Limited access to wireless network and WWW

[dolphin]

Hi All,

My ladyfriend bought a new HP ze4300 laptop much to my dismay and even after urging her to buy a MAC Powerbook. The laptop is running Windows XP, and has 256mb or RAM, and a 1.6ghz  AMD Athlon processor.

I have a wireless network, so I installed the drivers per instructions and the D-Link Airplus 650+ Cardbus Adapter into the PCMCIA slot. It recognized the card and we were on the internet in no time.

The problem: We can only access the net from the living room or my computer room. If we take the laptop to the dining room or just about anywhere else in the house we lose the signal.

I have an antigue laptop, (an AST 266mhz, Pentium II 128mb ram running Windows 98), and I can access the network from anywhere in the house or on the front porch or the garage.

Has anyone got any ideas why this new superduper HP laptop can't??? I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software and hardware to no avail.

This is frustrating!!!

[Paddy]

Dolphin, does the Pentium II get so much better access with the same PCMCIA card or with a different one? If different, I'd say that the D-Link card isn't up to snuff. If it's the same, I'm not sure what is happening - because the antenna is in the PCMCIA card, not the laptop.

[dolphin]

Hi Paddy,

It is the same card. I forgot to mention that my son who has a Dell laptop has also accessed the network on his with the same card. I forget what processor his Dell has. His is running Windows XP also. It is just so strange and frustrating.

[dolphin]

Hi All,
Just a final update on this.  My oldest son who lives in SC, called to tell me he read some threads on HP's website from people having the same problem. He said that one said something about a shielding problem that was interfereing with the signal to the PCMCIA card. He said that HP did not admit that this was in fact a problem. I went to their site and couldn't find the same threads, so after an hour of looking I decided to call HP support.  I sat on the phone for 10 to 15 minutes and finally got a real live person to talk to. Unfortunately, she had an accent that was difficult to understand. However; I was finally able to discern what she was saying and gave her the basic information she was asking for, (name, rank, serial number), and of course a description of the problem. She asked if the laptop had 802.11b versus 802.11g firmware installed. After some digging on both sides of the phone...we determined it did in fact have 802.11b installed. She then asked me if I had a cross point screwdriver and I said that I did. She asked if I would mind if she put me on HOLD for a minute while she dug up some information. I said sure no problem. After listening to elevator music for about 5 minutes, I got disconnected. BTW she did ask for my phone number while gathering the basic info. I guess they are not allowed to call back!?!?!? I then called HP back and sat on the line for at least 40 minutes (getting a cauliflower phone ear), and got no one. Finally I hung up out of frustration. Anyhow, after getting jerked around by HP customer support. We decided to box it up and send it back.  Hopefully I will be able to talk her into buying a Powerbook, although she says they cost too much. I've told her that we won't have the aggravation that the HP laptop gave us. Will keep you posted on the outcome.