Wireless XP Problem

[eurolarva]

I have two computers running off a wireless router. One machine is XP and the other is an ME machine. The adaptors for each computer are 11B as well as the router. Because of the new placement for the XP machine it is no longer hardwired to the router. The XP machine is running a lot slower then the ME machine. I have done ping tests with both machines and The ME machine is running over 3 Megs per second and the XP is only testing at under 1Mbps. The XP machine is a 2.7Ghz machine versus the old Pentium 3 ME machine. I have swapped adaptors for each machine and am getting good signal strength. Is there something in XP internet connections that I can do to speed up the machine. I am running XP home version. When the XP machine was hard wired to the router it was super fast. Now at times it is as slow as dial up.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Are you running any MAC address filtering or WEP?? Are your machines setup using DHCP or static IP's??<br />Using same SSID??<br />Are you using Windows Zero Configuring tool??<br />What are the brands of your hardware (router, wireless NICS)<br /><br />Interoperability between different brands of hardware can be a problem.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Everything is Linksys and all of it is 802.11b. I cant get the XP machine to work using WEP encryption. Every time I set up WEP encryption I cant get on the internet on the XP machine. I am not using windows zero config tool. SSID is the same and I dont know about the static or the DHCP. Both computers are using adaptors that use USB ports and I had a tough time getting the XP to work at all. The ME system was plug and play. I spent over three hours on the phone with Linkysy technical non english speaking people to help me get it hooked up.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

I'll take a guess here and assume that you're using the Linksys passphrase generator to get your WEP code. Since your using all Linksys equipment, this is normally not a problem. It can be a real problem using the passphrase generator when using NICS from different manufacturers as they generate the code in different ways. <br /><br />The best way is to use a WEP code generator program like this one:<br /> WEP Code generator<br />Just slide down to the bottom of the page and hit the generate buttom and you have a WEP code. Manually enter this code into the router and NIC adaptors client manager and reboot.<br /><br />It's probably best to not use any WEP code OR MAC address filtering until you get the performance issues sorted out. <br /><br />You're more than likely using DHCP in the router to get IP's for your 2 machines. The router will issue an IP to the computer when you turn it on.<br /><br />You can goto Network Connections, click on the adaptor, and hit properties. Drill down to TCP/IP and hit properties again. It is probably set to 'Obtain an IP automatically'. This is the typical dynamic setting for most Windows boxes. <br /><br />If you click on 'Use the following IP address' option, you can enter you own IP address.<br /><br />I believe Linksys has a default ROUTER IP of 192.168.1.1 (this is your Gateway IP). You can specify an IP in the range of :<br />192.168.1.2=> 192.168.1.254 for your 2 computers.<br />Since you have a wireless router, and are using only the wireless feature, I suggest you turn of DHCP in the router and setup both of your computers to have static IP's (see below). This helps to prevent someone from 'stumbling' past your house and having your router issue them an IP address. They would then have access to the web thru your router/account ( bandwidth theft). This is assuming that you don't have WEP or MAC address filtering turned on in the router. This type of setting (static) is not foolproof , but does add an additional layer of protection against someone using your router and service. If you add an additional computer to your system, you'll have to re-configure it as well to be static.<br /><br />Example:<br />Computer 1:<br /><br />Click on 'Use the following IP address':<br /><br />Enter 192.168.1.10 (IP address)<br />Enter 255.255.255.0 ( subnet mask)<br />Enter 192.168.1.1 (for your Gateway) =Linksys Router<br />You can enter the IP addresses for your ISP's DNS srvers in the primary and secondary sections. You can either call your ISP and ask what these 2 DNS IP's are or just log into your Linksys router and click on status. This should show the IP address of your DNS servers. <br /><br />Computer 2:<br /><br />Click on 'Use the following IP address':<br /><br />Enter 192.168.1.11 (IP address)<br />Enter 255.255.255.0 ( subnet mask)<br />Enter 192.168.1.1 (for your Gateway) =Linksys Router<br /><br />Additional computers will have the next number IP.<br />Example : 192.168.1.12. <br />The subnet mask,gateway and DNS IP's will stay the same.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Thanks Xcuseme. I appreciate you spending the time to help me on this. I did as you said. I turned off DHCP and have set up each computer to accept the assigned IP address. Speed if anything has deterioated on both computers by doing so. I did the Mcaffe ping test on the ME machine before and was getting over 3MBPS. After reconfig the ME macnine is only getting about 1meg. The XP is pulling about 200K. This could be because of late afternoon on friday and internet use is higher now. I did notice when I went to 192.168.1.1 that even moving around in there was slow. My thinking is that something is bogging internet explorer down. I found that security was set to custom and I set it back to default at medium. Any more suggestions would be helpful. <br /><br />Something else I noticed that I can print from my XP machine to the printer hooked up to the ME machine. I did not know I had the system networked that way. Is it possible that the xp machine is trying to establish the internet through the ME machine instead of the router?

