wireless connection was working, now only to one PC

Don't know how common a problem this may be...

I have three computers in different parts of the house. I purchased
wireless gear (802.11b) to have them all connected:

1) Linksys BEFW11S4 (at the cable modem), first PC connected by wire
to the switch - router located in basement of wood-framed house;
2) Linksys WPC11 PCcard adapter, plugged into laptop running Windows98
- laptop moves about;
3) Linksys WMP11 PCI adapter, installed into PC running WindowsXP -
doesn't move from its location one floor above router, about 15ft
total distance.

I have had the BEFW11S4 and WPC11 setup for over a year, and they work
fine. The WMP11 (and its PC) are new as of four months ago.

Since setting up the machines in their current configuration, all
machines had been connecting fine. Lately, though, the new third
computer (WMP11 in the XP machine) has had sparodic to no
connectivity. I've tried to uninstall and reload the drivers, to no
effect.

The kicker is that prior to the problem beginning, I had changed
NOTHING to the configuration of the router or card, had not moved any
piece of equipment, and had not changed anything in the house that
could concievably have caused poor transmission. In fact, the laptop
still connects to the BEFW11S4 just fine when I place it right beside
the antenna of the new PC's WMP11!

I admit that I have not moved the new PC around to a new location
because it will be a PITA, but I will if it is necessary to
troubleshoot.

I'm racking my brain here. The problems cropped up right around the
time I finally got around to doing all the Windows Updates for XP:
might this be the cause? Does it sound more like hardware failure?
Or something else? Thanks for any suggestions.

Darren,
Will it connect at all? What signal strengh? Can you ping the gateway?
Can you ping anything outside the gateway?

If you are getting excellent signal or any signal at all just will not
browse, something you could try would be to change the dynamic routing both
to RIP2 protocol and see if this helps.

Ron


"Darren Best" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> Don't know how common a problem this may be...
>
> I have three computers in different parts of the house. I purchased
> wireless gear (802.11b) to have them all connected:
>
> 1) Linksys BEFW11S4 (at the cable modem), first PC connected by wire
> to the switch - router located in basement of wood-framed house;
> 2) Linksys WPC11 PCcard adapter, plugged into laptop running Windows98
> - laptop moves about;
> 3) Linksys WMP11 PCI adapter, installed into PC running WindowsXP -
> doesn't move from its location one floor above router, about 15ft
> total distance.
>
> I have had the BEFW11S4 and WPC11 setup for over a year, and they work
> fine. The WMP11 (and its PC) are new as of four months ago.
>
> Since setting up the machines in their current configuration, all
> machines had been connecting fine. Lately, though, the new third
> computer (WMP11 in the XP machine) has had sparodic to no
> connectivity. I've tried to uninstall and reload the drivers, to no
> effect.
>
> The kicker is that prior to the problem beginning, I had changed
> NOTHING to the configuration of the router or card, had not moved any
> piece of equipment, and had not changed anything in the house that
> could concievably have caused poor transmission. In fact, the laptop
> still connects to the BEFW11S4 just fine when I place it right beside
> the antenna of the new PC's WMP11!
>
> I admit that I have not moved the new PC around to a new location
> because it will be a PITA, but I will if it is necessary to
> troubleshoot.
>
> I'm racking my brain here. The problems cropped up right around the
> time I finally got around to doing all the Windows Updates for XP:
> might this be the cause? Does it sound more like hardware failure?
> Or something else? Thanks for any suggestions.

Ron, the driver for the Linksys card in XP creates a network icon down
in the system tray. A bubble pops up saying "One or more Wireless
networks are available, click here." or words to this effect. When I
bring up the box to connect, it sees my wireless network's name, the
network key for WEP is already filled in (I've retyped it as well).
When I click connect and the box disappears, nothing happens for a
couple of seconds, then the same little bubble appears down in the
system tray. Wash, Rinse, repeat.

The signal strength to the card (when it was working before) was never
great: usually "fair", sometimes "good", often "poor", but for what I
use it for I never was concerned by slowness. I can't really tell if
there is any connection at all working now. It always connected
before! Now I can't get it to at all.

Thanks.

"Ron" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Darren,
> Will it connect at all? What signal strengh? Can you ping the gateway?
> Can you ping anything outside the gateway?
>
> If you are getting excellent signal or any signal at all just will not
> browse, something you could try would be to change the dynamic routing both
> to RIP2 protocol and see if this helps.
>
> Ron