From: Martin Francis on
I have been having issues with my Wanadoo Livebox broadband/wireless access
point and my new laptop. On my previous laptop I used a Safecom wifi card
instead of the Wanadoo-supplied USB dongle (which was slightly damaged). Now
I have replaced the laptop with an Acer Aspire 3003LM, and the Safecom card
no longer connects to the Livebox. I have since tried a couple of other
cards (Belkin and D-Link) and have cannot connect to the network or get very
temperamental connection, limited to a couple of feet from the Livebox.

Can anyone suggest anything?

Martin


From: Jeff Liebermann on
"Martin Francis" <mcsalty(a)hotmail.com> hath wroth:

>I have been having issues with my Wanadoo Livebox broadband/wireless access
>point and my new laptop. On my previous laptop I used a Safecom wifi card
>instead of the Wanadoo-supplied USB dongle (which was slightly damaged). Now
>I have replaced the laptop with an Acer Aspire 3003LM, and the Safecom card
>no longer connects to the Livebox. I have since tried a couple of other
>cards (Belkin and D-Link) and have cannot connect to the network or get very
>temperamental connection, limited to a couple of feet from the Livebox.
>
>Can anyone suggest anything?

If you have tried 3 different wireless cards on your new Acer laptop,
it's highly unlikely that the problem is the wireless card. That
leaves the Wanadoo Livebox/wireless access point and your new Acer
laptop. I like to troubleshoot such things by substitution.

1. Do you still have the previous laptop and Safecom card available?
That will test if the Wanadoo Livebox is still alive.

2. Install *ONE* of the wireless cards in your Acer. Remove the
other drivers as they might interfere with each other. Try to return
things to a sane condition (perhaps with System Restore). Go find a
free wireless hot spot and see if the new laptop works. If you have
the same problems with a free hot spot, your laptop has something
wrong with it.

3. You can also use the "show available networks" connection to see
how sensitive your laptop is. If you live in an area full of wireless
networks, you should see them. Compare with what the old laptop
hears.

4. If the laptop works at the hot spot, then leave it alone. Cease
adding and removing hardware and concentrate on the Livebox/wireless
access point. What changed? Broken antenna? You state that you
sometimes get a "tempermental" connection. I presume that means that
you can actually get a connection of sorts, which implies that the
WEP/WPA encryption is working. If not, and you're using WEP, be sure
to use the Hex key, not the ASCII key.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558