Hey guys
(and ladies
). Just
(yet another
) piece of interesting CE 2.0 info for you via the pleasures
of real-life experience.
I just brought my HP 660LX, running CE 2.0 / SP1 / NPC to work today for the first time while running the Lucent / Orinoco Gold .11b wireless card. The card is currently running v4.04 drivers.
The office has a Linksys BEFW11S4 v4 wireless B router.
And...
It don't work!
And here's the low-down dirty details:
- CE cannot find the network with the SSID hidden, at all. Now this is
significantly different than a D-Link, for I have a DI-624 at home at the 660LX has absolutely no problem finding the network with the SSID broadcast turned off. The only way I could get the 660LX to receive the Linksys was to turn the SSID back on
(and I tried this 3 times just to make sure it wasn't other settings
).
- The BEFW11S4 does not read a proper NetBIOS name from the 660LX - this is normal, for the D-Link does not and the network redirector does not offer that level of compatibility for CE 2.0 machines. However while the D-Link left the NetBIOS name completely blank the Linksys fills in the name with control characters.
- most importantly the 660LX connects to the Linksys, does it's DHCP, and receives an IP address...but only works for approximately 20 seconds. After 20 seconds the 660LX seems to get completely booted off the Linksys, losing all connectivity, never to return until you restart the 660LX's DHCP request prodecure
(via any of: reboot/shut down-power up/pull card-reinsert
).
Turning off WEP didn't help. Turning off MAC filtering didn't help. Turning on SSID permanently didn't help. Reducing the SSID name length didn't help. Changing B advanced settings didn't help. Telling the BEFW11S4 to save registration of the MAC didn't help. Turning off power saving on the 660LX didn't help. Entering in a network ID in the 660LX didn't help. Entering in a WINS address
(just for kicks
) didn't help. Setting the CE to denser wireless didn't help.
I realize now that the only thing I
didn't try is a static IP entered into the 660LX but otherwise I believe I was quite thorough in testing - throughout an entire work day, as a matter of fact.
I am now home on the D-Link created network - no connection problems at all, even with hidden SSID, 128bit WEP and MAC filtering.
Of course now I am very glad I bought a D-Link personally even though some people have a bit of trouble with them - I love D-Links with their Fort Knox firewall rules, and now the CE wireless helps in vindication.
So, if you are going wireless with your CE machine and seem to lose connection out of the blue...
Beware. It might not be the CE palmtop.
------------------------------------------------------
If requested
(I am home now
) I can supply the Linksys BEFW11S4 v4's firmware level but it should 1.52.02 as I just happen to update it last week.
Edited by Snake 2006-02-15 9:59 PM