D-Link DWL-G122 Wireless USB Adapter Problems

Vintage software and hardware. Groan. I'll assume you have the latest drivers from the Dlink web pile.

If the access point is using WEP encryption, use the Hex key, not the ASCII key. If that doesn't work, try TEMPORARILY disabling encryption in the DI-614 router.

Fire up the Dlink managment utility (the "D" in the system tray). Run the "site survey" and see if you can "see" the DI-624 router, or the neighbors wireless systems. This will at least check if the DWL-G122 is working.

If there are any profiles that were created, delete them and start over by creating a new profile (save settings).

Hi

Thank you for responding. I have no idea how the router is set up but will mention this to my son. From what I understanding there was no set up to be done. My son was told & from the instructions just to download each software & connect each & both should have work. Jeff there is no 'D' in the system tray. It disappeared when the adapter stopped working. According to D-Link's tech support after we downloaded a driver from their web site is the newest driver. Still does not work. Neither does the icon on the desk top. So opening this management utility is impossible. However in Device Manager checking the driver it did say it's working properly. ?? This USB adapter also comes with a cradle so reseating the adapter or putting it into the USB port directly didn't make it work either. Again your advice is very much needed & appreciated. Thank You!

Diane

Not so. Most routers are delivered very insecure by default, with encryption disabled, and a commonly duplicated SSID. Despite the fact that it will probably plug in and play immediately, some configuration is necessary to keep hackers like me out of your son's system.

Everything should just work. Unfortunately, reality tends to be somewhat different.

Yeah, I've seen that with some DLink products. My favored fix of the week is to go to: Control Panel -> Add and remove Software and uninstall the DLink manager. That will also uninstall the driver. Reboot with the DWL-122 unpluged and LEAVE IT UNPLUGGED until the on-screen instructions suggest that you plug it in. Download the latest greated drivers and manager software from:

Looks like v1.02 circa 2003. T'was a good year for the vintage wireless and it should age well in the bottle. Hopefully, this will return the driver to functionality.

The DWL-122 is a two part puzzle. The driver yacks between the USB device and the operating system. The management utility talks between the operating system and a user configurable setup menu. The 2nd part is broken, somewhere.

Actually, that's not a bad way to test if things are being recognized. However, the old Win98SE version was not very good at Plug-n-Play with USB devices and might not work. It's been too long to remember.

Well, it's really tempting to suggest that your son purchase a more up to date and modern laptop and wireless device that will support the latest bugs and broken drivers. It's so much easier dealing with up to date bugs than with old ones.

I would suggest reversing the setup if possible. I would run a cat 5 connection to the win 98 computer and use the dlink adapter on the xp computer. That will work or replace the win 98 computer. Since vista is coming out soon, retailers are reducing the price on xp computers.

Gene

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

I believe the reason he didn't turn his attention back to the router was how much the adapter was giving them problems not to mention the hours spend with the tech support, he forgot. My guess once all was back in working order he would have done so.

We did download from this link (sorry forgot to mention it is a DWL G 122 rev B)

should say burned a cd & then reinstalled that driver. Installation went fine. Device manager clains driver is working. In fact this is what I read in device manager: Driver Provider: DLink Date: 7/9/2004 Ver: 4.10.2222 Copyright:

1988-1999

As you say the 2nd part is broken, somewhere, but how? If indeed what tech support claims the problem is within the 98se computer not their software/product how do we fix it is what concerns me/us. How will he know another USB adapter will work if he decides to return this one? Chances of him right now to buy another computer is impossible cost wise. The 98se was his other pc before he bought this new XP computer so he gave the older one to his wife to use. Less fighting over who was going to use the new one. Anyway......

But it did work as I said for about 3 days or more. Other than losing connections at times it work fine.

This is true! I agree. The newer computer which is all up to date & works wonderfully was a Christmas gift from last year, by me. Now that he is married we never expected his wife would be that interested since she never showed any interests in computers before. Guess what!! That is why he set up the 98se for her to solved a problem of having one good working computer between them.

