Laptop Problems

Two questions. Is the Sony connecting on 802.11b and does the HP have a PC Card set to G only mode? Also, what are the models?

Do you have a PC card? What model is it?

usually, it's just: double-click the driver icon in the taskbar, look for a settig that says G only turbo mode. Without turbo mode, you're screwed.

Oops, confusing my threads. Your router does not do Super-G mode, so no turbo, but you can still set it for G only, I just need to know which card you have.

If you do not use cards, then you are at the mercy of the laptop. The case/antenna in one laptop may allow better reception than the next. But, despite some non-believers around here, I always think a PC Card is a better option if you can afford one because you can control exactly which driver you use and get better reception connecting to your specific router.

anywhere in the house - no problems. The HP can only be

Card set to G only mode? Also, what are the models?

Hi, thanks for the help. The router model number is WRT54G. The Sony Vaio laptop model is a PCG-FXA36. The HP laptop model is pavilion ze4600. If you could tell me how to check to see if the PC card is set to G?

Okay, so you checked the driver and both are in G only mode, right? How about these for both:

Do you have SP2? Latest driver? Internal wireless disabled? Security disabled? (just for testing) Removed any software that could cause a conflict on the HP?

Remind me again what the processor is on both machines?

settig that says G only turbo mode. Without turbo

but you can still set it for G only, I just need to

case/antenna in one laptop may allow better reception than

Card is a better option if you can afford one because

connecting to your specific router.

Hi JB. Yes, I am using Linksys cards in both computers. I even switched them to make sure it wasn't a bad card. Same results. Sony fine everywhere. HP sucks. LOL! Anything else I can try?

The client radio follows whatever protocol is offered by the unspecified central access point or wireless router. The client radio drivers I've tinkered with don't allow much control over the radio. If you're going to find a G-only mode setting, it will be in the unspecified access point.

Permit me to offer an alternative test. Drag the unspecified HP model laptop to the nearest wireless hot spot or friends house and take both the access point and environment out of the picture. Now, try a performance benchmark test. If it works well, it's either the access point settings, possible chip incompatibility, or localized interference from other nearby systems to which the HP is apparently more sensitive.

If it also runs badly at the hot spot, then there's something amis in the HP only. My guess is a driver issue. I've seen an oddity several times that I don't understand. I take a perfectly good working laptop or PCI card radio, and upgrade the manufacturers supplied drivers. The range, sensitivity, and performance drops dramatically with the upgrade. I tinker, tweak, tune, hack, swear, and nothing helps until I downgrade the driver. It just got with a DWL-520 card going from

2.0 to 2.1 drivers. Therefore, if all else fails, try a previous driver revision, or drivers from the chip manufactories web pile (i.e. Intel, Realtek, Atmel) instead of those supplied by HP.

One other thing to check is how busy is the system when moving files. Start the task manager and check the CPU and memory usage graphs while copying large files over the wireless. The numbers vary wildly with model, drivers, card type, and laptop RAM, but it should NOT be totally maxed out. Compare it with the working Sony for a sanity check.

I dunno about the metal shield theory. Most of the mini-PCI based radios expect the laptop to have an antenna in the LCD display section with a coax with a flimsy u-FL connector dribbling down to the mini-PCI card. The loss in the coax is substantial but it does elevate the antenna as high as possible and gets it away from the noisy CPU section.

What's inside an HP laptop?

Keep chekcing the driver for the G only mode. Also, check your router for a G only mode. There oculd be something in that HP case that is causing interference -- I know certain PowerBook models couldn't connect for more than about 50 feet because of the metal case. Can you tell what the HP is made of?

these for both:

checked the drivers, but don't see how to tell if the are in G mode

Yes on both

Yes

neither have it

yes

none

Sony - AMD Athlon 500mhz 256mb

HP - Mobile AMP Athlon xp2 2500+519mhz 192mb

Yep, but I wanna be sure. There is always the possibility that something unique about the combination of the unspecified wireless access point and the unspecified HP model laptop is causing the problem. I wanna take the access point out of the picture by testing the HP laptop with a different access point. If it works great at a hot spot, then it's the combination of AP and client radio/firmware/driver/whatever that's causing the problem. If it also sucks at a hot spot, then it's totally in the HP laptop.

One test I forgot to mention is to just plug the HP into the wired ethernet part of the unspecified wireless router. That will eliminate the wireless part of the puzzle. If it works at a reasonable speed directly connected, it's the wireless. If performance still is bad with a wired connection, then there's something wrong with the hardware, operating system, spyware, worms, viruses, etc.

Incidentally, I had a customer drop in with a laptop (Dell 5160) that was running really slow on just the wireless. Everything else was quite fast according to the owner. Well, the laptop only had

128Mbytes of RAM with XP SP2 and they thought a 5 minutes boot was normal. Sigh. Adding RAM improved the speed overall. It might be that the unspecified laptop is simply underpowered or something equally obvious.

Also, I worked on a Micron something laptop (PIII-733) that was running kinda slower than I would expect. Eventually, I found that the hard disk was spending most of its time correcting errors which was causing a serious slowdown. I managed to image and replace the hard disk just before the old hard disk died. Anyway, lots of things can cause slow performance. This is why I like to know hardware details before applying my astute guesswork.

Yeah, most do nowadays.

Maybe I'm missig somehting here, but doesn't the Sony's good range and throughput reveal that the issue is with the HP, ot the access point? I mean, if the access point was the problem, neither laptop would work that well.

Hmmm, I was wondering if maybe the HP notebook, which sounds fairly recent, might have Bluetooth installed? I know the BT radio signal is much weaker than WiFi but it still can't be good to have competing radios in close proximity fighting for the same portions of spectrum.

throughput reveal that the issue is with the HP, ot the

would work that well.

Okay, I don't have anywhere else to go try it - we live very rural. I downloaded the latest driver in the HP, and no difference. There is no internal or Bluetooth. I also turned off all circuits in the house except the modem and router to see if it was something interfering. Still no diff. I think I'll have to call a guru to come out to check things out.