Yet another 620LX wireless LAN question...

Hello,

First off, GREAT SITE!!! I want to give a big warm THANKS to the people who have put all the obvious hard work into building and maintaining this site. Keep it up!!

Recently I was given a HPC 620LX, and I instantly fell in love with the thing. Looking further into HPCs, I may eventually move up to a 720, but for now I really like playing with my 620.

I have set it up with a 256MB CF card, Sync 3.8, Dialect Pro, Registry Explorer 1.1, Hum 1.62, Sky Commander .99, Pocket Chess, and a couple of other things not to mention SP1 and the HPC NSP from your very own cool site.

Of course, I would also like to plug it into my home network, and of course here my options become kind of slim - leading finally to my question...

I read in your article CESD-H-0007 (http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/h/0007.asp, Linksys WPC11 and the Handheld PC) that there are drivers for the WPC11, which I find is still abundantly available, but I would like some clarification before I go out and buy one.

It says that the article applies to CE 2.0 SP1, and also to the WPC11 ver. 4, but it does not stipulate anywhere which files actually support 2.0, only that the drivers "have been written", and also there is no download for the ver. 4 drivers, only 2.5 and 3.0.

Do the drivers support WinCE 2.0 or not, and is WPC11 Ver. 4 supported or not, and by which download if it is?

I did a forum search on "WPC11" but did not find any clarification on my question.

I sincerely appreciate any information.

*edited for clarity*

Edited by Kiauma 2005-06-09 2:25 PM

Kiauma, welcome and thanks for your kind words. We appreciate them.

Linksys is a complete and utter nightmare, their own drivers for CE work one out of 10 times, because of this the devices were never added into the HCL as compatible or not.

If you want some advice, go for something else - you'll be sourcing chipset drivers and loosing your hair if you don't,
If you d'nt want some advice, here's some anyway - go for something else

v4 chip will not work in ANYTHING, they're 32-bit.

The driver download in the CESD article does contain 2.00 drivers, hence why it's a 2.00 listed article.

Wow! thanks for the very fast answer! though it's not the news I had hoped for.

Well... I am looking for a 802.11b solution at the very least and a 802.11i with WPA at the very most, but the support just isn't there.

However, I am willing to put in some effort if only there is a glimmer of hope. It sounds like the Linksys driver needs some serious debugging - is there any chance one could get the source code? What about the instruction set for the Linksys chips? Do you know of anyone else who has looked at a simular problem??

I have VB experience and would like to strengthen my C++, perhaps a project on a small machine like this would be a good learning experience.

You need a CE4 OS for WPA, it's OS level not just driver level. 802.11i - funny!

You are of course welcome to try the Linksys drivers, but know that we don't recommend them because of the problems people have reported to us in them.

They use the Prism 2.5 chipset or the 3.0 Chipset - hence the 2.5 / 3.0 / 4.0.

Ya 802.11i is prolly a bit ambitious for a 620.

So... WHY can't you have WPA on CE 2.0?? Just not enough muscle? or does it depend on some bleeding edge API??

The only Prism chip CE driver I see on the web is for CE 3.0. Hmm....

Thanks for all your great info!

http://www.conexant.com/servlets/DownloadServlet/102388A.pdf?FileId...

I have requested a Prism 3 SDK. We shall see what happens.

Well the linksys ones are Prism chipset drivers and there are 2.00 ones in there.. so...

WPA needs the OS encryption, security handler and decryption services for WPA. This was added in CE 4.2 - some 9 CE releases later and 6 years.

Ah. I was not aware of that. I was under the impression that WPA had it's own stacks and dll, but of course I really don't know how it works.

I do have a source where I can get a WPC11 real cheap, like $15, so I think I'll give it a spin and report back. Don't hold your breath though, I also have to get a WLAN router for this and future projects.

Thanks again for all your help!

Well, I didn't get far. You, C:Amie, are the man.

I downloaded the driver and was trying to install when I got an error that the mfcce20.dll file was in use or in ROM, and if not in ROM to please close the app using it to try again.

Well, duh! That file is in ROM. No wonder there are drivers but they don't work on the HP H/PC. The drivers include a modified mfcce20.dll which it can't replace.

Good thinking there linksys.

Well, I think I'll try an Orinoco Gold next. I'll report back when I do - and thanks again for all your GOOD advice!

May be I can write a new installer for the wpc11; willing to test if I do?

EDIT: The linksys drivers don't include the mfc library... you must have a program running which is using it. Soft reset, exit everything in the try and try again.

From what I understand, the mfcc file is the networking dll. I had assumed the installer was trying to replace the file, but if not then it is possible the mfcc file is accessed while the HPC is synced to the desktop PC, which it was.

I will try installing the drivers again tonight, this time undocking from the cradle before I run the cab.

I would be willing to test, though I don't have the card yet, nor a wireless router.

The Orinoco drivers installed without a hitch.

P.S., how do I set this board to show the last previous post below the write-new-post window?


*edited for clarity*

Edited by Kiauma 2005-06-10 2:48 PM

Use the reply in quote, reply, edit delete

MFC is the Microsoft Foundation Class library, it's not a driver

Ah, good workaround.

...and of course you are right about that dll, sorry.

Arrighty...

I started this last night, but then got an invite to a great little downtown mexican restaurant... You understand.

I tried to reload again, and this time I pulled the HPC out of the cradle and did a soft reset, only to have the cab file disappear. Nice.

I did a complete unistall again then tried again.

This time I went ahead and put the file in the windows directory, thinking that perhaps putting it on the CF had something to do with it. It did the same thing.

I uninstalled then reinstalled again, back to the CF, this time simply undocking, waiting for the icons to clear, and then starting the cab. Same thing.

After uninstalling and reloading again, I took a long slow look at the events. Before undocking, I pressed OK, then waited for the error, then undocked. The error message is:

File in use.
The file "\Windows\MFCCE20.DLL" is in use or is in ROM. IF the file is not in ROM, please close the application using the file.
Try again?
Yes No Cancel

Trying yes, docked or undocked, just brings the error message again, even after the 'connected' tray icon goes away.

Trying No gives a different error message, which is;

File Cannot Be Skipped
The file "\Windows\MFCCE20.DLL" must be copied for the application to work correctly. Try copying again?

The only options here are OK or the close dialog button. Pressing OK goes back to the previous 'File In Use' error. Pressing Cancel in the File In USe dialog or the close dialog button on the File Cannot Be Skipped message ends the install with a Setup Failed message;

Linksys Instant Wireless Network Card was not installed successfully. Please run Setup again.

I then tried to manually copy the MFCC file to the desktop myself, just as a test. I get the message;

Error Copying File
Cannot copy 'mfcce20'.
Executable and resource files in ROM cannot be copied.

What is the full, original file name of the CAB file you are trying to use?