Again thank you for your help

Diane

Thank you for your suggestion Gene. But can you please explain what a run a cat 5 connection is? Reversing the set up to the win 98se would he have to connect the DSL modem to it & the router to that also? And of course the adapter to his right?

Diane

"Diane LeMasson" hath wroth:

Yep. The exact hardware revision is important.

I guess that's correct, although it doesn't match the date or versions on the download page, which is Rev 2.00 from 6/13/2005. I wonder if that was a Friday the 13th.

Good question. I don't have the slightest clue which part is busted. My guess is that it's like much software that does not survive multiple in place updates with later (or earlier) versions. Then, the only solution is to uninstall all the software, reboot, and start over.

It worked once, so I seriously doubt that there's something broken with the computer. The software may have mangled the registry or replaced some key drivers. Hard to tell from here.

There's also a chance that the USB driver (also part of the puzzle) has been "updated" or destroyed. It would be interesting to test the port with a USB memory thing and see if it still works. The DWL-122 rev B will do 54Mbits/sec but only with a USB 2.0 port. Does this antique have a USB 1.0, 1.1, or 2.0 port?

He doesn't. I've always had too much entertainment value from dealing with early DLink drivers. I was using Win98SE and WinME up until about 2 years ago, when I purged all the old junk and replaced it with new junk. The old junk was just too difficult to keep working. I would install some minor driver, update, or tweak, and something completely unreleated would cease to function. It's like "bit rot", where perfectly good operating systems and software just rot away into oblivion.

I don't have a good recommendation for a Win98SE USB wireless device. Given the choice, I suggest a PCMCIA or CARDBUS wireless device, which doesn't have to deal with goofy old USB drivers and possible perforance limitations created by USB 1.1. I would need to know more about the Win98SE laptop before digging for something that could still be purchased and has a supported Win98SE driver. Disclaimer: It may not even exist.

Ummm... I don't know if I really needed to know all that, but it does add yet another layer of compatibility issues to the problem.

So, what changed? What did he install, update, replace, or tweak? Windoze 98SE doesn't have the nifty "system restore" feature of XP, where he can roll back his mistakes to when the system worked. It does have a way to roll back just the registry, but only for the last

5 days. Boot to MSDOS prompt by holding down the ctrl key during boot (or something like that). From the DOS prompt, run: scanreg /restore Oh, see:

for instructions. However, if it's been more than 5 days, forget it.

So, the old Win98SE machine is jealous of the new machine? Computers do have feelings. Maybe if he talks to the machine nicely?

The XP machine has multiple logins. If properly setup, it can act as two almost completely different personalities, with seperate desktops, directory trees, browsers, email, and applications. I have one machine shared by a small army of kids with about 10 different logins and corresponding setups. In extreme cases, interchangeable hard drives are possible. Some of the larger Gigabloat USB memory things are coming with U3 software, that allows installing complete applications on the drive, which will work as if they were installed on the main hard disk.

I'm not suggesting he give up, but if it begins to look grim, methinks sharing the XP machine is an alternative worth considering.

Yes they did uninstall several times not to mention spending 2 hours with tech support walking them through the same. Still wouldn't work.

I'm planning on their next day off to check out their computer to see for myself what is going on. Do you have any suggestions what else I need to check out & how? In respect to the registry & those key drivers? How would I determine what needs to be deleted or what stays?

By chance I still have the documentations to that computer & did some digging around on 'Gateway's" web site & found that the USB port is 1.0, actually 2 USB ports that are 1.0. Plugging in either of them did not work.

My son only uses his computer for emails & searching for various web sites pertaining to his hobby, fishing & hunting. The 98se never gave him a bit of trouble & always work fine.

This is a Gateway Per formance 500 desktop built in around 1999. Your probably right about getting a PCMCIA or CARDBUS wireless device. We thought this would be an easier way since neither of us know how to install a card. A scary thought!

But he has GoBack! I think! It has been more than 5 days so this 'roll back' will not work. They have not done anything to this computer other than adding this adapter. When the problems occured they called tech support. Not one tech person had a solution for the problem or did they go into any depth to solve the problem. Since device manager has the device is working they didn't want to hear anything else. They did not want to hear after downloading those 98se drivers this still isn't working. So here we sit with a product that doesn't work.

