I recently acquired a used Toshiba laptop as a throwaway to keep in the office. It is a Tecra 8200 which has a mini-PCI slot and WiFi antenna installed. After a previous good experience with the Z-Com/Xterasys XG-600 card in another Toshiba machine, I bought another one for this model.
One hitch - the antenna connectors on the card are positioned such that only the closest one can be connected to one of the antenna leads. So this leaves only one antenna lead connected.
The problem - and I'm not sure if this is the reason - is that I cannot join my Infrastructure-mode wireless network - one which I have several other wireless clients already configured. We're using WEP and I have the correct key entered.
Using either WinXP's wireless configuration applet, or the utility that comes with the card, I can do a site survey and find multiple sites, including mine. Received signal strength is excellent. But I cannot join my home network using the same settings that work on every other machine in the house. I'm wondering if the card isn't transmitting a strong enough signal to catch the attention of the router.
My understanding, though, is that the two antenna leads are essentially redundant and either (or both) will work. But if it is the unused antenna connector ... do extension cords for this antenna connector exist? I only need a quarter of an inch more.