From: Billy on
On May 6, 8:29 pm, "jpsga" <jp...(a)comcast.net> wrote:
> "Billy" <UseN...(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:cd5e3a7a-c7e6-4db8-a8cc-78ce5399ecfa(a)j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On May 6, 2:49 pm, "jpsga" <jp...(a)comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Billy" <UseN...(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> >news:c05ca650-5fa3-48a9-8b4b-fb03bc1e9750(a)8g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> > On May 6, 2:18 pm, "jpsga" <jp...(a)comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > > "Billy" <UseN...(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> > >news:8289601c-3dbd-456d-afef-71263a20cab5(a)e53g2000hsa.googlegroups.com....
>
> > > >I recently bought a Dell XPS One with a Broadcom 802.11n Network card
> > > > and wireless is slow and unusable.
>
> > > > My home network consists of a Motorola Surfboard cable modem via
> > > > Comcast broadband service connected to a Linksys Wireless-N WRT150N
> > > > router (configured w/ no WEP or Encryption - it's open) via CAT5E
> > > > cable. The LAN has two WiFi-G enabled laptops and w/ Desktop all w/
> > > > WinXP Pro working efficiently and flawlessly for over a year. This
> > > > Dell XPS One is a new machine introduced.
>
> > > > I connect the Dell XPS One w/ the Broadcom 802.11n Network card and
> > > > Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 and the issue begins. BTW, the issues
> > > > existed before applying the Vista SP1. For example, downloading a 3mb
> > > > file takes over 3 to 5 minutes on this machine via WiFi. In contrast,
> > > > on one of the other home LAN machines w/ XP and differant hardware,
> > > > this takes less than 30 seconds. Also, I have skipping in YouTube
> > > > videos and file copys from machine to machine in the LAN taking
> > > > forever.
>
> > > > I checked the Wireless card properties on the offending machine and
> > > > all settings look correct - im registering at 130 Mbps speed
> > > > consistently according to the WiFi status. I looked at the wireless
> > > > card driver and it appears to be the latest, however when I checked
> > > > Dell's website it looks like their may be a newer one that arrived
> > > > just this month. However, when I download and go to update the driver
> > > > in device manager it says that I have the latest (the existing driver)
> > > > and does not install the newer one.
>
> > > > One other test I did was to plug in a cat6 ethernet cable from the
> > > > router to the back of the machine. It appears that my WRT150N router
> > > > only has 100/Full from the LAN ports so I received a 100Mbps
> > > > connection vi auto-negotiate setting. This is slower than the 10Mbps
> > > > that the WiFi card status was reporting, btw. So, I did a download
> > > > from the same site and bam, slower than XP machine, but way faster
> > > > than the troubled WiFi connection - maybe 45 seconds to a minutes and
> > > > it was done.
>
> > > > Do you think this is a bad WiFi card in the machine, driver issue,
> > > > Windows Vista compatability, or any of the above?
>
> > > Billy-- Is this the Broadcom BC4322?
> > > Jim- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -
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> > Jim - without being in front of the machine (im at work) I want to say
> > "yes" as I recall that driver directory as reference to the drivers
> > installed. The date I think was 9/2007 or maybe even earlier as driver
> > stamp. I will confirm all this tonight after 9pm EST from home an post
> > follow-up. What I was trying to do was to update the driver with the
> > BCM4321 which btw is a lesser number than you specify but is Dell
> > recommended on their site under my system and has a release date of
> > 4/11/08 (very recent).
>
> > Do you know of an issue with the BC4322 driver and/or hardware? That
> > would help point me in the direction that I need to go....thanks!
>
> > Billy-- I *Do not* know of any issue with the BC 4322. I wanted to look at
> > the manual to see if you can drop back to G speeds. As it occures to me
> > that
> > the router must be capable of N speeds if it wants to talk to you new card
> > at that speed.
> > Jim- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> Yes, the WRT150N router is capable of wireless-N draft specification.
> It's a wireless N router. The other machines are using G on the client
> end to talk to the N router and far outperform the speed of my newer N-
> card within the offending machine. The issue is that not only do the
> G's outperform the N card, they topple it by as much as 80% faster.
> This is why I know there is something wrong.
>
> Your idea about bumping the N down to G is a good test though to see
> if this changes things - If I can only find the darn documentation on
> any of this equipment I'd likely be farther ahead. Let me know what
> you find......
>
> I didn't find much because I still don't know the model number of the WIFI
> card. We were speculating that it is the DCM4322. By the way, did you
> disable the NIC in the Dell?
>
> Jim- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

It's the Broadcom Wireless (US) WLAN Card, v.4.170.25.14, A00
BCM4321 WLAN driver that is installed.