Wi-Fi blues

[Grey Area]

OK, so into my all-singing, all-dancing new machine, I decided to install a wireless network card, namely a D-Link AirPlus ExtremeG+, part code DWL-G520+.

And it broke stuff, BIG time.

Installed as per instructions, so drivers first, then card. Worked okay until reboot. When I rebooted, the "Preparing Network Connections" segment took about 5 minutes, and upon loading, any vaguely "system" related window (e.g. Network Connections, Add/Remove programs, Program Files or even the contents of C:\WINNT itself) were totally blank. I took the card out and the problems went away.

So next step - put the card back in, problems came back again. So this time I booted into Safe Mode and disabled it there. Now when I boot back into Normal Mode, none of the icons work - I can select them, but can't double click. A friend suggests I clear out my startup menu entirely, and this helps. But now the problem is that my system reboots itself after two minutes.

To try and get aroudn this I've upgraded to Windows XP, but the only difference is that it now TELLS me it's going to shut down, apparently due to the "Remote Procedure Call service terminating unexpectedly". And before anyone cries out "A-HA!", no, I do NOT have the msblast worm. And just as an aside, Windows XP's ability to auto configure a network sucks ass.

I am totally pissed off with this, and currently both DWL-G520's will be winging their way back to the shop as of next weekend. I have until then for some kind soul on here to figure out what the HELL is going on.

 

[jon15n]

Let me ask you some questions first..

Are you on XP Pro?
I'm assuming this is PCI, and not a USB wireless?
Did you try to install this card before and/or after installing the XP SP1?
After installing the service pack, you should not need to install any D-Link drivers as XP will install all wireless connections.
I had the same kind of problem with a Linksys wireless card, but was able to successfully install it.
Were you previously on your computer via a wired connection--cable?
I'm assuming you were on Windows 2000 previous to your XP upgrade.
Please get back to me on those questions.

 

[Grey Area]

OK, answers follow;
Yes it's XP Pro - full corporate edition if that makes any difference.
Yes it's a PCI card.
I must admit I installed it before XP SP1. I've installed the SP1 now, and am waiting a few days to assess stability before having another go with the card. If I rely on XP to install the drivers, will they be 802.11g compatible, or just a or b? I don't want to have forked out the extra cash for something I can't use.
Previous connection was a cable modem (Terajet) connected directly to my main PC via USB, running a proprietary proxy program (ProxyPlus from Fortech) to allow the second PC to access the Internet via a standard 10/100 Ethernet card. I now have a D-Link router of the same spec (DI-624+) and that seems to give me no problems at all - I am currently using it as a router, but with RJ45 connections to it instead of wireless.
Your are correct in assuming that the previous system was Windows 2000 Professional - it was this system that gave the majority of the problems, and so when I got similar problems with the card on XP Pro, I gave up very quickly.

A bit more info in case it helps - I originally had the Router set up as DCHP server, with the PC's requesting addresses from it. The router was set to give a specific address to each unique MAC address. Towards the end I changed this and set up each PC with it's own static IP address under the TCP/IP settings for each card. It didn't make any difference to the stability of the system. Some confusion here under XP Pro, as I also have a Gigabit LAN connection built into the motherboard, and for some reason the stupid system was identifying my two Firewire ports as Ethernet connections - even though there is nothing connected to them at all! If I left XP to it's own devices (i.e. used the Network Setup Wizard) it never once managed to get it right. It doesn't help that the concept of bridging is new to me and I don't understand it - as far as I can see it is a very effective method of stopping any given LAN connection from functioning at all!

My personal opinion here is that I have bought equipment that is waiting for the rest of the IT industry to catch up with it. D-Link's sites outside of the UK do not have ANY information on the "+" versions of this card, and their ftp download site is devoid of ANY support files for it at all. I think it is just to damned NEW. :-(

Hoping you can prove me wrong!