netgear signal is 80%+, but XP is interfering

on my 2nd pc (my first gets on the internet fine), the signal is in the
80's (in the Netgear Smart Wizard), but it won't connect. I think the
reason is that XP's wireless network connection software is getting in
the way. Netgear says to disable XP's wireless connection
configurator, and I unchecked 'Use Windows to configure my wireless
network settings'. But maybe thats not enough, its STILL conflicting,
I suspect...

1. XP's icon for wireless network has an 'X' in it - no connection.
2. But Netgear's Smart Wizard software shows I have a signal above 80%
!
I think it would work if XP's wireless network crud wasn't getting in
the way?

Also, I'm using WEP 128-bit, shared, and I've got all netgear
equipment.
Thanks for any advice
Jason Shohet

(E-Mail Removed) wrote in news:1104516565.281144.313300
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> on my 2nd pc (my first gets on the internet fine), the signal is in the
> 80's (in the Netgear Smart Wizard), but it won't connect. I think the
> reason is that XP's wireless network connection software is getting in
> the way. Netgear says to disable XP's wireless connection
> configurator, and I unchecked 'Use Windows to configure my wireless
> network settings'. But maybe thats not enough, its STILL conflicting,
> I suspect...
>
> 1. XP's icon for wireless network has an 'X' in it - no connection.
> 2. But Netgear's Smart Wizard software shows I have a signal above 80%
> !
> I think it would work if XP's wireless network crud wasn't getting in
> the way?

Well you can disable the Wireless Zero Configuration Service on XP. You
should use XP's Device Manager and install the card's driver and configure
the card there too if you like.

Most likely, the computer is getting a 169. IP which you can check for by
doing IPconfg /all at the DOS Command Prompt. That means that the machine
cannot get an IP from a DHCP server due to some kind of mis-configuration
of the card. Yes, you can have good signal strength, but if the machine is
not getting an IP that will allow it to access the Internet, then it's not
going to access it.

Duane

thats exactly it - i'm getting a good signal, but ipconfig shows I have
no IP address... but on my other computer i am getting it from DHCP.
So I can disable wireless on XP thru device manager? I'll try it
there....

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> thats exactly it - i'm getting a good signal, but ipconfig shows I have
> no IP address... but on my other computer i am getting it from DHCP.
> So I can disable wireless on XP thru device manager? I'll try it
> there....

You disable Wireless Zero Configuration by stopping the service.
start-run-services.msc
But I didn't do that.

I have a Netgear WG511 that is perfectly happy with Windows handling the
connection. I had to upgrade the firmware to get it to work on WinXP.
Driver 2.1.25.0 Firmware 2.04.12.00 Driver Date September 06, 2004

When I first configured WEP, I had to delete the Windows profile that had
the SSID of the non-WEP router, or change the SSID so Windows would
configure correctly and pop up a WEP key page.

I find the WG511 gets an instant ip address. With my Orinoco, I had to
wait a few seconds after the connection was made. On a Linksys WAP, the
Orinoco would take 20-30 seconds to get an IP adress.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

The netgear card is configured properly; I disabled the Zero Wireless
config. in XP services.
But I'm still getting an 'X' in the wireless network connection - even
though the netgear smart wizard shows 80%. Perhaps 80% isn't enough to
get an IP address from DHCP? Perhaps 128-bit WEP causes other
conflicts?

I turned off XP's firewall, that didn't help. I have other computers
that work with my wireless network, so I know its not a universal
problem....

(E-Mail Removed) wrote in news:1104523080.531238.162390
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> The netgear card is configured properly; I disabled the Zero Wireless
> config. in XP services.
> But I'm still getting an 'X' in the wireless network connection - even
> though the netgear smart wizard shows 80%. Perhaps 80% isn't enough to
> get an IP address from DHCP? Perhaps 128-bit WEP causes other
> conflicts?
>
> I turned off XP's firewall, that didn't help. I have other computers
> that work with my wireless network, so I know its not a universal
> problem....
>
>

Well, I also don't use the card's utility to do anything not even to show
signal strength, which can be done at the NIC's Property Screen and it
shows the icon in the job trey and you mouse over it to show signal
strength. The card's utility is not installed. If you're using the Network
Wizard, you may want to stop using it too as it's nothing but trouble.

You may want to go to the card's Website and download the driver and do the
install and config of the card with XP's Device Manager.

Your best bet may be to go to the LAN Property screen and delete the
wireless card icon if you can and get a fresh start.

Duane

Guess what... i got it working on 2 out of 3 PC's.
I stopped using 128-bit WEP and did WPA-PSK with TKIP. I also
changed the ssid to something different. Either changing the ssid, or
moving to WPA-PSK did the trick. I can connect on 2 computers....

But not the 3rd. There's one PC that won't work with it, and
coincidentally it doesn't have XP SP2 on it... I'm wondering if thats
why. Its strange -- when I do ipconfig, it gets an IP address, But
not the gateway. Anyone know what it means if you get an IP address
from DHCP but you don't see a gateway?

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> why. Its strange -- when I do ipconfig, it gets an IP address, But
> not the gateway. Anyone know what it means if you get an IP address
> from DHCP but you don't see a gateway?

My problem was an SMC7004WFW router that just didn't want to play with
WinXP wireless. It was fine with a wired WinXPHome, but it wouldn't play
with a WinXPHome-DLink-DWL-122 or a WinXPPro-Orinoco-Silver or
WinXPPro-DLink-DWL-122. They would connect. They would work for a while,
and then the wireless would go dead. The wired was okay, but a Win2000
would die if the WinXP was running and died. Win2000 would run for days
with no WinXP wireless.

I fixed it by getting a NetGear WGR614v4.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

My computer that can't connect has a Netgear USB device on it. I'm
getting 80% signal.

This is the strange behavior: sometimes, IPconfig tells me I have an
IP address, but no gateway!!! Of course internet is unavailable.

Sometimes I DO get the gateway. And I can hit google, which is a very
easy page to load, but it chokes on Yahoo, which is larger.

Perhaps 80% signal is not enough? I disabled the zero wireless thing
in services...

Thanks

(E-Mail Removed) wrote in news:1104785574.956564.177750
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> My computer that can't connect has a Netgear USB device on it. I'm
> getting 80% signal.
>
> This is the strange behavior: sometimes, IPconfig tells me I have an
> IP address, but no gateway!!! Of course internet is unavailable.
>
> Sometimes I DO get the gateway. And I can hit google, which is a very
> easy page to load, but it chokes on Yahoo, which is larger.
>
> Perhaps 80% signal is not enough? I disabled the zero wireless thing
> in services...
>
> Thanks
>
>

80% signal strength has nothing to do with it I don't think. 80% is pretty
good. I have had a solid connection with the signal strength being less
than 50% the further the card was away from the router and was able to
network on the LAN and access the Internet with no problems. Maybe, you
have a problem with the card period or may be the router. It may be hard to
pinpoint. You may want to try a replacement card and see what happens.

Duane