MN-520 poor reception?

I'd heard that Microsoft hardware was actually pretty good. However, I
just tried using a MN-520 wireless notebook adapter with a friends
Dell Inspiron 5100 / Windows XP Pro, latest drivers, and the reception
was terrible!

With the laptop in the same position, my Dell Truemobile 1150 notebook
adapter had EXCELLENT reception, whereas the MN-520 had ZERO
(actually, flipped every few seconds between very low [can't even get
ip] and no connection).

Has anyone else had this terrible reception experience? I am really
sort of surprised - testing just around the corner from the AP had a
LOW connection. Granted the 1150 is an excellent card... but still.

Thoughts? No firmware upgrades seem to be available.

ps - are MS products rebadged Linksys? Cause that might explain it...

Are you on the right channel and using the correct encryption settings?
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


"John T" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I'd heard that Microsoft hardware was actually pretty good. However, I
> just tried using a MN-520 wireless notebook adapter with a friends
> Dell Inspiron 5100 / Windows XP Pro, latest drivers, and the reception
> was terrible!
>
> With the laptop in the same position, my Dell Truemobile 1150 notebook
> adapter had EXCELLENT reception, whereas the MN-520 had ZERO
> (actually, flipped every few seconds between very low [can't even get
> ip] and no connection).
>
> Has anyone else had this terrible reception experience? I am really
> sort of surprised - testing just around the corner from the AP had a
> LOW connection. Granted the 1150 is an excellent card... but still.
>
> Thoughts? No firmware upgrades seem to be available.
>
> ps - are MS products rebadged Linksys? Cause that might explain it...

Typically that means the card is misconfigured, or
conflicting with a built-in wireless card (?). There is
also a firmware upgrade for the MN-520 available. It
should download automatically if the software was
installed properly.

Aside this, I would go with all hardware from same vendor
when things are about alike, so I can get better customer
support (no more blaming problems on the other guys ;-)

>-----Original Message-----
>I'd heard that Microsoft hardware was actually pretty
good. However, I
>just tried using a MN-520 wireless notebook adapter with
a friends
>Dell Inspiron 5100 / Windows XP Pro, latest drivers, and
the reception
>was terrible!
>
>With the laptop in the same position, my Dell Truemobile
1150 notebook
>adapter had EXCELLENT reception, whereas the MN-520 had
ZERO
>(actually, flipped every few seconds between very low
[can't even get
>ip] and no connection).
>
>Has anyone else had this terrible reception experience?
I am really
>sort of surprised - testing just around the corner from
the AP had a
>LOW connection. Granted the 1150 is an excellent card...
but still.
>
>Thoughts? No firmware upgrades seem to be available.
>
>ps - are MS products rebadged Linksys? Cause that might
explain it...
>.
>

The channel was correct, yes. Netstumbler watched signal strength go
from excellent (-45dB) right next to the AP to poor (around the
corner) to none (original position).

There is no firmware update according to the microsoft site & the
MSBNDownload.exe that I used to flash my microsoft router (not being
used here).