802.11b works fine - can't get DHCP/ping with "g"

[SlimPickens]

Greetings. I have a Netgear WGTB511T 108 Mbps Wireless Router/Notebook Card Kit and an Acer Travelmate 529 TXV Notebook. With this solution in place, I get no DCHP and I cannot connect to the internet or even ping the router. When I assign a static IP, I get a strong signal but still can't connect. If I swap in a "b" card, all is good; DHCP, internet, the network. I'm running the latest Netgear drivers and notebook BIOS. Should I uninstall/re-install TCPIP? I've tried the DLink "g" solution with the same results. This laptop doesn't like the "g" protocol? Because the connection works fine when I use a "b" card, the user community (my wife) says to leave it alone. B###sh##! This should work! What's wrong with this picture and what can I try next? Regards.

 

[Fardringle]

If the connection won't work at all at G speeds with two different G type adapters, I'd suspect something with the router. It could easily be that the router is set to B only or something similar, although any good G card should automatically revert to B speeds on a B network and work properly (albeit slower than G).

Are there any other computers you could try one of those G PC cards in for testing? Or a different router (maybe a friend or neighbor or a public hot spot) that you can try to connect to using the G cards?

Also, it would probably be worthwhile to check for updated firmware for the router and new drivers for the PC cards.

 

[Jii]

Originally posted by: SlimPickens
Greetings. I have a Netgear WGTB511T 108 Mbps Wireless Router/Notebook Card Kit and an Acer Travelmate 529 TXV Notebook. With this solution in place, I get no DCHP and I cannot connect to the internet or even ping the router. When I assign a static IP, I get a strong signal but still can't connect. If I swap in a "b" card, all is good; DHCP, internet, the network. I'm running the latest Netgear drivers and notebook BIOS. Should I uninstall/re-install TCPIP? I've tried the DLink "g" solution with the same results. This laptop doesn't like the "g" protocol? Because the connection works fine when I use a "b" card, the user community (my wife) says to leave it alone. B###sh##! This should work! What's wrong with this picture and what can I try next? Regards.

This problam has similar features than what I experienced with my D-Link DWL2000AP+ Access Point and a Buffalo Tech. Ethernet to Wireless converter. Both were 802.11g devices, but I never got them to communicate with each other, no matter what I did. I rectified the situation by installing back the D-Link DWL-700AP Access Point, which was a 802.11b device. The Buffalo converter worked like a charm with that connection speed. Needless to say, I was furious. So much for the WiFi. Now I have two sets of access points with one for those cards and devices that work in 802.11g and the other for compatibility.

It is widely known that several 802.11g Access Point manufacturers have built their own add-on standards which will increase the link speed to something like 108Mbit/s (802.11g's speed is actually rated at 54Mbit/s). This usually limits the WLAN to Access Points and cards that are from the same manufacturer.
This is unfortunate, since this causes some of the WLAN cards to refuse to work with these Access Points at full speed (or at all) and this may be the problem you are facing.

If Firmware updates to all your networking devices don't solve the problem then I'm sorry to say, but there's no way around this problem. You may then have a WLAN card(s) that is/are incompatible with eachother. :frown:

 

[SlimPickens]

Thanks for the responses. I've taken the card to a neighbor, Fardringle, who has the same router/adapter as I do and the card works fine; running a "g" speeds. I've checked for router firmware updates but not lately so I'll check again. This is frustraing, jii. Checking for firmware/drivers now. Regards.