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Laptop cuts in and out

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SamCKayak

Programmer
Jan 16, 2004
3
US
Installed my Linksys "G" PCMCIA card in a customer's SONY laptop. It would work fine for a few minutes, then cut out for 1 or 2 minutes, then work for a few minutes. The taskbar icon would pop-up a new message everytime it reconnected. I know the Linksys card was fine (I use it at home).

After an embarrasing hour on the phone with Linksys support (in front of my customer) we were unable to find the root cause. My customer suggested I try a Microsoft "G" card before conceding total defeat. I entertained his request (which I knew would not work) just to appear congenial.

The Microsoft card worked fine.

I'm back at my office, the Linksys "G" card is working fine here. I can't return to the location to test a theory I have about the cause of the failure. Let me know what you think:

The SONY laptop was 2 feet from the Linksys "G" router antennas. Is it possible that the signal strength was too strong? If this sounds unreasonable, I've seen other types of radio equipment fail to receive if the power levels are too high. Something about overdriving receivers can cause signal distortion or receiver overmodulation (or something).

Any other ideas?

Sam
 
Yes, it is entirely possible it was too close. I would bet on multiplath issues rather than signal strength, but I have observed the same phenomena.
 
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