Terrible connectivity with a Xterasys XN-2511B PCI adapter...

[f2racer]

I recently purchased one of these ADMtek ADM8211 chipset 802.11b PCI adapters to connect my kids PC (a reasonably plain Duron 1300 PC running WinME) to my home network. Problem is that connectivity and speed are horrendous compared with any of the other WiFi enabled systems (3 laptops with either DLink DWL650L# and Linksys WPC11 v3).

I'm using DLink DWL-900AP Access Point. All of the systems with the exception of the Xterasys PCI system have no issues connecting from anywhere in my house, but the Xterasys PCI system which is only about 30 feet away from the access point has terrible connectivity (it drops connections all the time) and speed (even when connected, it's super slow). Has anybody seen this before? And how can I improve the performance, or should I invest in a higher quality PCI adapter?

Thanks!

[M/Q]

Welcome to the forum. There are several possibilities that might be affecting the signal. Have you tried using another client from that same location to see how it functioned? Also do you have WEP enabled? Which is correct, but I have seen it where that adaptor did not play nice with others when using it. You may try disabling it to see if that helps. One other place to look, is to see if there are any IRQ conflicts, those occur often when the pc has an available Ethernet connection as well as a wireless one.

If there is a signal strength issue just in that immediate location, adding an external antenna might help tremendously.

If there is no real obvious issue, I might suggest getting a better adaptor. Since you have a DLink router, it is always safest to stick with the brand already in use. There are still many compatibility problems between brands especially when WEP/WPA is involved.

[f2racer]

mpkn3rd, thanks for the quick response. I have tried other computers from that location and they worked flawlessly. WEP is NOT enabled on my home network. But my kids computer does have an unused ethernet adapter (onboard the motherboard). I'll try disabling it. Are there any vendors that sell a cheap (but high quality) external antenna? The one that came with the PCI card looks exactly like the one on my access point...

Thanks!

[M/Q]

If you think a boost in signal strength will help, you can try this on the PCI adaptor antenna, but not the router as it is directional. They work very well. Also DLink has higher gain omni-directional antennas that might help on the router.


http://osiris.urbanna.net/antenna_designs/projects/template/

It still might be that the adaptor does not want to play nice with the router. If that becomes apparent, the DLink PCI adaptor would be your best bet.

[f2racer]

The signal strength is all over the place according to the icon on the taskbar... Maybe it's the antenna... Does anybody have an antenna that isn't connected directly on the PCI card?

Thanks!

[M/Q]

The antenna usually is removable, is that the case. Have you tried the reflectors ai mentioned earlier? Also you mentioned that another computer worked fine in that same location, correct? If so that would rule out RF interference.

Do you have the ability to try a different PCI card in that computer to see if that will work. If so and it does work, get rid of the bad one and get a DLink PCI card to mate to the router.

[f2racer]

OK, I think that the Xterasys drivers may be what's screwing things up here. I re-installed the ADMtek drivers and the net seems to be up and running without issue (I had no issues copying a 40MB file). Only problem is that the ADMtek drivers did not come with a Wireless LAN Configuration Utility (using Windows ME here), and the one included with the Xterasys doesn't show up with the ADMtek drivers installed... Anybody have any idea if there is a configuration utility (with signal strength and quality meter) that will work with the generic ADMtek drivers?

Thanks!

[M/Q]

http://www.netstumbler.com/

Usually works

[f2racer]

Unfortunately netstumber does not currently support the ADMtek ADM8211 chipset on the card... In any case, I've left the ADMtek drivers on the box and it's working fine now.

[M/Q]

Here are some more apps that you could check out.

http://www.wardriving.com/code.php