Wireless poblems

I have a simple 3 computer (all desktops) sharing the internet using a Netgear wireless rounter. All 3 OS are wind98se. One computer is hardwired to the router and another (in next room of my house) is using internet via Netgear usb2.0 wireless adapter. These work just fine. I have been attempting to install another Netgear usb 2.0 wireless adapter in the 3rd desktop. This computer will not install this adapter no matter what I do. I've downloaded win98se drivers and utility package from Netgear, installed same and plugged up the adapter. Will not connect to the internet. Device manager shows it is installed, but no driver. Please update the driver. "Please install the wind98se cd and press ok ". UNABLE to find the driver. The driver was installed in the downloaded package from Netgear. This computer has an Abit mobo and the processor is AMD XP1500. Netgear help says I have a hardware compatibility problem it seems and offers no more help. This mobo has an intergrated ethernet connection, but I disabled this device in device manager prior to the attempt to install this wireless device.
I seem to not be able to nail this one down. Can anyone offer help?

 

You might want to try disabling the built-in NIC in the BIOS. Also, check for resource conflicts.

DRD

 

Thanks..... Will try that....

 

Well thanks anyway, but, I tried ur suggestion and the problem is still there. It seems the proper drivers are installed and system conflicts shows no conflicts. At one point, the device manager shows this device is working properly, but I could not open the setup utility for this adapter. The program would not run...... Also my computer kept locking up. Anymore ideas?....

 

Does your BIOS have the latest update?

Are the proper BIOS settings for USB enabled?

Have you tried a working adapter from another PC to rule out a hardware issue with the non-functional one?

 

Thanks Newt..... To answer ur questions.... There is a bios upgrade for that mobo. I must save that for the last option, as I had a bad experience flashing the last one I tried. Lost everything on that one. Yes I have tried this new adapter on computer #2 and and it works fine. Thats the mind blowing thing. That computer has the same OS exactly, but a different mobo. That's got to be the problem........ But this mobo on system that won't work is a much newer one and a different brand. The device manager looking under the USB section does not even show the adapter is plugged up under the power section.

Bill1

 

I understand your reluctance to flash the BIOS because when it goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong. You may not have any other option though.

I like USB for lots of things but I will absolutely not use it for networking. I've seen too many cases where it doesn't work and no one is ever able to figure out a reason.

 

Have you tried inserting the win98 CD or telling it to check C:\Windows\Options\cabs?

Often when you change or configure something in windows networking in win98 it does ask for the cd, even if a comparable network already has the files installed.

Also, since this is undoubtedly USB, check to see if there are any unknown devices, or non functional ones in the device manager. (Note that USB devices normally you install the driver first, then you connect the device . If done in the reverse order often an incorrect identification of the device will occur preventing the correct driver from loading).

Finally, what power supply do you have? Have you added any other major components (drives , video card, etc any big power consumers) without putting in a bigger power supply?
Often in Win98, problems with a USB device not functioning and giving unable to find driver when told to install a USB device can be traced to low power on the 5V leg resulting in the device not powering appropriately.

 

Thanks...... My hardware consists of an Abit kg7 mobo, AMD 1.3gh processor, video card is Nvidia gf2ti and the ps is a plain jane 350w type. That's it besides some gaming hardware, i.e. joysticks, etc. These stay unplugged when not is use. When I installed the problem device, none of these gaming items were plugged up. I did insert the cd as requested, but windows indicated the best driver was already installed for this device. As suggested at another website, I have DISABLED "assign IRQ to USB" in setup and I have installed a new patch which solves a problem when a computer has USB2. wind98se and an AMD processor installed. Under these circumstances, usb devices may not work. I'll post on the results of this when I attempt to re-install the device for the 6th time................. Later

 

Well, here we go again...... still won't work....this is disgusting...
steps taken: 1. dissable in setup, the onboard lan ethernet connection. 2. The removal of the device drivers/utility software. 3. The usb2.0 drivers are up to date. 4. Nothing is plugged to any usb ports. 5. Turned off all firewalls, anti-virus programs and closed any running programs. 6. Install the wg111t drivers/utility. 7. Plug in the device to a usb port. 8. System installs the lastest drivers. (exact same ones as the computer #2 and that one works). Computer will NOT open and run the utility program for this device. The blue light on the device blinks. (normal) USB properties under device manager shows the device is working properly. USB properties under same DOES NOT SHOW the device IS PLUGGED IN ???? System locks up. Bang back to square one....

 

I personally don't believe the onboard NIC has anything to do with your problem.

I'm not much on hardware, so I'm not sure from your specs.
Is Windows 98SE the OS that came installed on this machine?
I think I would try looking for mobo chipset drivers, and seeing if that helps

 

Thanks.... To answer both of your questions..... Yes my os is the latest edition of windows98. Known as SE. This mobo is a fairly late one and the intergrated USB is USB2.0. Thanks again

 

Were you able to find chipset drivers?
What is the exact model of your computer?

 

Thanks..... This computer was put together by myself.... The motheroard is an Abit KG7 series. There is an upgrade for the Phoenix BIOS. I am very apprehensive about flashing the bios as I mentioned in a previous post. This upgrade which I read from Abit's website did'nt address usb issues as far as I could tell...... To continue with the hardware. AMD 1.3gh athlon is the precesssor. WD is the hardrive.... Aopen is the video card. Everything else is intergrated.

 

Clarify why you do not want the OS to manage assigning the IRQ to the USB ?
It needs an IRQ to communicate with the processor.

 

I read on another website that windows USB2.0 does not like to share IRQ's with anythingelse. Says if you have that enabled.. please disable that. I've tried both ways with this wireless device and it makes no difference. Also using other devices with IRQ assign USB disabled, work just fine. ??? Thanks....

 

Here is a generalized explanantion of how things work.

Each device must have an IRQ to be able to talk to the CPU.
THere are only sixteen IRQs available, and many are dedicated to specific items (hard drive, keyboard, uplink from first IRQ controller to second ). So the problem soon arrises that you just do not have enough IRQs to go around . When there were only eight IRQs, they solved this by adding a second controller and using one IRQ on each to link to the other. Rather than keep on adding new IRQ controllers, they decided to allow bus mastering. Here for example, the PCI controller or USB controller is assigned a real IRQ and it assigns IRQs of its own to each device connected to it. Their communication to the CPU must go through the controller, so this is no problem.
This is what a shared IRQ is, that the controller has the IRQ and lets the device think it has one all to itself.
If you disable this, each device must have its own IRQ , and you often run into conflicts.


One thing you should do , once you have messed things up, is to uninstall all software related to the device, disconnect the device, and go to device manager and remove the device and any unknown or malfunctioning devices.

It is common to have a USB device show as having no driver if you connected it incorrectly or changed things while working and it is misidentified.

Normally , you need to install the software and drivers and when told you connect the device and then reboot.
If you get things out of sequence or corrupted, you need to make sure all instances are removed and the device is disconnected and then reboot before proceeding.