Netgear WG511 V2 - weird behavior

Hi,

Based on some comments in an earlier thread in this NG ("Opinions on
which PCMCIA for lowest CPU utilization?", I wanted to try a Netgear
WG511 (V2). This time, it was for one of my own laptops, running
Windows XP SP3.

The WG511 just came in today, and I've been working with it, and it's
acting really strange.

I can get it to connect to my wireless network, but it seems like when
it starts initially, it starts a pretty low speed, then at some point,
gets faster. I've tried using/configuring with both the Netgear app,
and with built in XP's wireless control.

When I say "low speed", and "faster", this is measured by both using
Speakeasy Speedtest, and, when it's enabled, the Netgear app, which
shows 11 Mbps, then later 54 Mbps.

I checked the card configuration, and it's set for full power, so that's
not it.

The drivers that I'm using were the ones that I just downloaded from
Netgear's website this evening, so I'm assuming that they're the latest.

Overall, it's been a bit disappointing thus far , so if anyone has any
ideas, please post. Maybe there's a better, older driver for this
PCMCIA card, or something?

Thanks,
Jim

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:55:04 -0400, ohaya <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>Based on some comments in an earlier thread in this NG ("Opinions on
>>which PCMCIA for lowest CPU utilization?", I wanted to try a Netgear
>>WG511 (V2). This time, it was for one of my own laptops, running
>>Windows XP SP3.
>>
>>The WG511 just came in today, and I've been working with it, and it's
>>acting really strange.
>>
>>I can get it to connect to my wireless network, but it seems like when
>>it starts initially, it starts a pretty low speed, then at some point,
>>gets faster.
>
>
> I just happened to be repairing my Toughbook CF-M34 laptop, which
> happens to be running W2K and just happens to use a Netgear WG511
> PCMCIA card. (I forgot to check the hardware version number). It
> does exactly the same thing. The initial connection is at 1Mbit/sec.
> it sits there at 1Mbit/sec until I start to move traffic, where it
> then goes to a higher speed. This is quite the opposite of most other
> cards, which claim to start at 54Mbits/sec, and then slow down as
> traffic starts to move.
>
> I can run some more tests on Tues, when I drag myself back to the
> office. Unfortunately, when I put the CF-M34 back together, I now
> have a "resource conflict" error which is technobabble for I goofed
> putting it back together somewhere.
>
>


Jeff,

FYI, as posted, I was using the WG511 V2 under WinXP, and I have to say
that I've been really disappointed with it thus far ...

I've been researching this weekend, and found that this is apparently a
fairly common problem with the V2. Apparently the V1 was much better.

Apparently, you can also use Marvell drivers, instead of the Netgear
ones, and I've tried at least two different versions of the Marvell
drivers (using WinXP wireless, w/o the Netgear utility), and still
continue to see similar results, so apparently it's mixed results, even
with the Marvell drivers.

I don't know if you remember, about a week ago, the thread about CPU
utilization, PCMCIA wifi, and Win2K? I got this WG511 V2 as a result of
that discussion, but by the time I got the card, I had already packed
off the old laptop with an old Lucent Orinoco card, so I've been testing
with a different laptop on XP instead. I was hoping that the WG511
would be better, but alas, it looks like just a different problem (not
high CPU utilization, but slow speeds) ...

Luckily (or maybe unluckily), I got the WG511 V2 fairly cheaply off of
Ebay, so I guess I have to just chuck this one off as a failed
experiment ...

BTW, the card that was on the other thread, the Dlink DWL-G650, performs
a heck of a lot better (speed-wise) than the WG511 V2, at least for me,
on XP, on this laptop.

Jim