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Known issues with the NetGear MA701 CF Network Card Driver

CESD|200060

Applies To

  • Handheld PC Pro, SP1
  • Handheld PC 2000

Overview

Users have reported that the Wireless Network card drivers for the MA701 CF Network Interface Card provided on the NetGear website for Handheld PC Professional (CE 2.11 / 2.12) and Handheld PC 2000 (CE 3) do not properly mount the card.

Symptoms of this issue are that no network connection is established at all using the NetGear drivers. Upon insertion of the card, Windows CE prompts you for a driver name and activates the card. The NIC status LEDs activate briefly and the connection is then dropped.

Downloads

Resolution

If the official NetGear drivers provided for download above do not maintain a proper connection you should use the generic Compaq WL100 drivers provided through the CESD download section.

Note: Use of the Compaq WL100 drivers is not officially supported by HPC:Factor neither is it supported by NetGear of Compaq.

If you have previously installed the NetGear MA701 drivers, you should uninstall them fully before attempting to use the Compaq utility. Under some circumstances the Plug n' Play reference in the Windows CE registry will not be updated to reflect the new drivers.
This problem will be demonstrated by Windows CE prompting you for a Driver Name upon insertion of the card. If you experience this problem enter the following driver name into the text box and tap OK:

WL100NDS.dll - No WEP Support
PRISMNDS.dll - WEP Support

Eject the card and Soft reset your device after specifying the driver name.
Under some extreme circumstances the card will continue to fail to mount the driver correctly. To remedy this you will need to remove all driver file and registry traces from the system. For most users a Hard reset may be the easiest solution.

If you are a MA701 user and have been affected by the problem described in this article we recommend that you contact NetGear support detailing your problem. We request that you copy your correspondence to us here at HPC:Factor so that we can take proactive steps to assist NetGear fix the driver issues. Please see the contacts page for more information.

This driver also reportedly works with the following NICs:
WLF-CF-S11G

Links

NetGear: http://www.netgear.com/

Acknowledgements

With thanks to Tsubasa Kato and Rory Lewis for working with us on this article.