NETGEAR MA111 XP SP2 problem

Hi!

I have a system with a NETGEAR MA111 USB WLAN adapter and a NETGEAR MR814v2
router.
the operating system was XP Pro SP1 with several updates.

everything was working fine, till Windows Update automatically downloaded
and installed
XP-SP2 on the machine, since then the Wireless network isnt working anymore,
which means,
that internet connection doesnt work anymore over the WLAN connection,
I cant even ping the router at his address (192.168.0.1).

I can see in the NETGEAR utility, that the MA111 is connected to the MR814,
but TCPIP doesnt work
between them. I disabled the new XP-firewall but it was the same, I also
tried to repair the WLAN-connection,
but it didnt work either. I also reseted the IP-settings (according to MSKB
299357,
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;299357) but it also
didnt help.

at last I removed XP-SP2 from the machine and the internet connection over
the wireless network works again.

I found an article at the NETGEAR website, telling that a specific hotfix
(Q815485) within the XP-SP2 can cause
the described problems
(http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101214.asp) but there is no
possibility
to remove this hotfix, if you installed XP-SP2 in one piece.

I discovered the exact same behaviour on another machine, with a MA111 and a
WG602 access point.

so there seems to be something wrong with the MA111 drivers and WIN XP SP2
?!

anx help on how to fix this problem woudl be greatly appreciated,
thanx in advance!

best regards,
Hans


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Hi Han

the solution for your problem should be as easy

Deinstall the Netgear drivers for your MA111, reboot your machine an
use Win XP to set your WLAN settings. This worked perfectly well fo
me. You can also check the forum of dslreports.com to find furthe
info. After this procedure it should be possible to reinstall th
Netgear drivers and override windows configuration (be sure to use th
up-to-date drivers for the MA111)

Good luck, Bernhar

--
fridoli
brought to you by http://www.wifi-forum.com

fridolin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Hi Hans
>
> the solution for your problem should be as easy:
>
> Deinstall the Netgear drivers for your MA111, reboot your machine and
> use Win XP to set your WLAN settings. This worked perfectly well for
> me. You can also check the forum of dslreports.com to find further
> info. After this procedure it should be possible to reinstall the
> Netgear drivers and override windows configuration (be sure to use the
> up-to-date drivers for the MA111).
>
> Good luck, Bernhard

Here's what worked for me. Bottom line, don't use Netgear's drivers at
all. Read on for the full story.

The 'puter (Gateway P4 1.4 ghz desktop) was a fresh install of XP SP1
from the OEM CD, then I ran the SP2 update (appx. 274MB .exe file I
keep on a USB hard drive to copy to all the puters I have to do). The
reason for installing a wireless on this puter was so that I could
allow my laptop (centrino with built-in wireless) to share the
desktop's hardwire internet connection as well as share the printer
and files. Previously I had this working with Win98se and the MA111 on
the desktop.

I downloaded the Netgear MA111 V2.0 driver from the website, paying
careful attention that I got the one for the v1 hardware. There's
apparently a MA111v2 adaptor which I don't have, and the drivers are
not compatible. I extracted the files from the .zip file into a
directory, which created a tree of several subdirectories which were
named after driver versions for XP, 2K, 98 etc. as well as including a
subdir for the configuration utility setup files. I did NOT run any
setup.exe at this point, because I thought XP's Wireless Zero Config
might do the job with less resource overhead, as I've found with other
wireless adaptors (Intel 2200BG for example).

So, first I tried plugging in the MA111 (to the desktop puter) and
when XP came up with the hardware wizard, I pointed it to the XP
subdirectory of the driver directory tree mentioned above. The driver
loaded fine. Next, I brought up the properties screen for the new
wireless connection and created a new ad-hoc "preferred network" under
the wireless networks tab, with a 10-digit hexadecimal WEP key. The
laptop then responded that it found a "network within range" and
allowed me to connect to the MA111 with the WEP key, but things were
stuck at "acquiring network address."

My memory is not clear on what happened right after that, but I think
I ran the network setup wizard on the desktop, which configured the
hardwired ethernet to be the shared internet connection and the MA111
to be the internal LAN, so the MA111 was now looking like a DHCP
server. Then an IP was automatically assigned to the MA111 and the
laptop picked one up, and I could get internet on the laptop. Great!
But I couldn't get the laptop or desktop to "see" each other within
network neighborhood (my network places) so file and printer sharing
were still having problems. I tried the usual crap in the network
connection properties and advanced configuration screens, flipping
network bindings on and off. I messed with XP-SP2's firewall settings,
no dice.

Now the MA111 and the laptalk are not talking to each other at all, so
I'm thinking maybe there's something good in the Netgear utilities
after all. So I do a system restore to the approximate time when the
MA111 was able to connect the first time, then run "setup" on the
Netgear driver utility package like the instructions said to do. I use
Netgear's configuration instead of XP's Wireless Zero. I play with
more properties in the "network connections." No better, in fact it
never connected once.

Now I'm pissed. I've played with so many settings that the hardwire
connection is acting funny too. So I unplug the MA111 and do a system
restore back to a time before I first plugged in the MA111, and I lose
one other application program in the process (no big deal, I can
install that again later). Back to pre-MA111 functional state.

Now I'm feeling a bit adventurous. I plug in the MA111 and when XP
came up with the hardware wizard, I checked "Yes connect to Windows
Update this time only." By golly it finds a driver there, and the
driver says it's from Netgear but it's a February 2004 date which
appears to be NEWER than the one you can get from Netgear's website.

Then, like the first try, I created a new WEP-secured, ad-hoc
"preferred network" in the new wireless connection properties. The
laptop found it and connected. In the "advanced" tab of the desktop's
hardwire ethernet properties, I turned off internet connection sharing
and clicked OK, then opened the property sheet again and turned ICS on
again. Now DHCP assigned IP's on the MA111 and the laptop, and the
laptop was on the web.

Now the laptop and desktop can see each other in network places, but
won't give "authorization" to reveal or access any previously shared
resources. I checked that SP2's firewall was allowing the "exception"
for file and printer sharing, all fine there. I added a new shared
folder to one puter and BINGO the other can see it and everything in
it. So I turned off all shares on both puters and turned them back on,
and suddenly all was working fine.

So, the MA111 works with XP SP2 using Wireless Zero Configuration and
drivers from Windowsupdate, Netgear utility not needed.

Hope this helps.

%mod%