I found two of the DWL-520 cards in my palatial office. I'll hopefully have some time Friday to do some testing with them. These have 8WPCB14..1A1 silk screened on the board, and V.E1 at the end of the serial number. I'll try them in an XP Home box to various routers I have around the office (WRT54Gv3, WGR614, WAP11v1.1, DWL-900AP+, etc) as well as the other routers around the office complex. Unfortunately, I don't have a WAP54G.
Well, I have my preferences and have yet to find a manufacturer that has a consistently good product line. Linksys has good products and junk all mixed together. I've done battle with some models of the WAP11 (1.0 and 1.1) while the later versions work just fine. The WRT54G is probably the most popular router, yet I currently only use it with alternative Linux firmware. Some netgear hardware drives me insane (MR814) while others work just great (WGR614). I had nothing but trouble with an early version of the DLink DI-624, yet the later versions work just fine. Some firmware versions for the DI-524 literally didn't work. You've heard my experience with the DWL-520, which might be something else. I also have some experience at the manufacturing level, which I can't talk about. Let's just say that there was quite a variation in measured performance specs. I don't think there's anything inherently bad about Linksys in general. It's just that some products are ummmm... difficult?
Easy. The web server in the WRT54G is rather smart. It will only allow one connection at a time. Whomever gets there first, wins. The problem is that it doesn't let go when the first connection goes away. There's no "disconnect" button so it has to time out. I think (i.e. guess) that it uses the ARP cache to determine when to let the next client dive into the internal web browser. That might take a few minutes.
It's a long shot and probably not the problem. Since it works with other wireless routers, there's almost no chance that the Winsock or LSP pile is corrupted. Well, it's possible that it's partially trashed as I've seen systems where static IP's work, but DHCP and DNS fail to configure properly. Still, it would not be device dependent so that's not the problem.
Agreed, mostly because other than a defective WAP54G, I can't think of a better culprit.
That's the 1.0 version. Linksys *NEVER* puts version 1.0 on anything. It's always blank. I supose it's some superstition where customers never buy anything with version 1.0 on it. As I vaguely recall, version 1.0 was not the best WAP54G hardware version. I'll see if I can dig out some specifics.
Ok, that eliminated the possibility that the machine is polluted or corrupted.
We're back to either a defective WAP54G or a compatibility problem. Considering the V1.0 hardware, I'm drifting toward compatibility.
Well, I assumed you had the latest firmware, but apparently not. The current version of the firmware is 3.04
That's a real easy test. It doesn't solve the problem, but it does help assign the blame.
Y'er not kidding. It's now 11PM on the night of the full moon and I'm still in the office working. I'll be here for a few more hours and then go howling. If I don't surface tomorrow, it's because I'll be busy delivering and installing machines. Xmas season is hell for me.
I really like Skype. I use it mostly as an intercom with friends. I don't have a regular POTS line in the office and use the cell phone for most everything. Since most of my customers have broadband, I setup Skype on their machines. It works with dialup, but is not as useful. Skype over satellite and wireless (cellular) data is a problem due to high latency. Still, if you remember to say "over" after each "transmission", then it's still workable. Mostly, I use it for walking customers through problems over the phone, usually while controlling their machines with PC Anywhere or VNC. I have a Skype-Out account for calling friends, relatives and associates around the planet.
My main complaint is the lack of a desktop instrument for using Skype. One would think that the VoIP phone instrument manufacturers would simply add the iLBC codec to their phones, but this hasn't happened. No clue why. So, I have an old P133 laptop running Skype in the office acting as a telephone.
For audio, I have a mess of options depending on where I'm working. In the office, it's a desk mike and computer speakers. There's enough of a delay that there's no feedback. The Mic AGC (automagic gain control) has a wide enough range to act as a speakerphone. It can be used without wearing a headset. However, there's a nasty delayed "echo" if the mic is too close to the speakers, or if the speakers are too loud. I have them positioned on opposite sides of a sound barrier (pile of PC boxes) that provides the necessary isolation. That works when I'm away from my computah. However, in front of the computer, I use a headset.
At home, it's a headset mic (no earphones) and my stereo hi-fi. Nothing like telephony through big speakers. At various customers, I use a Bluetooth headset through a USB interface box which simulates picking up the phone in Skype. There's also a wired headset version of the same thing. I also have a cordless phone, where I hot wired the RJ14 jack to a few op amps to drive the PC mic and speaker jacks. I can't pickup the call from the headset, but it will work with any cordless phone. It's a bit tricky getting everything to work together, but not impossible: