Wireless Issue - Help

[ibleet]

Computer is a Dell Inspiron 8100 running XP SP2.

My son has a Buffalo Airstation Wireless G (usb) adapter. He calls me to come set it up for him. When I go over, he already has the cable modem and Buffalo router running, but not running wireless, just wired.

I load up the driver for the adapter and it wont install. It just sits there. I get to the part where it installs the software and says, "insert product and wait". So I insert the adapter (the little green light lights softly) and wait...and wait...and wait. Won't complete the install.

I want to check to see if the adapter is faulty so I bring it to my place and try to install it on my Inspiron 9300...Same Issue, won't install. I try the install on my current AMD system, and same issue, won't install.

My guess is that the adapter is bad, but I don't have much experience with wireless networks. I googled the problem with no luck. Does anyone here have experience with wireless networking, or worked with Buffalo products? Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

[ibleet]

Sorry I forgot the link...Adapter

More info....I tried just inserting the adapter into the usb, in hopes that windows would recognize the pnp device and this didn't work either. I also tried using every usb slot on the computer...no luck.

[kenc51]

When the adapter is plugged in, check device manager. There might be a device called "USB netcard" --> R-Click and uninstall it and then unplug the adapter and re-run the setup
If there's not "USB netcard" there might be some other unknown device you can uninstall

[Darkstar]

I installed 2 of them last week to use with the Buffalo Nfinity airstation. Neither one had any problem. Make sure you are using a USB 2.o port and do the uninstall Ken mentioned.

[ibleet]

Thanks for the input from both of you, much appreciated. The usb is 2.0 and there are no unknown devices to uninstall. My son is exchanging the faulty card today. Thanks again.

[ibleet]

I installed 2 of them last week to use with the Buffalo Nfinity airstation. Neither one had any problem. Make sure you are using a USB 2.o port and do the uninstall Ken mentioned.

Yep, those are normally fast and easy to install. I installed one a few weeks ago, which is why my son asked for my help in the first place. He has the Router, so I figured the install would be easy....no such luck.

On your installs, did you use dd-wrt or the stock firmware? I've read that the stock firmware from Buffalo really sucks.

Finally, does anyone here have experience connecting an xbox360 to this network? Thanks!

[ibleet]

Ok well he picked up the new buffalo adapter and we got it working real fast. His connection speed with cable is 4.9 Gigabits / second. Not too shabby for stock firmware. I found some info on hookin' the 360 up to the wireless network, but the adapter costs $80, which isn't in his budget for the week. Oh well, maybe later or just hard wire it for now. Thanks for the help.

[Darkstar]

Glad you got it sorted, i dont have an Xbox but is there a reason that the xbox adapter in particular needs to be used and not any old usb adapter? here is a post about using a laptop as a brisge rof the xbox wireless connection, havent read it through but came right up on a google search.
http://bimmergeek.blogspot.com/2006/05/ ... -xbox.html

[kenc51]

Yeah, glad it's sorted!
This will work with an xbox or PS3 or just about anything with an ethernet port.
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wir ... converter/

I use one for my file server running 64bit Linux, I gave up trying to get the usb wifi card to work.
It has four ports and is plug & play (uses DHCP)
Although the prices seem a bit steep for the US, I got my for €45.

[ibleet]

Thanks for all the great info. guys. This is exactly why I don't hesitate to recommend this site. *****