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weird wireless win98 problem

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7 replies

by sgt_shultz

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i have setup a wireless bridge connection to the bosses' house using two linksys WAP11's. was working fine. now bosses win98se laptop won't get 'on' the network (or internet) from the 'bosses house' side of bridge. i have a switch on that side, connecting the bridge and another winxp computer. that computer has no problems. i can get the laptop connected if I go into the config page on each end of the bridge and change a setting, then change it back. guess it's the equivalent of resetting the bridge. laptop works fine until i bring into into the main office and put it on the network on 'this side' of the bridge. then, it will be 'broken' again on the other side of the bridge, until i fiddle with the bridges configuration again. very repeatable. some weird failure of the network card? anybody have any ideas? i can ping all the ip devices on the 'bosses house' side when i am having the problem, but can't ping the other end bridge or anything beyond it...when it is working again, i can ping everything on both sides as normal. nothing has changed from broken to working except diddling with the bridges' settings...

7 replies

by umesh

Hi,

Can you please clarify if the Laptop connects to the one side of the bridge but not the other. If this is true, are you using the same SSID on both the wireless devices. Also does anyone have an encryption and is the same activated on the laptop.

Regards
Umesh

by sgt_shultz

I have an XP client on the same side of the bridge giving trouble with the laptop, and it connects just fine to all network resources on the other side of the bridge, thus proving the bridge is configured (at least mostly) corrected. SSID same on both. encryption off. Laptop connects to both sides BUT won't connect to 'home' side after it has been connected to 'office' side unless i soft reset the WAP11's by changing some configuration in them...

by mdelyea

Most likely culprit is a bad NIC. Try a "known good" NIC to see if the problem persists.

by sgt_shultz

I have a new NIC on order and i will let you know if it resolves the problem. meanwhile, any ideas on how/why the NIC might fail in this way? thanks. i will award points but can't let you know the outcome if i close the question yet...

by sue t

I solved this problem by setting my network settings in the one location and connecting to be sure it worked and then exporting that part of the registry and saving it on the desktop with the location name and then going to the next location and doing the same thing. Then when the person was getting ready to go to another building they would double click on the correct location on the desktop before shutting down the computer. Then when they booted the computer in that location they were connected to the network. This solved the problem of them not always being able to connect.

by sgt_shultz

thanks for your ideas...i didn't mention that this problem cropped up after upgrading the hard drive in the laptop...while i had it in my hands i applied all the critical windows updates for windows 98 and updated all the drivers including the NIC...thanks for your idea about a workaround but posted the question to try to get ideas about how/why this failure has cropped up...the new NIC arrived but the boss and laptop are now on 2 week vacation...stay tuned and i will let you know resolution...

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