Newbie 802.11b vs g Compatibility Question

Hi,

I have a Linksys BEFW11S4 (802.11b)router and it has worked great for
a few years now with a Linksys wireless card. Recently I bought a HP
Pavilion ZD7000 with a Broadcom 54 MaxPerformance 802.11g card already
installed and I would like the HP wireless card to work with the
existing router. I thought 802.11g was compatible with 802.11b, but it
doesn't seem to be seeing the router at all. The HP and Linksys router
work fine together when I use the ethernet cable.

I read somewhere that compatibility means the router had to be 802.11g
and it would work with 802.11b and 802.11g cards. Does this mean that
802.11g cards won't work with 802.11b routers? I have not upgraded the
firmware or any drivers yet.

Thanks.

802.11g is back-compatible with 802.11b. This means that an 802.11g router
can distinguish between 802.11b and 802.11g clients, and support both
concurrently. It also means that an 802.11g client can associate with an
802.11b router.

However, there are configuration settings that can override this. A router
can be configured in "g-only" mode, which means it will not associate with
802.11b clients, even though it is able to. Some 802.11g client drivers can
likewise be configured to associate only to an 802.11g network.

I couldn't find a manual for your card on the web, but I suggest you look
for any settings in your HP's wifi connection config software that might
restrict it to g-only mode. If your router has WEP configured, then it must
also be configured in the client. Since the HP works when connected by wire,
it sounds like IP address assignment is working okay.

If none of the above help. then we need you to post more details. Run "cmd"
and type "ipconfig /all", and post all of the output to this thread.


"JohnG" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Hi,
>
> I have a Linksys BEFW11S4 (802.11b)router and it has worked great for
> a few years now with a Linksys wireless card. Recently I bought a HP
> Pavilion ZD7000 with a Broadcom 54 MaxPerformance 802.11g card already
> installed and I would like the HP wireless card to work with the
> existing router. I thought 802.11g was compatible with 802.11b, but it
> doesn't seem to be seeing the router at all. The HP and Linksys router
> work fine together when I use the ethernet cable.
>
> I read somewhere that compatibility means the router had to be 802.11g
> and it would work with 802.11b and 802.11g cards. Does this mean that
> 802.11g cards won't work with 802.11b routers? I have not upgraded the
> firmware or any drivers yet.
>
> Thanks.

Gary,

Thanks for your help. Once I got your response and knew compatibility
was not an issue, I followed up with Linksys and they referred me to
HP. HP tech support referred me to a webpage on how to get their
wireless systems working.

It turns out I had kind of a DEU (dumb end user) problem. HP puts a
button to turn the internal wireless cards on and off up on what they
call the QuickLaunch buttons - buttons to bring up certain folders or
apps quickly. Guess what, it ships from factory in the off position.
In my defense, nothing in the documentation that shipped with HP
explained the switch.

Anyway, I'm sending this wireless. Thanks for your help.

Okay, that's good to know. I guess they ship that way for security.

"JohnG" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Gary,
>
> Thanks for your help. Once I got your response and knew compatibility
> was not an issue, I followed up with Linksys and they referred me to
> HP. HP tech support referred me to a webpage on how to get their
> wireless systems working.
>
> It turns out I had kind of a DEU (dumb end user) problem. HP puts a
> button to turn the internal wireless cards on and off up on what they
> call the QuickLaunch buttons - buttons to bring up certain folders or
> apps quickly. Guess what, it ships from factory in the off position.
> In my defense, nothing in the documentation that shipped with HP
> explained the switch.
>
> Anyway, I'm sending this wireless. Thanks for your help.