Linksys WMP11 and Windows XP Wireless problem

[suffocate83]

ok, i am trying to set my dad's computer up with a wireless Linksys WMP11 PCI card and am definitely not succeeding. i have had a WPC11 in my laptop with the BEFW11S4 wireless router since i've owned my laptop (about a year or so) and everything has worked fine, and still does work fine between laptop and access point. the laptop runs windows 2000 and the desktop that i just tried to install the PCI card has XP.

Seems that the biggest issue is trying to get the desktop to see the wireless network. usually it will say that a wireless connection is unavailable, even as i type this, sitting next to the desktop, with my wireless laptop. i upgrading firmware thinking that maybe the drivers needed newer firmware on the router. that seemed to work for a while, no dropped connection, nothing wrong.... until i restarted the XP machine.

current situation is that the XP machine still sees the network once in a great while, and even if it sees the network, it won't connect. it will continuously flash "one or more wireless network is available" and when i click on that, it lets my select my wireless network, but WILL NOT connect. this is very frustrating, i could pull the card out of this machine and put it in my win2k desktop and test the functionality, but i would rather not open 2 computers if there is something i am so obviously missing.

btw, i have updated all drivers for all network cards including my laptop, which is still unaffected.

any help would be greatly appreciated

Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net

 

[bcastner]

Two choices:

Use XP Wireless Zero Configuration Service:

. Make certain 802.1x authentication is disabled;
. Remove Hotfix Q815485 with Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs;
. Set the AP SSID as a Preferred site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q811427

. Make certain Service Pack 1 is installed.

Do Not use Wiress Zero:

. Disable the service:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;821400

. Remove the card
. Install the client software. Follow the instructions for Win2k
. Reinstall the card in the worksation and configure

 

[suffocate83]

ok, i have done these things over and over since last night but to no avail. the Q815485 hotfix is not present on the machine, and Service pack 1 is installed. i am currently going through and removing each hotfix and testing the wireless card. my next step is to swap the card out into my win 2000 machine and test the functionality of it.



Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net

 

[bcastner]

Remember that the logged on user has to be a member of the local Administrator group.

 

[suffocate83]

the only user on the computer is set as administrator. i even tried booting it in safe mode with networking and logging on with the actual administrator acount. i'm almost done removing all listed hotfixes and will try the wireless card in the windows 2000 computer.

Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net

 

[suffocate83]

i know the wireless card functions, because i have it in my windows 2000 machine now and it works perfectly fine. i'm going to try it without the windows wireless. i tried it before, but to no avail.

Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net

 

[Nate1749]

Ok this is just a shot in the dark, but I saw on another board someone I believe with a similar probelm ( i wa sjust skimmming ) and the solution was that they had to disable another network card that they had installed on their machine. It was on the guys laptop and he had a wireless pcmcia card and a built in ethernet card; upon disabling the wired built in ethernet card his laptop then saw the wireless network..... I think I saw this at broadbandreports.com, but don't quote me. I know your dad has a desktop, but I assume the same problem could still occur.

-Nate

 

[suffocate83]

nah, wired NIC is disabled. as of now the wireless is working, i removed all updates, disabled xp wireless and installed the linksys utility. it works fine now...

Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net

 

[imflood]

Two simple things. I had similar problems and was able to solve them by (1) turning off my Firewall and (2) disabling WEP encryption. As soon as I did this, everything works. You can configure the firewall to allow it to pass through the IP of the other computers. I can't explain the WEP problem and still haven't been able to solve it yet. It works as long as encryption is disabled.

 

[suffocate83]

i hadn't had a problem for a week or so when the card started acting up again. i got it to work the first time by removing all XP updates and then uninstalling the card and reinstalling it. this is starting to get ridiculous. as of right now it won't even recognize a wireless network. firewall is off, wired card is disabled, wep is disabled... there is no reason why it shouldn't see my wireless network. i am on my laptop with windows 2k and a wireless pcmcia card right now as i'm trying to get this machine with XP going...

Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net

 

[Nate1749]

uninstall the communications/software that gets put on your system when you install the card... restart.... install it again... see if that helps... I've read of a problem with winsocks (I believe) and doing this solved the problem... Again, could be totally wrong/off the wall, but can't hurt.

Have you installed anything else on the computer since then? Perhaps something modified some communication settings somewhere.


-Nate

 

[bcastner]

This is a tough card to get right.

Please refer to my original response to you. Did you uninstall the drivers, etc. REMOVE the card, install the client suite as if Win2k, then INSTALL the card and set it up?

Did you completely remove all previous driver versions from the XP install? And then install the Win2k driver set?

Did you completely disable the Wireless Zero Service under control panel, Administrative Tools, Services, and set its startup desposition to disabled?

Does the user logging on have full local Administrative rights?

If yes to all of the above, return the card. My preference in your setting would be to return it to the place of purchase and use the USB adapter rather than the PCI adapter. Otherwise, RMA the card:

https://ssl.linksys.com/rma1.asp

 

[suffocate83]

the card is not defective. i installed it in m windows 2000 machine and it worked perfectly. i have done all the things suggested thus far. it's really strange though how it will work for a little bit, and then not work at all. i'm out of town for the weekend, but when i get back, i'm going to have my dad back up all his files, and freshly install windows, as he is having a few problems accessing sites even through a wired connection.

my next step after that is to return/exchange the card. i would like to exhaust ALL possibilities before doing this.

Dave Williams
Network Administration Student
productofeuphio@netscape.net