WiFi problems on an old laptop

[aDub]

My grandma gave me her old laptop which is a Dell Latitude XPi with a Pentium 166 so I got a D-Link dwl-650 wireless card just to try out wireless internet here on my college campus. Im pretty sure that everything is set right or I couldnt connect at all, right? I can connect but it drops out frequently, like every 10 seconds even when signal strength is at 100%. Could it be that this laptop is too slow to maintain a connection or is the problem elsewhere?

 

[q2261]

Get rid of the Dlink card. It sucks.

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: q2261
Get rid of the Dlink card. It sucks.

You could be kind and tell him which ones don't suck.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: q2261
Get rid of the Dlink card. It sucks.

I assume that your moto is: The only thing that matters is who "Rules", and who "Sux", and how many "Brews" it "Chucks" (c).

As for the topic:

I have a 650 it works well.

Could be that Linux is the culprit. Email D-Link and make sure that the card works well with Linux.

Another possibility is the PCMCIA. I had problems with many cards in an old Laptop (poor Orinoce could not take it). I found an old Proxim 16bit PCMCIA, and it is working well now.

 

[scoreadeal]

Looking for a recommendation on a 802.11b card for a Toshiba Satellite laptop running Windows XP Home. Wifi was working great on a Compaq with XP Pro in the same location, but the driver doesn't seem to play nice with XP Home even 5 feet in front of the access point... Also, if anyone has had experience with 802.11a cards on XP Home, feel free to chime in too.

 

[JackMDS]

Whether it is WinXP Pro or Home is not a variable in this Situation (they are the same as far as 802.11b concern).

What is the Wireless Card in the Compaq, and what are you using with the Toshiba?

In General the Orinoco Gold 802.11b is considered to be a good PCMCIA Wireless card to go with.

 

[scoreadeal]

1st generation Linksys card (same card) used in both laptops... just bought a Orinoco gold off Buy.com for $67, I'll give it a whirl... looks like there's some rebadged ones sold as Dell cards out there on eB-ay and PriceWatch for $50 though if anyone is interested.

 

[JackMDS]

There will be a big reduction in prices of 802.11b in coming weeks.

The 802.11g is starting to come out, and they will start to dump the 802.11b.

As for 802.11a. For Internet surfing it does not add any thing. If you have an emergency need for higher ?speed? in local Wireless transfer, it should be considered. Otherwise it is a waste of money.