5450 WiFi woes

ddehaan2 · 06-12-04, 04:41 PM

Chopper recently posted that he had had some issues with wifi not working on his device - I am also having some issues myself. As a new owner of a 5450 I have been fighting to figure out how to get connected with wifi (the main reason I went to this model <well price too!>)

I cannot "find" an AP when its set to "Infrastructure" (no signal, no AP) - but always seem to find signal when set to "ad-hoc" (strong signal, AP but IP is 0.0.0.0) so no matter what I cannot surf or anything. Kind of a waste to have hotspot access, wireless at home and office - but not be able to use it! I am getting the 2003 upgrade soon (already ordered), have upgraded the System ROM, Wireless ROM, and upgraded all drivers to all the latest and greatest from HP. Also, hit all the help files and online documentation that I can find (on HP).

Any and all help appreciated - PM's, Emails, AIM whatever! Thank you all for any assistance.

doubleoghand · 06-12-04, 05:02 PM

Is your AP WEP enabled or is mac address filtering turned on? Also is DHCP turned on or manual? from what i understand WM 2003 is supposed to be easier to set up via wireless. (I havent used Pocket PC 2002 much lately so its a bit fuzzy)

buckyg · 06-12-04, 06:29 PM

I'm no expert and didn't have any wifi problems under PPC2002 with my 5455. (Well, other than the driver memory issue that an update helped). My AP was wide open, my iPAQ could always see it. I may have had to do one tweak the first time with Work/Internet, I don't remember.

It was only after upgrading to WM2003 that I paid attention to anything with wifi security though. So once I turned on wifi security, here's what I noticed (both w/ a 5455 and 5555):

- No security, the devices connected fine.

- AP with some security settings (Not broadcast SSID, WEP enabled): The iPAQs would not connect, even when I set their settings to match the AP. I then had to disable the security settings on the AP (Broadcast SSID, WEP disabled). The iPAQ would connect. Then I enabled the AP security settings, then I could get the iPAQ to connect properly.

I don't know if that helps your situation any under PPC2002, maybe it might when you upgrade to WM2003? Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

ddehaan2 · 06-12-04, 11:31 PM

In looking for more answers, I have stumbled onto some other news and info. The router that I have is right now (good for someone!) wide open with no restrictions. Then after spending about 1/2 hour on the hp website - I found this...

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...H030513_CW0 2

Basically the 5400 serires doesn't work with dual 802.11b/g routers. They are pretty vague, but something about the increased throughput isn't allowed for in the unit

makes it so it doesn't work. They are supposed to be developing a new firmware to support the b/g router signal but nothing as of now.

Here is hoping that this helps someone else and the

can stop here.

buckyg · 06-12-04, 11:59 PM

Ouch. Not sure if that remains true under WM2003 or not. My understanding is that PPCs should connect to the AP if it supported both B & G and is in the "mixed" mode to do both. I'm glad then that I have stayed w/ the B standard

ddehaan2 · 06-22-04, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by buckyg

Ouch. Not sure if that remains true under WM2003 or not. My understanding is that PPCs should connect to the AP if it supported both B & G and is in the "mixed" mode to do both. I'm glad then that I have stayed w/ the B standard

Well... UPDATE time - I just got the WM 2003 disk and have performed the update (without issues I should add!)

I am happy to report that with whatever changes were made in the ROM and drivers - I was able to connect to my Linksys B/G router without making any changes! As soon as I turned on the wireless connection I was asked what that connection connected to and was able to surf! very cool after all the frustration previously experienced. I hope this information helps someone else!

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