They already have the XP set up for both of them. She likes her AOL & he optonline. However he hogs the computer all the time once hes on.

Again thank you for all your help.

Diane

Sorry. No clue here. The big mystery is why it worked once, and then never again. As for deletion of registry keys, be sure to do a backup of the registry before attacking. cd \\windows md backup attrib -r -h -s system.dat copy system.dat backup attrib -r -h -s user.dat copy user.dat backup copy win.ini backup copy system.ini backup

Oh-oh. I've had excessive entertainment value with USB 1.0 hardware. It was the first incantation and as I recall, did no cooperate very well. That may be the root of the problem. My guess is the USB driver got updated to something later, which no longer works with the older 1.0 hardware.

If that's true, then the problem is probably the DWL-122 v2. This might be a good time to go shopping for a replacement. I don't think any USB wireless adapter is going to like the USB 1.0 interface.

It's the same ordeal. Install the drivers first. Plug in the card when it asks. Don't try it the other way around or it won't work. Read and follow the instructions only if desperate. Learn by Destroying(tm).

I can't tell from the model number if the PCMCIA slot is 16 bit or 32 bit CardBus interface. I also can't find any 16 bit cards that will do 802.11g speeds, only 802.11b. Can you determine from the Gateway docs if the slot is PCMCIA or CardBus? Also ask if he can live with

802.11b wireless.

Retch. GoBack generates huge archive files in the root directory and really slows the machine down. Still, it's worth using if it will put things back in order.

Well, I don't have a solution either. In fact, I don't really understand what has failed. Sorry, but there's only so much that can be done via phone and email support.

AOL? Yech. I guess it can be addictive. You might wanna give him a lecture on sharing and such.

Good luck.

Cat 5 connection is using the network connection on the win98 computer. You would connect a cat 5 network cable to the router, so it would have access to the internet. Then use the dlink adapter on the xp computer. This may entail moving the router where the win 98 computer is located. You may need to install a network card if the win98 computer does not have one. Also you need to load drivers for the card and setup the win98 computer to see the network.

Or just purchase a reasonablely cost computer to replace the win98 computer.,

Hi

This was just brought to my attention My son can't remember if this was ask during the original installment from the CD that came with the adapter and/or with the second installment from the burned CD from D-Link's web site.

At some point of the installment a screen appears asking for a password. Not understanding why or what password it's asking they cancel out of it.

Could this be part of the problem as to why this software will not install properly?

Again thank you for your help on this matter.

Diane

Diane, the problems you're seeing are at least in part due to windows 98 itelf. USB support and implementation on that system is flaky. See this for some more information.

If you can't get USB to work, uninstall the software and device and purchase a wireless NIC pci card. Not too expensive, just make sure the card has a driver specifically for 98se. Look here for some idea's. regards, Dave

The "password" it was asking was the encryption key. It probably found the access point, discovered that it was set to encrypt packets, and asked for the key.

Thank you Dave for the links. On the first link there was a lot to read & to learn. More than I can comprehend thats for sure. However what I did find that was interesting was the information about Hotfixes for Win 98se (Microsoft Q 206071) & on various patches, it gives this version number (4.10.2222), except for different dates, that number appears on this computer's device manager as for the 98se driver they downloaded from D-Link's web site. My gut tells me it isn't the USB or USB adapter that is the problem but the software. They deleted & reinstalled the software/CD that came with the USB adapter several times after it stopped working. Each time there was no icon in the tray. Clicking on the icon placed on desktop will not open. However device manager claims the device is working properly, shows the name of the provider, version number, date & copyright date. And because of this D-Links tech support says there is nothing wrong with their product & insists the problem is within the 98se. Oh well! Thank you again for forwarding these links & for your help.

Diane

Hi

Asking for a encryption key?!! Jeff I have no idea what you are saying & what it means. I was not there but helping them over the phone so I didn't see this box myself. But my son did say it had username with his name but the password was blank. I believe this box appears each time they've tried to install the drivers/software for the DWL G 122 rev b adapter & each time he cancel it out not understanding what to do. From what I was told when they first installed the adapter & it was working they did not change or touch any settings for the adapter.

