Help in setting up WLAN cards

[GaryTheHat]

Please help!!

I have just bought a Zcomax Wireless Router XI-300 and a Zcomax WLAN PC card. I have found it uses a Prism 2 chipset. How do I set this up to work on a Netbook? You talk about drivers etc but where are these found and what ones would I use for this card? Sorry for being so naive but this WLAN thing is very new to me.

Can anyone help in getting it to work.

Regards Gary

[diem]

Relax ;)

You already have the drivers installed; Prism 2 cards use the Lucent driver. Go to my FAQ, URL below, and you'll find complete help on setting up a WLAN.

If you get it working, please let me know, and I'll add your card to my compatibility list.

[GaryTheHat]

Hi

I have finally got my wireless setup sorted. I have tried my XI-300B Zcomax card but it doesn't seem to work. When I try to connect I get a network error. Using the netstat program I have nothing at all, all lines are blank. It says there is no card present.

Anyone got any ideas? The card uses the Prism 2 chipset.

Regards

Gary

PS What card will work?

[diem]

Originally posted by GaryTheHat
When I try to connect I get a network error. Using the netstat program I have nothing at all, all lines are blank. It says there is no card present.

netStatRF will only start showing anything once the card has woken up and is starting to do radio. Does the card have any lights? Do they come on at any point?

Nobody on these forums has mentioned your card before, so you are breaking new ground. Whilst the Prism 2 chipset is supported, a card manufacturer may add other interfacing chips or such that put the card over the PC Card slot power supply limit.

I'm assuming you have set up an appropriate Ethernet profile in Control Panel, and are selecting this when trying to connect. If you get no lights on the card at this point, then a 'Network Error' after a timeout, then I'm afraid it sounds like the card simply will not work with netBook.

PS What card will work?

As I said before, check my compatibility matrix for cards known to work.

[GaryTheHat]

Hi

When the card plugs in, I get lights on the card, then they go off. I have set the ethernet settings, as per your site.

Gary

[diem]

The key question is do you get any lights when you try to connect? (and are you definitely selecting the correct profile when the 'Connnect to Internet' dialog comes up?)

If definitely yes to the second question, and definitely no to the first, then it does sound as thought the card needs too much power :( I would however find this surprising - it'd be the first Prism 2 card these forums have seen not work. The card is definitely Prism 2 not 2.5 yes? If you also post the FCC ID (should be printed on the underside of the card), this will help us be certain.

In terms of troubleshooting your Ethernet profile, could you post the settings you have made? If you have set the ethernet profile to use DHCP, have you configured your access point to use DHCP as well?

[GaryTheHat]

Hi I shall try to sort out all the settings in the next day or so.
I shall leave you with the FCC ID M4Y-XI-300.

The lights do light up when it's trying to connect, but then the network problem dialog box appears and the lights go out again.

Gary:confused:

[jezza]

Sounds like you may have different wireless settings for the card on the Psion and the basestation.

I recall the Prism cards aren't able to make use of WEP so make sure you've tried this disabled on both the basestation and the card.

I suggest eliminating the security settings and trying to get it working at a basic level and then add them back individually.

[diem]

Yes indeed, this is more promising :)

As jezza says, this does sound like a configuration and not a compatibility issue. Please post your ethernet profile settings, and whether your access point is set up for DHCP or manual.

[GaryTheHat]

Hi, The ethernet settings are as follows.

Current settings: WLAN

Service
Name: WLAN
Config Method: DHCP
Host Name: Wireless
Device: Lucent WaveLAN/Orinoco Card

Network Name: Wireless
Peer to Peer: Not ticked

If I untick DHCP where do I get the details needed to enter here?

gary

[diem]

Soz Gary, I'll also need to know the settings under the Advanced, Power Management and Encryption tabs.

The ethernet settings will depend upon how you have configured the access point. On its (W)LAN side, it will either use the 192.168.x.y range or the 10.x.y.z range.

Set x to 0 on both the AP and netBook.

If the AP is using the former range, y can be any number from 2 to 255 (the AP will use 1). The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0.

If the latter, set y to 0 on both AP and netBook, and z can be any number from 2 to 255 (again use 1 for the AP). The subnet mask is 255.255.0.0.

[GaryTheHat]

Hi The advanced tab is;

AP Density - Low
Transmit Rate - 11.0mbps
Fixed - No tick
Medium reservation - No tick

Power Mgt

card and receive - no ticks
Max sleep - 65535ms
no encryption

Gary

[diem]

Okay,

The only two settings that stick out are:

WAVELAN network name - this is more commonly known as SSID (or ESSID) in WiFi parlance. This must match whatever you have set it to in the AP config.

Maximum sleep duration - this should be set to 0 I think (i.e. don't sleep)


If these changes don't do it, then have a look at the TCP/IP settings I've suggested.

[fladda]

I suspect that this is a PrismII card that uses custom firmware. Only 'standard' PrismII cards will work in the NEtbook, when they are running the standard Intersil PrismII firmware - as supplied by Intersil (i.e. with only the card ID name changed).

There is some more information here :-

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.drivers.html

"Please note that everything that looks like a PrismII card may not be a PrismII card, and many people are quite confused about that. The cards described in this section use both a Intersil PrismII chipset and an Intersil firmware."

Ralph

[jade]

I got wireless cards from Sita at a promotion price and the cards definitely works. Their promo is at USD193 for 2 Cisco cards and 1 Access Point.

Check out their web at www.sitashop.com