My new Netgear WG511v2 won't work, have I bought a "lemon"?

[Jay Jay]

Hi TS members,

I'm a newcomer to the world of wi-fi and the terminology and I could really do with some advice on how to resolve this issue... Before posting this request for help I did a search for similar cases and nothing really mirrored what I'm experiencing.

To access the net on my laptop whilst I'm away from home I use an AOL dial-up account and I was hoping to free myself from this limitation and move over to greater potential and freedoms of the wireless world, so a week ago I purchased the Netgear WG511v2, with a view using the many free AP's & hotspots across London and the UK.

The installation was straightforward and everything else since has been fraught with grief. The only way I have been able to access the net via the netgear card is to first go online using my AOL dial-up software and ONLY THEN WILL the WG511v2 lock onto a free AP/hotspot, display "internet connected" and show the "You are now connected to the internet!" dialog box. Once this happens I can sign off from my AOL dial up and my laptop will use the wi-fi card to surf.

Obviously this is not a practical solution, (it also makes no sense to me!) as it defeats the point of me having the 511v2 if I can only use it by initiating my dial-up service first of all to get online. I rang the technical support hotline and explained my problem, they didn't understand the issue and I also sent a request for assistance via e-mail.

The suggestion was to replace the drivers, which I have done - but since I did that, the "trick" with the AOL dialler no longer works and I have lost the limited "use" of the card that I did have. My 511v2 now locates the AP, but it will not connect me, even if I try to initiate this manually by using the connection wizard. All I see where "internet connected" should be is:

- . - . - . -

What should I do next? I am fully aware that I cannot log onto WEP & WPA locations, nor would I want or try to, my desire is to use the card with the free spots (and the card finds them easily). I have read the manual, but there's nothing in the troubleshooting section about this situation. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated as I'm at a total loss.

Jay

 

[Druegan]

Hi Jay,

This may or may not solve the problem, as I'm not too familiar with WiFi myself..

But I've spent a lot of time mucking about with various networking bits, and I think the most likely problem is that you have installed AOL on the laptop.

AOL has this very bad habit of gutting and completely reworking the way your system connects to anything related to the internet. It replaces the TCP/IP protocol stack with a nonstandard version and hijacks most of the other connectivity options. I have yet to find a functional workaround for the "AOL Existance" problem.

In the 3 or 4 cases of attempting to install and optimize another form of internet connection after AOL that I've done, the only solution I've found was to backup personal data, wipe the hard drive, reinstall the OS, and *then* install the new software. AOL also has this nasty habit of not undoing all the changes it made when you uninstall it, so it's a royal pain trying to work around it.

Sorry for the unpleasant news. Maybe someone with more experience than I have can suggest another fix, but every time I've been called to help out with a system that has had AOL installed, the only way around was to wipe and start over.

 

[N3051M]

The wireless AP's may need a certain access procedure or something so it maybe worthwile to google the providers to see if you need to signup or such.. also double chek that you're trying to connect with a public AP not a private AP (in which case i'd understand why you'd loose the connection ) and use Netgear's program to access stuff not winXPs

Dont know if this may help, but (theoreticaly speaking as i never used AOL) if it was taking over the tcp/ip protocols you'd just need to goto network connections (post uninstall and reboot machine), right click the lan > properties. remove anything else that you dont know, so you should be left with:

Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
QoS Packet Scheduler (in winXP)
AEGIS Protocol ..... (some people have this some dont)
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

additional ones would be for extra networking/dailup modem stuff eg:
Netgear W....... (TCP/IP)

and if you're up to it google what registry AOL takes up and take em out one by one. same thing as wipeing without hte actual wipe =) and usualy works in most cases

 

[Jay Jay]

Thanks for the replies! Sadly it appears Druegan was right... As part of the process of elimination, I plugged the card into my other laptop, a Sony Vaio PCG-C1XD and it worked perfectly.

Clearly, as Druegan feared the AOL software has taken over the internet operations of my HP Omnibook 500 to a point that would constitute a spyware infection. I even discovered a rollback program that is deposited on the hard drive after uninstallation without any notification. Even after removing AOL and following N3051N's advice on restoring the protocols to the defaults I still had problems trying to use the Netgear card because of the "unseen legacy effects".

Looks like I'll have to get ready for a lenghty session of backing up my files and then going through the re-format and re-installation process.

Thanks again for coming to my aid, much appreciated

Jay

 

[Druegan]

Happy to be of help. Just sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Let me know if you have any other trouble.