Again thanks for all you help.

Diane

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:50:36 GMT, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

Yikes -- Really Bad Idea(tm), since that's unnecessary, clumsy, and leaves the registry vulnerable. The right ways: How to Back Up the Registry in Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition

-and- How to Manually Restore the Windows 98/Me Registry

Another option is to use REGEDIT to Export a specific branch before modifying it.

John Navas hath wroth:

It works for me. When you reboot, Windoze automagically restores the attributes on system.dat and user.dat. They're only exposed until the next reboot. As for clumsy, batch file will do it all at once. Cut the above incantations, created a batch file, run, done. As for un-necessary, I consider covering my posterior prior to making major changes a basic requirement. Backups are VERY necessary.

I did it that way exactly twice. The first time, the CAB file it created was useless garbage and would not restore correctly. I managed to take it apart with WinZip, use expand to create an giant editable version, conglomerate it with what was left of the registry files, and ended up with something that eventually worked. If I had used my recommended method of copying the registry files exactly, I would not have had to waste half the day recovering.

The 2nd time, I let the machine go for a few days. Every day when the machine booted, it decrimented the registry backup number until after

5 days, it went and removed it. I didn't realize that the backup was just a manual version of the normal scanreg backup and wrongly assumed that it was not going to be erased. I was left with 5 later, but useless registry backups and no way to restore it back to the original.

Also, the scanreg program can run from the MSDOS prompt, but scanregw requires Windoze to be functional. I'm not 100% sure (no W98SE box handy to check) but I don't think it will run if Windoze won't start.

Yep. That at least works if you like dealing with humonguous files.

"Diane LeMasson" hath wroth:

Well, it did ask politely and not demand an encryption key.

It's easy. The access point or wireless router can be setup in a variety of ways. Straight out of the box, the way the wireless is setup is with encryption disabled. This is a security risk and a bad idea (but handy for testing). He can also setup his wireless for various forms of encryption varying in complexity and security. Some common ones are WEP64, WEP128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, etc.

The Dlink client software on the W98SE laptop is smart enough to figure out that the data is encrypted and what flavour is being used. So, the client asks for a password or encryption key, and sends it off to the access point or wireless router for approval. If they both agree that the password is good, it then proceeds to issue a DHCP IP address, and negotiate a bunch of other parameters.

It's kinda hard to see such things over the phone. Got a video phone?

I'm not sure what it would take to make the box re-appear. Probably delete the connection profile (saved settings), re-scan for available networks, try to connect, and it should ask again.

Hmmm.... it might actually be working. If he fired up his web browser, and pointed it to: http://192.168.0.1/and got a login and password prompt in a box, that's the router configuration login. If he's connected to that via wireless, then it has to be working. (If he's cheating and using a CAT5 ethernet cable instead of wireless, then the wireless is NOT working).

The default login is: admin The password is blank.

Maybe, but it's no my place to guess what he's doing. You're doing a heroic job of playing intermediary, but I suspect some details might be getting lost in the communications path. For example, I know he is trying to make a DWL-G122 v2 adapter work on Win98SE, but you have supplied no maker or model number on his wireless router. It takes two devices to make wireless work, and we only have the details on one.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:54:43 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

I have victims .. er clients .. in mind.

Terrific.

Except your victim .. er client .. makes one silly typing error, and then all is for naught.

Of course. My unnecessary refers to taking off readonly attributes, not to mention hidden and system attributes. If you must use a copy kludge, at least use XCOPY, which can copy hidden and/or system files; e.g.,

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------- | cd %windir% | md MYBACKUP | for %f in (system.dat user.dat win.ini system.ini) do xcopy %f MYBACKUP /H +---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The readonly attribute has no effect on copying, just on overwriting.

Different strokes: I've never had a problem when SCANREGW is run properly to completion, whereas I've had to waste much time cleaning up the mess when people have screwed up the copy approach.

Then there isn't much point to modifying the registry. ;)

The computer does that, not me, and the files won't usually be "humonguous" in any event if you select the branch properly.