Wireless Woes

I went out and bought myself a Netgear WG311v3 802.11g PCI Wireless Adapter for my computer, and it's left me mystified.

At first, I was unable to connect to my home network properly, but it turns out that the wireless card was giving me some crazy default IP address, and default gateway, when set to Obtain IP Address Automatically. So I fixed that, and now the network allows me to connect to it... At least, windows reports that the Wireless Network home is now connected... But it won't let me do anything. I can't access the internet, the router, msn... anything.

If I plug in the USB adapter (also Netgear: MA111 802.11b USB Wireless Adapter), then I can connect fine. Go back to the PCI card... And I can't.

I'm guessing something isn't set up right... But what?

 

My guess would be the WEP or WPA Key, those are typical symptoms for that...

 

Hmmm... I thought so as well, but I've checked and double-checked, and typed it out in notpad to make sure I wasn't subconsciously typing something different, and re-entered them for the USB connection, and as far as I can tell, the settings are identical.

WPA-PSK
TKIP
... and identical network keys.

The only thing I can find different about the two connections is the IP address of each, and the fact that the USB signal is "Very Good", adn the PCI signal is "Low".

But I tried moving the computer next to the router (so both recieved a singal of "Excellent"), and had the same problem, and I've also tried different IP addresses.

 

Whats the router?

 

A DI-714P+ Enhanced 2.4 GHz Wireless Router

Which reminds me of an interesting item I realised. The PCI card wireless connection shows a speed of 11.0 Mbps... the same as the USB. On the box, it says it is capable of 54.0 Mbps... and my D-Link PCI cards in the other computers have speeds of 22.0 Mbps.

It doesn't matter over much to me, as I have an internet connection speed of 512/256 Kbps... But just thought I'd mention it.

 

I have seen a problem with the beacon frequency on some routers being incompatible with some cards, from the same manufacturer aswell, best I can reccomend is if you go back to the shop and swop it for another one, or get a USB one to keep airflow up in your case.

 

Would changing the router's channel help? Because I'm fairly sure the shop I got it from only stocks Netgear... So swapping it may not be as easy as all that.

Also, I'm leaving home soon, and probably won't have the same router next time I need the card...

 

Just realised something that may be the problem.

The new wireless card is specified as 802.11g, while all the other adapters are 802.11b, and the router's manual says it connects to 802.11b adapters. Could this be the problem?

I would have thought that they would be compatible... But this is the only lead I've found...

 

It should be backward compatible with 802.11b. You could set your router to broadcast just b for now and test that.

 

So if the PCI card is a Netgear, have you checked all the settings in the Netgear program?? I had this kind of problem with my Netgear adaptor but It turned out all I needed to do was type in the word of the password, not the actual WEP key itself. Also have you added the card on the allow list of the router???

 

Well, I'm using a different one now, and it's working fine, so I'll leave it alone I think

But thank you. If I have the problem in the future, I shall try those suggestions.