P4C800-E Deluxe + asus WiFi-b Card problems - Advice sought..

I recently built a new P4C800-E Deluxe-based machine which, for the
seven or so weeks since I first put it together, has been running
without any problems whatsoever.

However, I've just purchased an ASUS WiFi-b™ add-on card to use in the
ASUS WiFi slot therein, but am having problems getting it to work
despite (wherever possible) following the installation recommendations
to the letter and updating the BIOS to the latest available version
(1014.)

A couple of things in the above installation instructions are making
me question whether this card really is compatible with this board
despite it being listed in the documentation included with the former.


For instance, the WiFi-b™ installation instructions suggest that prior
to installing the card you should (as well as update the Bios) "update
the 3Com utilities to v.046" using the drivers included on the WiFi-b™
installation CD.

The P4C800-E deluxe, however, doesn't incorporate the 3Com card and
when I install the WiFi card and reboot, the machine seems to boot OK
(at least there are no adverse BIOS beep codes) but I subsequently
lose all video output and cannot therefore proceed. Once the card is
physically uninstalled the machine once again resumes normal
operations.

If anyone could shed some light on the potential causes of this
problem I'd be most obliged.

Similarly, if anyone's sucessfully installed this card on the P4C800-E
Deluxe I'd be grateful if they could let me know how they went about
getting it up and running and which BIOS revision they're using.


The System specs are as follows:

Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology - Retail

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe "Canterwood" (Socket 478) Motherboard

Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2

Samsung SW-252B 52x/52x/24x CD-ReWriter (Black)

Samsung SD-616QBB 16x48x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI - Retail

Antec TruePower 550W PSU

Western Digital Caviar 80GB Special Edition 8MB Cache x 2

Lian Li PC 71 Aluminium Full-Tower

Promise Fast FastTrak100 TX2 IDE RAID card set up with 2 x 80 GB
Western Digital drives in Striped RAID 0 array..

Hitachi CML174SXWB 17" TFT Monitor (Carbon)


Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice you
may have to offer.

Cheers.

Mod.

For instance, the WiFi-b? installation instructions suggest that prior
to installing the card you should (as well as update the Bios) "update
the 3Com utilities to v.046" using the drivers included on the WiFi-b?
installation CD.

The P4C800-E deluxe, however, doesn't incorporate the 3Com card and

Asus documentation is sloppy. The P4P800 Deluxe I'm using came with a
3Com chip. I think they expect users to use both devices, ethernet
connects to DSL modem while using WiFi-b to broadcast so they are
asking you to get the lastest drivers for both devices. (in your case
the intel driver which I checked just now has no new release).

when I install the WiFi card and reboot, the machine seems to boot OK
(at least there are no adverse BIOS beep codes) but I subsequently
lose all video output and cannot therefore proceed. Once the card is
physically uninstalled the machine once again resumes normal
operations.

If anyone could shed some light on the potential causes of this
problem I'd be most obliged.

I was also having problem with the installation with the driver & util
on the CD. I then download the current one from Asus, got the
installation part fixed. The next problem was having WiFi-b to connect
to the 2wire wireless gateway. I couldn't get a connection unless I
brodcast the SSID. And I've also noticed the Asus WLan Control Center
is always trying to reset the SSID I provide to "blank".

Seems WiFi-b is quite problematic. Hope they a fix soon.

Henry

Where did you get that card, and what did it cost? I didn't realize it was
available yet.

(htwilli) wrote in message . com...
For instance, the WiFi-b? installation instructions suggest that prior
to installing the card you should (as well as update the Bios) "update
the 3Com utilities to v.046" using the drivers included on the WiFi-b?
installation CD.

The P4C800-E deluxe, however, doesn't incorporate the 3Com card and

Asus documentation is sloppy. The P4P800 Deluxe I'm using came with a
3Com chip. I think they expect users to use both devices, ethernet
connects to DSL modem while using WiFi-b to broadcast so they are
asking you to get the lastest drivers for both devices. (in your case
the intel driver which I checked just now has no new release).

when I install the WiFi card and reboot, the machine seems to boot OK
(at least there are no adverse BIOS beep codes) but I subsequently
lose all video output and cannot therefore proceed. Once the card is
physically uninstalled the machine once again resumes normal
operations.

If anyone could shed some light on the potential causes of this
problem I'd be most obliged.

I was also having problem with the installation with the driver & util
on the CD. I then download the current one from Asus, got the
installation part fixed. The next problem was having WiFi-b to connect
to the 2wire wireless gateway. I couldn't get a connection unless I
brodcast the SSID. And I've also noticed the Asus WLan Control Center
is always trying to reset the SSID I provide to "blank".

