Re: Connection weirdness

Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@xxxxxxxxx> hath wroth:

I have a Linksys b PCMIA in my wife's Dell laptop (W98). It is
probably about three years or so old. The wireless router BEFW11S4 and I
got the two together as a package.

I have a BEFW11S4 v4 somewhere. I'm considering using it for target
practice due to its tendency to hang without provocation. However, it
does have a good radio section and works well when it's not hung. Did
you try to power cycle the BEFW11S4 v4 and see if that helps? You'll
need to have the power disconnected for about 10 seconds in order to
do a proper power cycle and reboot.

The Router is in my desk in my office
and the laptop is on the desk in the kitchen (same floor about 50 feet
away).

How many walls are in the way? I could be a weak signal issue.

Over the last week or so, when we turn her laptop on, it doesn't
find the access point (always did before) and when you profile the area,
it doesn't see anything.

Well, if it worked before, it should work again. The implication is
that your W98 Dell laptop is ancient. Since the MacBook works as
advertised, there's nothing wrong on the BEFW11S4 end. Therefore,
there must be something amis on the Dell W98 laptop. However, that
all I know about this laptop so I can't offer any brilliant
suggestions. If it has an internal MiniPCI card, you might check if
the two antenna connections have fallen off. I seem to run into this
problem a bit too often.

HOwever, if I take the laptop to my office, it
finds the access point in the profile and I can then hook up and get
access point and internet. When I walk the laptop back to where it goes,
it stays connected to both access and internet.

Stays connected with a good signal? If so, it's working. The problem
seems to be making the initial connection. You've offered no clues as
to the nature of the wireless device in the W98 Dell, so I can't offer
any help. However, whatever is broken appears to be in the Dell W98
laptop.

Needless to say, this
walking it back and forth is getting old. Any suggestions?

Roller skates?

BTW: I can take my MacBook into the kitchen and it picks up the
access point with no problem.

As I mentioned, that means the BEFW11S4 is probably just fine. Note
that the BEFW11S4 is 802.11b only and will limit you to 11Mbits/sec
maximum. This is not a problem is you have a slow internet
connection, but will be a bottleneck for faster DSL and cable modem
connections. You might consider upgrading to an 802.11g wireless
router, even though there's probably nothing wrong with the existing
BEFW11S4.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
.

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