Netgear Wireless Card Problem

My Gateway notebook arrived today with WinXP Pro. A
Netgear 54mbps 802.11.g wireless card installed just fine...but
it only works occasionally on my SMC Barricade Router/PC Card
wireless network with Charter cable modem. The router is fed
thru a NIC card in a Win95a desktop. A WinXP desktop
connects via a wireless SMC PC Card. A Win98 desktop is
connected to the router by a network cable. Plus, a Win98 laptop
connects with an SMC wireless card (it's an 802.11.b system a
couple of years old). All four of these systems connect flawlessly
to the network. The new Netgear card shows 100% signal strength
and 100% link quality. The icon in the task bar indicates it's an
excellent connection. But IE and OE only work occasionally. I
have IE set up for a LAN connection. All the settings on the new
notebook are identical to the other WinXP desktop. XP's firewall
is disabled on the notebook. Once, I got the notebook to see all
the other network places...but when copying a file from the Win98
system to the notebook, the connection failed after 10 seconds.
Sometimes, resetting the SMC router will get it functioning again, but
only for a minute or two. I did not use the Network Setup Wizard on
the new notebook, since I wanted it to merely join the existing network
--and not reconfigure the network settings on my other (non XP) systems.
I connected the new notebook to the network cable from the Barricade
Router to the Win98 desktop, and it connects online and sees the other
systems just fine. I think I read somewhere about a quirky setting in XP
that causes it to drop the internet connection without warning. Is this a
possiblity?

I can't understand why the Netgear card has 100% signal strength,
but yet it won't browse with IE or send and receive email. Am I missing
something obvious here?

Lastly, coule it be a compatibility issue between the existing SMC
network and the Netgear Card? I'm ready to buy another wireless
card if that's the case.

I'm puzzled. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Scott

Scott wrote:
> My Gateway notebook arrived today with WinXP Pro. A
> Netgear 54mbps 802.11.g wireless card installed just fine...but
> it only works occasionally on my SMC Barricade Router/PC Card
> wireless network with Charter cable modem. The router is fed
> thru a NIC card in a Win95a desktop. A WinXP desktop
> connects via a wireless SMC PC Card. A Win98 desktop is
> connected to the router by a network cable. Plus, a Win98 laptop
> connects with an SMC wireless card (it's an 802.11.b system a
> couple of years old). All four of these systems connect flawlessly
> to the network. The new Netgear card shows 100% signal strength
> and 100% link quality. The icon in the task bar indicates it's an
> excellent connection. But IE and OE only work occasionally. I
> have IE set up for a LAN connection. All the settings on the new
> notebook are identical to the other WinXP desktop. XP's firewall
> is disabled on the notebook. Once, I got the notebook to see all
> the other network places...but when copying a file from the Win98
> system to the notebook, the connection failed after 10 seconds.
> Sometimes, resetting the SMC router will get it functioning again, but
> only for a minute or two. I did not use the Network Setup Wizard on
> the new notebook, since I wanted it to merely join the existing
> network
> --and not reconfigure the network settings on my other (non XP)
> systems. I connected the new notebook to the network cable from the
> Barricade Router to the Win98 desktop, and it connects online and
> sees the other systems just fine. I think I read somewhere about a
> quirky setting in XP that causes it to drop the internet connection
> without warning. Is this a possiblity?
>
> I can't understand why the Netgear card has 100% signal strength,
> but yet it won't browse with IE or send and receive email. Am I
> missing something obvious here?
>
> Lastly, coule it be a compatibility issue between the existing SMC
> network and the Netgear Card? I'm ready to buy another wireless
> card if that's the case.
>
> I'm puzzled. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks!
> Scott

Make certain that 802.1x Authentication is not checked in the advanced
properties, this is the quirkey setting. Do not enable WEP until the
basic functionality is proved. Set up for Infrastructure (AP mode). You
might also check that Wireless Zero Configuration is Disabled to start.

I think that you might be making an error in not using the wizard to set
this up. If it fails, you've lost nothing except for having to manually
modify the settings. The network wizard is, from my experience, more
reliable than a manual setup and is at least one Microsoft Wizard in XP
that is generally benign.

Q

Quaoar,

Yes, I checked the things you mentioned, although I can't find
Wireless Zero Configuration.

