Dell Truemobile 1300 Problems with Linksys BEFW11S4 v2

[BeefcakeVA]

Trying to get this Latitude D600 laptop with Truemobile 1300 mini PCI card setup on my fiance's wireless network. She's running the above router with latest firmware revision. Updated driver fir Truemobile card to latest as well.

Essentially, the laptop can see the network ok but cannot recieve any packets. Attempts to ping the router all time out. Checked with Linksys and they suggested there was some software program running on the laptop (like antivirus) that is keeping the system from accepting packets. I've disabled just about everything I can think of but still no luck.

Router is 802.11b and I'm troubleshooting with WEP turned off and no authentication of any kind with SSID broadcast turned on as well.

Any ideas on what might be going on here? I've even checked the Dell user forums and can't find a thing there to help either. Appreciate any thoughts anyone might have.

 

[BeefcakeVA]

Bah, Googled this problem for the 10th time or so and finally found a random post saying that the TX rate needs to be dropped to 1-2 Mbps in the router setup. Lo and behold the laptop can now receive data from the router.

Stupid that it should be this way. Anyone have any idea how I can get around this? Ideally I don't want the wireless network to be capped at 2 Mbps indefinitely.

 

[OdiN]

This shouldn't be true. I have a 600m that I just got with that Dell TrueMobile card. I had the same problems initially, it would get stuck at 2Mbps. To fix it I just switched to a different channel (using Channel 9) and it's been rock solid 54Mbps ever since. I figured it was just some interference from some phones I have around here on the default Channel 6 (Channel 5 didn't work that well either) but maybe there is some issue with Linksys wireless between the Dell card....try changing the channel

 

[BeefcakeVA]

Odin, thx for the reply. As of today I've tried all the channels and everything is the same, i.e. I have to limit the network to 2Mbps at all channels to get the laptop to actually receive data from the router.

Bad card you think? I'm tempted to get Dell to replace it and see what happens.

 

[OdiN]

If you can, try your laptop at a hotspot or someone else's WLAN. I'd try that first before swapping the card. Also...open the cover...see if the antenna wires are attached properly.

 

[BeefcakeVA]

Will do... thx for the tips.

 

[flstc4me]

I have the same hardware setup that you describe. Dell TM 1300 in a D600 laptop (work PC) and Linksys BEFW11S4 v2 (home network). I had the same problem, wireless connection status was green, signal strength excellent, packets sent kept increasing, packets received stayed constant at 2 or 3. I found out by accident that lowering to 2.0 Mbps worked but not for very long in my case. It disconnected frequently also.

My PC seemed to continually want to go and look at my neighbors connection every few minutes or so, very frustrating. Not sure if this happens in your situation.

I opened the local area connection associated with my wireless card and then clicked on "Configure" and then "Advanced" and then clicked on "Rate" and changed it from "Use best rate" to 11. Since then it has been flawless. I also played with the channels and all seem to work the same.

I use BlackIce (compliments/requirement of my IT department at work) with no problems.

I hope this helps you with your problem.