Hello all!

I've been a long time user of Netgear products, perhaps ill-advisedly, but it's what i've got, and it's what I'm stuck with unless I buy new hardware.

My current setup is two laptops, each with a MA401 PCMCIA card installed and the ME102 Access Point, which is causing me grief.

What happens is the laptops lose the signal from the AP simultaneously every 10-12 seconds for about 5 seconds at a time, but during those 10-12 seconds I get good signal strength. This cycle is continuous, and nothing I do (changing the channel, changing the preamble length from short to long and back again, turning off cordless phones etc) seems to have an effect. The thing is it USED to work fine.

Does anybody have any idea about what could be happening, or what I could try to fix it? Thanks.


Jon

[Edited on 3/3/2004 by festprint]

Have u tried upgrading the firmware? I had to upgrade the firmware on my ME102. If you haven't upgraded yet, you might try going to http://kbserver.netgear.com/products_automatic/ME102.asp then reading the instructions on selecting firmware and software. It's really a pretty quick download and upgrade to the access point. Good luck! I'm experiencing my own frustrations w/Netgear right now trying to connect to D-Link wireless webcam.

Peace,
pcnetgal

Okay. I tried upgrading the firmware, and it seems I have the latest version (it's more recent than the firmware netgear provide on their website!). I called tech support and they said I could have a replacement AP, which was nice.

The replacement AP has EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM, except with this one the signal lasts for almost a minute before cutting out, and when it does cut out it only lasts a second! Is this an improvement? I think not. I'm beginning to wonder if the ME102 range was a bodge job from the start... Are the more recent APs from Netgear any good?!

Cheers,

Jon

I *think* I've fixed the problem!

It seems Windows XP decided - all by itself - to bridge the wireless card with my firewire port. I removed the bridge and now I have a steady connection (on one laptop at least, soon to be two)! How this made both cards lose the signal simultaneously is beyond me, but seeing as I'll probably never need to connect to a 1394 port wirelessly I don't mind not having that facility! Happy happy happy....

Jon

Glad you found the problem. Wonderful new feature of XP eh? Oh well...not the first time the problem has ended up being with the o/s. Happy computing.

Peace, pcnetgal

there is also a problem with XP service pack 1 and the IEEE 802.1x authentication. Try turning that off. Should fix the problem until service pack 2

Hi All

I have recently got a ME102 however had some issues with it, I have tried to upgrade the firmware and it died about 50% of the way through, now using the USB Manager I cant get any config at all. If I try and update the firmware again it dies on 5% with the error DFU failed. Anyone got any ideas on how I can get around this at all?
Anything would be great dont really want to buy a new one if I dont have to

Cheers

CK