From what I've read at practicallynetworked.com, they recommend
not using Network Wizard, because it will also reconfigure the network
settings of other computers on the etwork. I don't want to risk that, as
the other Win95, 98, and XP systems are working perfectly together.

Tonight, it started working, but then I began copying a file from
a Win98 machine to the XP notebook, it stopped working altogether
after 15-seconds.

The IP address is 192.168.2.30
Default gateway: 192.168.2.1

Sometimes it shows an IP address of 169.254.61.172 and
mask: 255.255.0.0 .




> Make certain that 802.1x Authentication is not checked in the advanced
> properties, this is the quirkey setting. Do not enable WEP until the
> basic functionality is proved. Set up for Infrastructure (AP mode). You
> might also check that Wireless Zero Configuration is Disabled to start.
>
> I think that you might be making an error in not using the wizard to set
> this up. If it fails, you've lost nothing except for having to manually
> modify the settings. The network wizard is, from my experience, more
> reliable than a manual setup and is at least one Microsoft Wizard in XP
> that is generally benign.
>
> Q

Scott wrote:
> Quaoar,
>
> Yes, I checked the things you mentioned, although I can't find
> Wireless Zero Configuration.
>
> From what I've read at practicallynetworked.com, they recommend
> not using Network Wizard, because it will also reconfigure the network
> settings of other computers on the etwork. I don't want to risk
> that, as the other Win95, 98, and XP systems are working perfectly
> together.
>
> Tonight, it started working, but then I began copying a file from
> a Win98 machine to the XP notebook, it stopped working altogether
> after 15-seconds.
>
> The IP address is 192.168.2.30
> Default gateway: 192.168.2.1
>
> Sometimes it shows an IP address of 169.254.61.172 and
> mask: 255.255.0.0 .
>
>
>
>
>> Make certain that 802.1x Authentication is not checked in the
>> advanced properties, this is the quirkey setting. Do not enable WEP
>> until the basic functionality is proved. Set up for Infrastructure
>> (AP mode). You might also check that Wireless Zero Configuration is
>> Disabled to start.
>>
>> I think that you might be making an error in not using the wizard to
>> set this up. If it fails, you've lost nothing except for having to
>> manually modify the settings. The network wizard is, from my
>> experience, more reliable than a manual setup and is at least one
>> Microsoft Wizard in XP that is generally benign.
>>
>> Q

It does nothing to any other computers on the network.

Q

Quaoar:

Are you sure? The experts I've read say the Microsoft Wizard
will change all your network settings--including on other machines.

Scott

Quaoar wrote:

> Scott wrote:
> > Quaoar,
> >
> > Yes, I checked the things you mentioned, although I can't find
> > Wireless Zero Configuration.
> >
> > From what I've read at practicallynetworked.com, they recommend
> > not using Network Wizard, because it will also reconfigure the network
> > settings of other computers on the etwork. I don't want to risk
> > that, as the other Win95, 98, and XP systems are working perfectly
> > together.
> >
> > Tonight, it started working, but then I began copying a file from
> > a Win98 machine to the XP notebook, it stopped working altogether
> > after 15-seconds.
> >
> > The IP address is 192.168.2.30
> > Default gateway: 192.168.2.1
> >
> > Sometimes it shows an IP address of 169.254.61.172 and
> > mask: 255.255.0.0 .
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Make certain that 802.1x Authentication is not checked in the
> >> advanced properties, this is the quirkey setting. Do not enable WEP
> >> until the basic functionality is proved. Set up for Infrastructure
> >> (AP mode). You might also check that Wireless Zero Configuration is
> >> Disabled to start.
> >>
> >> I think that you might be making an error in not using the wizard to
> >> set this up. If it fails, you've lost nothing except for having to
> >> manually modify the settings. The network wizard is, from my
> >> experience, more reliable than a manual setup and is at least one
> >> Microsoft Wizard in XP that is generally benign.
> >>
> >> Q
>
> It does nothing to any other computers on the network.
>
> Q

