Setting up a wlan on a Windows platform is crap!
Well, one of the rare things that irks in life is my wife's use of the Windows based operating system. We have spent the last two days trying to ensure that the wireless LAN connection on her new laptop is not flaky. Drop-outs are frequent and the laptop is almost constantly attempting to "acquire an IP address". Oh, Shao Ping, please let me buy you a mac next time. Typing Chinese (traditional) is easier on a PC however.
Surfed the web attempting to get answers provided some ideas. It also confirmed that we were doing the right thing. But we still had no joy. Speaking of joy, our exchange student, Joye also had problems connecting her laptop to the wireless network and we enlisted the aid of one of her fellow students. he is coming around tonight to assist us with Shao Ping's new laptop.
Connecting the Mac to the WLAN was effortless. No problem. Easy. No stress. In fact I have connected the Mac to countless WLANS at work, friend's places, hot spots in fast food joints, etc, no problem.
So, in the meantime, Shao Ping's laptop is connected to the Airport base station using Ethernet LAN. That works.
I should not let it stress me as I am a bit of a stress head but when I start opening all of the countless 'networking', 'properties' and 'advanced' nested dialogue boxes in Windows (XP and 2000, etc) I feel like a proctologist performing a colonoscopy. There is so much crap inside the Windows OS. I wonder if Bill Gates needs to see a proctologist? Should be called Windows XPoo.
Surfed the web attempting to get answers provided some ideas. It also confirmed that we were doing the right thing. But we still had no joy. Speaking of joy, our exchange student, Joye also had problems connecting her laptop to the wireless network and we enlisted the aid of one of her fellow students. he is coming around tonight to assist us with Shao Ping's new laptop.
Connecting the Mac to the WLAN was effortless. No problem. Easy. No stress. In fact I have connected the Mac to countless WLANS at work, friend's places, hot spots in fast food joints, etc, no problem.
So, in the meantime, Shao Ping's laptop is connected to the Airport base station using Ethernet LAN. That works.
I should not let it stress me as I am a bit of a stress head but when I start opening all of the countless 'networking', 'properties' and 'advanced' nested dialogue boxes in Windows (XP and 2000, etc) I feel like a proctologist performing a colonoscopy. There is so much crap inside the Windows OS. I wonder if Bill Gates needs to see a proctologist? Should be called Windows XPoo.
Labels: Technology
posted by john | 2:41 pm
3 Comments:
I feel your pain, dude. Setting up wireless for Windows is certainly not for the faint of heart. I have had decent success with Linksys products though. They are quite good and easy to set up.
XP is also fairly intelligent about these things. But once you've used a Mac, you will be spoiled and Windows wireless headaches will surely seem like a big thing.
To this day, the wierd-assed brand of Wireless router which my friend bought, and which I helped to set up, is running unprotected (no WEP etc). Anything other than the most basic of settings and the damn thing would not work. So I left it as it was. Sigh.
Indeed Windows is crap.
Thanks for the comments. This is the text of an email I sent to the salesperson today.
"How are you? We have had many problems with the WLAN connection/wireless card in the laptop. These problems include:
1. IP address is not being acquired. When the software times out a default IP is recorded. Then the software will not make a stable connection.
2. Connect to WLAN but not to Internet due to IP problems. TCP-IP settings are correct (DNS, DHCP, etc)
3. Connection keeps dropping out if it is made. It only lasts for a moment or two.
4. Amazingly the icon in the task bar indicates there is no connection but we do have a connection! Is this a conflict? Is Windows XP being overided by the Intel wireless software
5. There are times when we lose all wireless activity and connections on this PC and the “Wireless Net Connection Properties” window does not even have a “Wireless Networks” tab. The wireless functionality disappears altogether and we have to reboot and reconfigure the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service.
6. The WEP password that is entered for the WLAN is automatically deleted without any action from ourselves. Why does this happen? Why does it automatically select “automatic key”? We did not choose that.
7. There seems to be a conflict between the Intel Wireless Card Driver software and Windows XP.
Basically, we cannot get a stable connection using the WLAN. We have to use the built in Ethernet. That works very well. We purchased this laptop was to make full use of the wireless LAN at our home. When we use a static IP address it is a little more stable. Do changes need to be made in the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration settings in the Services window?
Can you please help? Can a representative or associate in Wollongong provide on the spot assistance?
Best wishes,
John and Shannon
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