Seems WiFi-b is quite problematic. Hope they a fix soon.

Henry

Hi Henry.
Thanks for the reply and the info contained therein. I'm sorry to
hear you're still having some problems even though you at least
managed to get it

installed. ;-(

I hope i'm mistaken re the lack of the 3com chip being the culprit
then.

Can I ask you which drivers you downloaded to get as far as you have?

I'd like try those too and see if I can get any further but i can't
seem to locate any pertaining to the model number of my WiFi-b card
(WL-127) and all

the rest of my drivers (including the intel ones as you noted in your
post) are the very latest revisions.

Nightmare, eh?
Thanks again for your reply.
Cheers.
Mod.

Can I ask you which drivers you downloaded to get as far as you have?

I'd like try those too and see if I can get any further but i can't
seem to locate any pertaining to the model number of my WiFi-b card
(WL-127) and all

I'm using:
WiFi_Utility_English.zip, v1.8.2.1, 2003/10/27
The zip file contains both the utils and
driver(v.1.9.3.0, 2003/10/27)

When you search for driver for this card on Asus,
searh for "wifi-b".

Good luck

Henry

I have a question regarding this card. I connect several computers to the
internet with an SMC 7004BR router. This model does not have wireless, just
wired connectivity. My P4C800E Deluxe based system is one of the computers
connected through the SMC router. If I install the WiFi card in this
computer, will it enable other computers with WiFi to connect to the
internet through my SMC routher? Or, would I need to connect my cable modem
directly to my P4C800E Deluxe based system?

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 10:57:59 GMT, "Z Man" wrote:
snip
If I install the WiFi card in this
computer, will it enable other computers with WiFi to connect to the
internet through my SMC routher?
snip

Yes, provided that the following requirements are met:
1. the Access Point software included with the WiFi-B card is nstalled
2. the client computers are 802.11b compatible.
3. the computer connected to the router is always on

You may want to consider the following:
1. Is WPA security supported by ASUS WiFi-b?
2. Am I secure with a wireless AP opened on the LAN side of the
router?

"wifi" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 10:57:59 GMT, "Z Man" wrote:
snip
If I install the WiFi card in this
computer, will it enable other computers with WiFi to connect to the
internet through my SMC routher?
snip

Yes, provided that the following requirements are met:
1. the Access Point software included with the WiFi-B card is nstalled
2. the client computers are 802.11b compatible.
3. the computer connected to the router is always on

You may want to consider the following:
1. Is WPA security supported by ASUS WiFi-b?
2. Am I secure with a wireless AP opened on the LAN side of the
router?

I don't see a security problem there. It would be difficult to penetrate the
SMC router, with or without its firewall enabled. In that configuration, I
am able to give any wireless systems on my internal LAN access without using
a wireless router. I understand that the computer with the ASUS wifi card
would have to be on all the time, but it is kept on anyhow. This seems like
a decent solution.

htwilli wrote in message ...
Can I ask you which drivers you downloaded to get as far as you have?

I'd like try those too and see if I can get any further but i can't
seem to locate any pertaining to the model number of my WiFi-b card
(WL-127) and all

I'm using:
WiFi_Utility_English.zip, v1.8.2.1, 2003/10/27
The zip file contains both the utils and
driver(v.1.9.3.0, 2003/10/27)

When you search for driver for this card on Asus,
searh for "wifi-b".

Good luck

Henry

Thanks Henry, you're a star.

I've just downloaded the "Eng_1825.zip" driver / utility package
from:

ftp://asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/WL-103b-03/

and, 'Bingo!'
the card installed without any problems whatsoever and now works
flawlessly.
The machine again boots as normal and testing exhibits one of the
symptoms you're having re the blank SSID problems, etc.

The driver version therein is:

1.7.0.0

and the utility package is 1.8.2.6.
Hopefully this may solve your problem too.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction

Cheers.
Mod.

(Mod) wrote in message . com...
htwilli wrote in message ...

The machine again boots as normal and testing exhibits one of the
symptoms you're having re the blank SSID problems, etc.


The above line should read:

'testing exhibits NONE of the symptoms you're having re the blank
SSID problems, etc."
I really must learn to type properly one of these days. :-)
Anyway, in short the "Eng_1825.zip" driver / utility package works
perfectly for me. hope it sorts it out for you too.

Thanks again.

Mod.