only Service Pack I'm aware of for
Windows 98)

> 2) I've changed the channel from 11, to 9, to 6, and now
> it's on 5. All exhibit problems, but again, only on the
> desktop
>
> 3) WEP is enabled on all computers. We're using full 128-
> bit security.
>
> 4) I'll try to run Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware, but since it
> can't connect to the router at all, we might have a catch-
> 22 there...I'll work on other methods, maybe burning it
> to CD from the laptop.
>
> 5) Regarding moving the laptop around to see if I pick up
> other signals in the neighborhood - that's a good idea,
> but in mycase it's the desktop with the problem. (I'm
> not sure if you were replying to walt or myself with
> that...it gets a little confusing trying to deal with two
> people on the same thread.)

Try putting the laptop near the location of where the antenna for the
desktop is located to see if the signal isn't reaching the desktop with
enough power to be able to be recognized.

> 6) I tried it without encryption...no difference. Turned
> it back to 128-bit, and again, no change. The desktop
> just can't see the darned base station. It says there
> are no available networks (while the laptop, again in the
> same room, not 4 feet from the desktop's antenna, is
> getting an Excellent signal).
>
> 7) Because the dell is so old, it doesn't really get any
> new software on it. The only thing I can think of that
> might have changed was the last MSBNDownload update.
> Does anyone know exactly when that was released?
>
> Thanks a million for the help - I'll check back here and
> let you know if I can get Spybot or Ad-Aware running on
> the problem computer.
>
> Looking forward to the next round of ideas!
>
> Aaron

One last question I'll ask again because I didn't see an answer.

Are you using MAC filtering?

--
Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.