AcidDan

Guys,

I recently purchased a USB Netgear MA101 Card through an online Auction site. My intention to set up an ad-hoc arrangement with my WinXP box at home so that I could use my X3i on my back deck (we just built it, so I figure I want to use it...)

Well, all *seemed* ok with the original MA101 drivers (I could see my axim and the axim could see the XP box), but I still couldn't get internet access (after setting up a sharing arrangement on my LAN card and setting up the config properly etc (ip, gateway, dns etc on the AXIM). So I thought I would try the latest MA101 drivers (version 2.4)

*BIG MISTAKE* or so it seems... I don't get any connection between the X3i and the MA101 now - If I set them both up with the right WEP keys, on sitre survey I get the mismatched keys symbol.

I have followed the FAQ as much as possible (however, I am convinced it's a problem with the MA101) but no luck...

Has anyone been able to get an MA101 and X3i talking in Ad-Hoc mode with the 2.4 drivers (on XP) - If so, how did you get them working?

Any/All help appreciated, I have trawled a lot of different forums (inlcuding this one, and have tried a lot of the options, but none seem to work).

-- Dan :(
P.S. Obviously, I have learned my lesson with online auctions - it wasn't much money, but having a warranty and or some kind of recourse would have been a lot better...
P.P.S. are there any firmware updates (as opposed to the drivers) that I should be aware of - the Netgear site seemed quite light on...

AcidDan

Status update...

Well, I finally got it going last night:

1. Set up the ad-hoc relationship
2. Checked to make sure the MA101 was broadcasting using WifiFoFum
3. Tried to connect.
4. I finally connected by explicitly specifying an IP and trying the connect a number of times
5. I then tried turning on WEP - all good :)

Now, this should have been the end of the story however:
i) After 10 Minutes the Connection Dropped and I could not re-establish connection
ii) Before you ask - yes I did have the MS Wifi Zero config service disabled ;)
iii) Upon attempted reconnection, I recieved the "Your Wep Key doesn't match" icon on the Dell Wireless Utility...

Still Confused, but at least I now know it does work! :D

I'll keep trawling for more answers, my final goal being to be able to return home and just connect, which at the moment seems a little ways off yet...

-- Dan :rolling:

ikehiker

I don't have an X3i but I would guess disabling the the PowerSave option in the wireless utility would be something to consider.

You might find more hints in the WiFi How-to (linked from my signature) troubleshooting although I haven't dealt much with ad-hoc.

__________________
-Ike-