Strengthening a signal

I have a friend who has a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop with a1515 Wireless-N Mini-Card. The minicard often can pick up no signal in a RV campground when my macbook with an airport extreme (also 802.11n) card gets a very good signal sitting in the same RV.

At home she gets a very weak signal that fades in and out. I get a very strong signal sitting near her. The airport is set to channel 11 and other nearby networks are set to channel 1,6,or 9. We cannot move the airport closer without running a cord where they would be dangerous and look bad.

I think I will solve the home problem by buying an airport extreme wireless router that sends a stronger signal. I tried to solve it with a Linksys wireless N network adapter that says it operates in both n and g speeds. She is running Windows 7. When we first connected the Linksys adapter, it blinked indicating it was working. Within less than a minute, Windows put up a message that it was disabling the adapter. I cannot remember the message exactly and it has not given the message again. The adapter blinks for a few seconds when inserted in the USB port and then quits working.

So there is still the campground problem that a new home access point will not solve. I read the information on the site: . It looks like I need at the least an omnidirectional antenna on the motorhome, and an ethernet cord running from the antenna to her computer.

Is this right?

Any suggestions?

I do have some difficulty understanding all this stuff and I know nothing about widows.

Reply to
Kathy
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Forget about n -- n will not give you better range than g. (It might give you better speed, but only if you have a very good signal.)

Your friend needs a better antenna than what she has now. Assuming the antenna is turned on (did you check that?), it actually sounds like the internal antenna in her Dell might have gotten disconnected from the internal mini wireless card. It happens. I'd look to getting that fixed before trying anything else.

It that fails, I'd suggest a different g USB adapter, preferably one with a good antenna or the ability to use an external antenna.

Reply to
John Navas

I have a customer with exactly the same laptop and possibly the same wireless card. The RF performance was just fine as indicated that it consistently works through 3 walls in their house. If there's a big difference between the Dell and the Mac, I would look for a problem with the Dell. The usual is that the antenna cables going to the MiniPCI card have fallen off. I've also seen bad cards, and old drivers.

Speaking of drivers, Dell tends to get behind a bit on drivers. Check the Atheros web site for the latest 1515 drivers for Windoze 7. This might help:

If she wants to do some hacking:

Some of the postings can't seem to decide if the Dell 1515 wireless board is Atheros or Broadcom. Make the determination before attacking.

Unfortunately, getting to the card is a mess. Download instructions at:

Uncompress into an empty directory, and run "index.htm" for instructions. Also, be sure to check the Dell support site for the latest Wireless drivers. These are NOT installed automagically with Windoze Update.

The network on Channel 9 might interfere with your use of Ch 11. If it's a really strong signal, you might try 1 or 6 instead, despite being occupied.

I have a bad attitude about the Airport Extreme N. It works just fine, but because it does spatial diversity 802.11n, all the antennas are internal, with no provision for external antennas (which would require 3 antennas). Otherwise it's just fine. If you "aim" the Airport with the front panel pointing in the general direction of the users, all 3 antenna come into play. See internal photos at:

Otherwise, try turning OFF the 802.11n feature. 802.11n is all about speed. You don't need speed, you need range.

It's also possible that the Aiport Extreme is connecting to your Mac at 5.6GHz, while her 1515 card only supports 2.4GHz. That might point to a defective 2.4GHz section on the Airport Extreme.

What home problem? Is it the same as the different ranges between the two laptops you previously described at the campground?

If you changed routers and had exactly the same problem, it's highly likely that there's something wrong with the Dell Insprion 1545. However, if the unspecified model Linksys was a dual band router, you may have duplicated the problem where she connects at 2.4Ghz and you connect at 5.6GHz.

You have to install the drivers BEFORE you plug in the USB device. Please read the instructions.

Something like that. The shielding from the metal body of the camper is the main problem. I don't like omnidirectional antennas. Instead, I suggest a directional panel antenna with about 8dBi to 14dBi gain. See:

A dish would also work, but is more critical to aim.

A boat has a problem you don't have. It drifts at anchor and moves around in the water making antenna aiming a problem. That's why an omnidirectional antenna is preferred. You don't have that problem. Land the mobile home, deploy the antenna, point it in the right direction, and you're done.

Which model MacBook do you have? Dual band wireless?

The AirPort Extreme N has an irritating problem. If you use the same SSID for both the 2.4 and 5.6Ghz SSID, you cannot select which one to use when you connect with the MacBook. Set them for different SSID's, and try connecting your MacBook to the SSID on the 2.4Ghz side. If you get the same crappy performance as the Dell, then there's something broken in the AirPort Extreme N 2.4GHz radio.

You don't learn anything new by using things that "just work". Learning comes mostly from fixing broken computers and systems. Welcome to Windoze.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Oops. It's not a mess, it's easy. Just unscrew the "base cover" on the bottom of the machine, and the wireless card is easily accessible. I was looking at the Bluetooth card, which is a mess because it's buried under the keyboard.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

And if you don't, it can be hard to get rid of the mess/damage.

Reply to
John Navas

She did install the drivers from the CD before plugging in the adapter to the USB port.

Reply to
Kathy

That took a lot of time to help me with all that. I will try the things you suggested.

Reply to
Kathy

This is true of most thing Windows. You install the Drivers and then shut down and install the device (if internal) or restart and then plug in an external component.

Turns out, in everyday life, Windows gets confused if you install/plug in the device and Then add a driver for it.

TBerk Are we really better off than two soup cans with a taut string between?

Reply to
TBerk

It's a good idea, because you'll have a better chance of getting the latest/desired drivers that way, but not necessary in most cases other than USB -- if Windows can't find an appropriate driver, it will offer to search online or for a local driver disk. The unique problem with USB is that Windows may install and get stuck on the wrong driver.

Reply to
John Navas

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