Scott wrote:
> Quaoar:
>
> Are you sure? The experts I've read say the Microsoft Wizard
> will change all your network settings--including on other machines.
>
> Scott
>
> Quaoar wrote:
>
>> Scott wrote:
>>> Quaoar,
>>>
>>> Yes, I checked the things you mentioned, although I can't find
>>> Wireless Zero Configuration.
>>>
>>> From what I've read at practicallynetworked.com, they recommend
>>> not using Network Wizard, because it will also reconfigure the
>>> network settings of other computers on the etwork. I don't want to
>>> risk that, as the other Win95, 98, and XP systems are working
>>> perfectly together.
>>>
>>> Tonight, it started working, but then I began copying a file from
>>> a Win98 machine to the XP notebook, it stopped working altogether
>>> after 15-seconds.
>>>
>>> The IP address is 192.168.2.30
>>> Default gateway: 192.168.2.1
>>>
>>> Sometimes it shows an IP address of 169.254.61.172 and
>>> mask: 255.255.0.0 .
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Make certain that 802.1x Authentication is not checked in the
>>>> advanced properties, this is the quirkey setting. Do not enable
>>>> WEP until the basic functionality is proved. Set up for
>>>> Infrastructure (AP mode). You might also check that Wireless Zero
>>>> Configuration is Disabled to start.
>>>>
>>>> I think that you might be making an error in not using the wizard
>>>> to set this up. If it fails, you've lost nothing except for
>>>> having to manually modify the settings. The network wizard is,
>>>> from my experience, more reliable than a manual setup and is at
>>>> least one Microsoft Wizard in XP that is generally benign.
>>>>
>>>> Q
>>
>> It does nothing to any other computers on the network.
>>
>> Q

There is an option to make changes on other computers. At this point,
one can select the option to do nothing further. This is what I have
done on every XP wizard installation. I have never seen any problem
with older/other Windows/Linux computers by leaving the installation at
this point, they all work flawlessly just like they always have, no
problems whatsoever.

Q

Problem solved!!!

The SMC2435W 11/22 802.11.b notebook wireless card
arrived today. It installed easily on my Gateway 400SP Plus.
It had no problem joining my home network, and everything is
working perfectly.

I had tried a Netgear 54mbps 802.11.g card, and it worked
sporatically. Then I tried SMC's 54mbps 802.11.g card, and
it was not backwardly compatible with 802.11.b, as advertised.

SMC's 802.11.b card works.

Perhaps updating the firmware on my 2-year old SMC Barricade
Router woudl have done the trick.

Lesson learned: If you have an 802.11.b network...stick with
the 802.11.b standard cards.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Scott



Scott wrote:

> My Gateway notebook arrived today with WinXP Pro. A
> Netgear 54mbps 802.11.g wireless card installed just fine...but
> it only works occasionally on my SMC Barricade Router/PC Card
> wireless network with Charter cable modem. The router is fed
> thru a NIC card in a Win95a desktop. A WinXP desktop
> connects via a wireless SMC PC Card. A Win98 desktop is
> connected to the router by a network cable. Plus, a Win98 laptop
> connects with an SMC wireless card (it's an 802.11.b system a
> couple of years old). All four of these systems connect flawlessly
> to the network. The new Netgear card shows 100% signal strength
> and 100% link quality. The icon in the task bar indicates it's an
> excellent connection. But IE and OE only work occasionally. I
> have IE set up for a LAN connection. All the settings on the new
> notebook are identical to the other WinXP desktop. XP's firewall
> is disabled on the notebook. Once, I got the notebook to see all
> the other network places...but when copying a file from the Win98
> system to the notebook, the connection failed after 10 seconds.
> Sometimes, resetting the SMC router will get it functioning again, but
> only for a minute or two. I did not use the Network Setup Wizard on
> the new notebook, since I wanted it to merely join the existing network
> --and not reconfigure the network settings on my other (non XP) systems.
> I connected the new notebook to the network cable from the Barricade
> Router to the Win98 desktop, and it connects online and sees the other
> systems just fine. I think I read somewhere about a quirky setting in XP
> that causes it to drop the internet connection without warning. Is this a
> possiblity?
>
> I can't understand why the Netgear card has 100% signal strength,
> but yet it won't browse with IE or send and receive email. Am I missing
> something obvious here?
>
> Lastly, coule it be a compatibility issue between the existing SMC
> network and the Netgear Card? I'm ready to buy another wireless
> card if that's the case.
>
> I'm puzzled. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks!
> Scott