Jackpot!! D-Link 11MB Wireless Card for laptop or desktop $49.99 after MIR CONFIRMED!

[wjsulliv]

Mine works with Win XP.

I am using Ad-hock with no encription (or atleast I haven't specified anything).
My host computer is on the second floor of the house, on the East side, the wireless card is less than 2 feet from the iron/brass bathroom plumbing and electrical ducts (i.e. good interference)

Signal to the:
First floor is good or very good throughout.
Basement is low.

Over all not bad for ad-hock. When I get more than 50 feet away, and have more than 4 walls in between (plus all the interference of the electrical stuff running in those walls) my signal drops. If I add an accesspoint I think I should be ok, especially if I ad the access point on the first floor.

 

[emonkey]

<< i just got this and am worried that it's not going to live up to the hype. will this work or won't it work in XP?

shawn >>



I dont think there are any XP problems other than the fact that installation into XP isnt documented. So its a pretty safe bet if you follow the advice given in this thread. In fact, I'm typing on my laptop 3 rooms away from the router! :Q

Anyway, all you should know when installing into XP is that the PCI card drivers are already built into XP, you should get the DWL-650 XP drivers from their site and that you shouldnt try installing the prism/dlink configuration utility. Do all that and setting up a wireless network is a cakewalk.

 

[chuonthis]

<< As far as signal quality, I'm experiencing *very* sporadic behavior w/ the DWL-650 from a room away. Most times, WXP reports the signal strength as "low" or "very low," but sometimes the signal appears to drop completely. In WXP, this results in annoying connect/disconnect status messages appearing the System Tray. This is from one room away, or less than 50 feet (although the line of sight is not clear).

I need to do some serious testing, but so far, the DWL-650 has seemed disappointing. YMMV. >>

What is the DWL-650 communicating with? Another DWL or a router/access point? If router, which router? Just wondering because I bought them for my house but haven't set them up yet...waiting for my DSL to be installed.

 

[waycool]

This thing works just fine with the BEFW11S4.



<< Here's a link on a way to hack your WAP11 (wireless router from Linksys). I guess it also works on the Netgear ME102 and SMC MC2655W. Unfortunately I have the BEFW11S4.

Description on wi2600.org:
Fun With the WAP11

And a nice discussion about it on DSLreports.com
Revved up WAP11

Let me know if anyone figures out how to boost the output of a BEFW11S4. Thanks. >>

 

[wjsulliv]

I just upgraded my laptop to XP (from Me, desktop has been XP since prior to DWL-500 install), and so far see improvement in my ad-hock connection.

Previously D-Link program in Me couldn't detect signal strength. Now is says Very Good or excellen on both when in the same room. I would go downstairs but, right now I'm too lazy.

XP Install is really simple. For both desktop and laptop download the XP drivers from Dlink.com. Upzip them to a folder and note where they are. Turn off the machine. Plug in the PCI card into your desktop and/or the PCMCIA card into the adapter or PCMCIA slot. Turn the machine back on. When the new hardware wizard asks were to find the driver (or search), specify the exact folder you unzipped it to. And then install...

Thats it.

 

[BooGoo]

I stuck a netgear MA401 card into the PCI adapter. Somehow I cannot get it to work. It would only stay connected for 1 second or so than disconnect. What are your results? Somehow I'm somewhat disappointed with results for this on XP.

 

[DavLucMac]

the orinoco cards are really popular becuase of really good range, really good driver support, and the fact that lucent basically pioneered the tech for this stuff. the thing that separates the silver from the gold orinoco cards are 64 vs 128 bit encryption. The price break between the two cards is significant though, making the silver card a great buy for someone looking to put together the good wireless stuff at a good price.
dav

 

[manly]

<<

<< As far as signal quality, I'm experiencing *very* sporadic behavior w/ the DWL-650 from a room away. Most times, WXP reports the signal strength as "low" or "very low," but sometimes the signal appears to drop completely. In WXP, this results in annoying connect/disconnect status messages appearing the System Tray. This is from one room away, or less than 50 feet (although the line of sight is not clear).

I need to do some serious testing, but so far, the DWL-650 has seemed disappointing. YMMV. >>

What is the DWL-650 communicating with? Another DWL or a router/access point? If router, which router? Just wondering because I bought them for my house but haven't set them up yet...waiting for my DSL to be installed. >>



It's communicating with a Compaq CP-2W wireless router, which received a favorable review at CNET (and favorable user reviews there as well).

Two things I will try soon (one of these days) is an Orinoco Gold in the same desktop PC, and also the DWL-650 in a notebook roaming closer to the WAP.