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Check something....go into Network settings on the XP box. Click on the network adaptor and look to see if there's an entry for Network Bridge....if you find it, toast it.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

When I click on network bridge it says it is not hooked up. I deselected cliet for microsoft networks, file and printer sharing for MS networks and QoS Packet Scheduler. Those didnt seem to make a difference either.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

It's good that your install on WinXP didn't have 2 devices 'bridged' , say the NIC with a USB or some other device. Beats me why they would have it installed that way. I was asking you to check to verify that there wasn't any bridging BS going on. Seems that WinXP assumed that you wanted to share the MX printer. The only bad thing about the whole file and printer sharing thing is that Windows, expecially XP, uses TCP/IP as the language to do the sharing. It's the same language, if you will, that your machines 'talk' to the internet. The best/safest way is to use another language/protocol for the file sharing. It was common to use Netbeui, it's not transportable across the web. One small problem, MS took the Netbeui out of XP. It's hidden in a seperate folder on the install CD. You can find and install it and be safer. It's really best to find the version of Netbeui from a Win2K CD and run that version on XP, it's more robust.<br /><br />Back to your problem. Cordless phones can be a problem, especially if they are the older 2.4gig models on 802.11b. You can try changing channels on your wireless NICs too. The default channel is probably channel 6. Try channel 1 or 11.<br /><br />The next thing to check is the revision of the firmware and client managers that came with your hradware.Goto Linksys and look for updates. Newer firmwares may address the connectivity and data transfer rates.<br />SP2 for XP has been the source of many problems with wireless configurations. A Google search will point you in the right direction.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Thanks again. I did download a newer driver. I am just having problems figuring out how to install it. XP now is running 1mbps and ME is at over 3mbps. I downloaded system mechanic 5 under the 30 day trial period and got rid of a bunch of crap that had been lurking on that computer. It fixed or deleted over 300 problems. I will look into the firmware and get that driver loaded. Then work on the WEP issue. WEP is simple on the ME machine but a whole new set of headaches on the XP machine.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

eurolarva,<br /> I am running XP Home Edition with wireless router on internet cable. It flies, so I don't think your problem is XP. I had to disable my onboard Ethernet adapter. This machine kept trying to use it when it needed to use the wireless adapter. You might check that. Typically when you specify a specific IP address, DNS, etc., it makes startup faster since these items don't need to be negotiated. However, after startup, speed should be the same as allowing machine to request IP, DNS, etc. from router.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

BoatBouy. How did you disable the ethernet adapter?

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Start<br />Control Panel<br />Network & Dialup connections<br />Right click on the on-board Ethernet adaptor entry<br />Click on Disable

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Eithernet adaptor is disabled. I only enable that when I updated the firmware. My wireless adaptors now have updated drivers and the router has the most recent firmware. I think it is internet explorer that is the culprit. Even when I had the eithernet cable hooked to the router (cant hook to internet when doing this because of distance to the modem) I noticed sometimes it is slow to open 192.168.1.1. I tried turning off ME machine and both cordless phones were on their cradle. Maybe I need to upgrade to XP pro or go to a decent operating system on that machine like ME

 

[AMD Rules]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

If you are running PING tests from both machines, with large differences then your problem is not with IE. Your problem must lie within the network settings/hardware, or with an OS conflict.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

I have ruled out the wireless adaptors and the router. I swapped adaptors on each computer with no change in performance. I spoke incorrectly when I was blaming Internet explorer. I meant that something in the XP machine is bogging down the speed. I used internet explorer because that is the program that is showing me I have a problem. The wireless adaptor shows me I have excellent signal strength to the router. The adaptor is pretty much plug and play with little I can do to change it. I hoped it was something simple to fix but it does not appear that way.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

Well, there is one more fix to try. Perhaps your registry was modified by an adware removal program and the TCP/IP stack is corrupted.<br /><br />To Reinstall TCP/IP do the following:<br /><br /> 1. Navigate to: C:\windows\inf<br /> 2. Find the File: nettcpip.inf<br /> 3. Right click the file and choose install <br /><br />Reboot and see if your data transfer rate improves.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Wireless XP Problem

I can not find C:\windows\inf. I looked using explorer and also did a search for file nettcpip.inf and it could not find it on the C Drive. I am using XP home. Could this be why?