 

[WellThisNameShouldBeFree]

I ordered online and instead of shipping the DLinks, they're shipping Linksys ones instead. Is anyone else having this problem? Could anyone set their browser to work offline and follow the link to see if they have the page in their cache? I'm hoping to get their cust serv people to fix this, but since the web site no longer makes any mention of the product, it would be nice if I had a way to prove that they not only offered it, but had a problem on their backend. Otherwise I'll have to deny the shipment and send it back to 'em. Thoughts?
If someone finds that cached page and could email the contents to devillejeff@hotmail.com, I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks

 

[Skaven]

Got the card and the PCI adaptor this past weekend. Trying to get it to work on my desktop upstairs. I can't get the darned thing to connec to my Orinoco RG-1000 AP! I have narrowed it down to the encryption. For some reason, as soon as I enable any kind of encryption on the D-Link, it loses connection w/ the AP. But if its disabled it finds the AP again. Problem is, the AP is set not to transfer any data unless encryption is enabled. Anybody have an idea what might be going on here?

I plugged in my Orinoco Gold PCMCIA card to the PCI adaptor that came with the D-Link. Works great! I'm probably going to leave the Orinoco card in the desktop anyway... but I was still unable to get the Dlink to work even in the laptop.

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[sleepdragon]

Have you try to update the firmware of DWL-650??
Maybe the firmware version your DWL-650 has doesn't support 128bit encryption??

 

[Skaven]

Yes, I have downloaded the Dlink firmware update. But I get the following error when I try to flash it using their tool:

"Error - this image will not work on the selected card. Current card is platform 800c. Image built for: 8002, 8002, 8003, 8003, 8004, 8008"

and:

"Product Part Number: WL-211F V1.6
Serial Number:
MAC Address: 00-05-5D-D6-F9-CE
Current firmware version: Primary: 1.0.5 Station: 1.3.4
---------------------
Source File: "C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\dlink\dwl650_firmware_8c2\S10008C2.HEX"
ERROR - Platforms incompatible. This file cannot be used.
***Error Encountered***"


It won't let me flash it. Either way, right now I have my AP set at 64bit WEP, and the Orinoco card still works fine, but the Dlink (set at 64bit) will not connect when ecryption is enabled. The only other thing I can think of is that the Orinoco setup lets you type in the Alphanumeric value for the key.. but w/ the Dlink you must type in the HEX value. For Decimal to Hex conversion... isn't it as simple as:

1=1 h
2=2 h
..
10=A h

So for a straight decimal to hex conversion. Say the key is 54321 alphanumeric on the Orinoco AP (64bit WEP for simplicty). Wouldn't the key also be 54321 in hex? Or do I have to translate the whole number? 54,321=D431 h

Oh the pain! (Good thing I'm a geek and love to figure this stuff out!)

 

[BooGoo]

You can't flash the firmware on a NT/XP base system. You have to roll back down to a Win9X

 

[Skaven]

I'm running Win98 SE on the machine I tried to flash it from.

 

[emonkey]

<< You can't flash the firmware on a NT/XP base system. You have to roll back down to a Win9X >>



Weird. I did and it went fine...

 

[jbloggs]

I'm using the DWL-650 on a laptop with NT4.0 and another laptop with Win95, I have the Linksys wireless router with 4 ports (Version 2) and the only problem I had was on the NT4.0 machine there was an IRQ clash and so had to find availble IRQ. Besides that it works like a charm.

 

[Skaven]

Woah! Anybody seen this before?!?!? (support.dlink.com)

Q: Why won´t my Lucent Gold (WaveLan Turbo, Orinoco, and Agere) wireless card connect to my D-Link wireless product using 128-bit encryption?

A: Lucent Gold (also WaveLan Turbo, Orinoco, and Agere) wireless cards running 128 bit encryption will not work with any other 802.11b devices other than another Lucent Gold card. They use proprietary encryption that is not compatible with non-Lucent products. Lucent Gold will work with 64bit and no encryption. Lucent Silver only supports 64 bit which will also work.

So is that why I can't connect to my Orinoco AP?!?

 

[Wooster]

jbloggs,

Where did you get your Linksys Wireless Router version 2? I was looking for it. Not in Best Buy or CompUSA.

 

[wjsulliv]

My brother was telling me the other day that you can hack these cards and run them on other bandwiths (ones that might cause FM radio interference), and get really strong signal...

Anybody know anything about that or where to find that information?

 

[Skaven]

I got the DLink card to work with 64bit WEP. I had to convert from ASCII --> HEX not Decimal --> HEX

But now I can't seem to get it to work in 128bit WEP. I'd like to use the best encryption possible. Does anybody know of any issues connecting a Dlink card to the Orinoco hardware?

The flash issue I was having was because the card was already flashed to the most current level. So the DLink card is flashed to support 128bit WEP.

 

[jbloggs]

<< jbloggs,

Where did you get your Linksys Wireless Router version 2? I was looking for it. Not in Best Buy or CompUSA. >>




Wooster,

I got the BEFW11S4 Ver.2 from Best Buy at the Perimeter location in Atlanta,GA

 

[Wooster]

jbloggs:


<< I got the BEFW11S4 Ver.2 from Best Buy at the Perimeter location in Atlanta,GA >>


Seems like all Best Buy stores carried different product after all. None in any Massachusett or south New Hampshire store. Thanks for the head up.

 

[minipow]

I was wondering if anybody had any info on the rebate, like if everybody got it on the box or whatever. Thanks.

 

[Wooster]

You have to ask the sales person to print out one for you. That's how I got mine. Good luck.