MSI Wind Wireless issues

I got my MSI Wind U100 yesterday and took it for a spin. My WiFi connection to my router keeps dropping. It will pick up my router, say the signal is great, then 10 second later drop and find it again immediately. It just keeps on doing this.

I have other laptops connected to this router without a problem. And initially the wind didn't do this, but after a few minutes it started doing this cycling of the wifi connection. I have tried reboots but still has that problem. Anyone experience this? Or have this happen with other Windows XP computers?

Thanks!

 

Just curious which router you are using? Some people have issues and a lot of people claimed to work quite stable. I guess it could be a router issue. I hope you are not using Dlink Extreme draft N which I am planning to buy soon to replace my Linksys draft N (fast and good signal when new, both degraded dramatically recently).

 

Its a know problem.

Update the driver with this one

http://rapidshare.com/files 127644438/WindowsDriver_9064.rar.html

 

That is a dead link. I just got my Wind today, and mine won't find a wireless network. I can sit right next to the access point with my other laptop, and see 5 wireless networks, and the MSI Wind, doesn't see a one.

update: found the driver, and it doesn't work. Still can't see any wireless networks.

 

Are you sure the wireless is actually turned on? If you press the Fn key and F11 key (It kinda looks like a satellite dish), you should also have the wireless (satellite dish looking) icon light up at the bottom right of the laptop (it's between the "0" and "moon" icons). Pressing this combo toggles between WiFi off BT off, WiFi on BT off, and WiFi on BT on.

here are the drivers from MSI's website BTW:
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=135&prod_no=1474

also please note that my Wind came with an orange/yellow sheet of paper directing me to update 3 driver files (I forget which ones) which I did prior to even trying to use the computer.

Sorry this description kinda sucks - I don't have the laptop with me right now.
If you've already updated to the latest wireless driver, then make sure the wifi light is on and try again.

 

Hey canibal thanks. That was my problem, the wireless was off

But this thing still has not much of a range. With my wireless access point upstairs, it works fine upstairs, but if I go downstairs, or out on the deck, where all my other laptops get a signal, it drops out every few seconds. The wierd thing is the signal shows either "good", or "very good".

I have also read that some may need to open the case (voiding the warranty) and reseat the wifi card, and the antenna connections. Has anyone done this, because the range is really bad.

Also, is there a replacement wifi card you can buy that will fit in there that would have a better range?

I'm using the newest drivers.

 

Most people who plan to replace it use the tried and true Intel 3945 A/B/G card. You can buy them online for $20-30. Or if you are a little more ambitious you could try the Intel 4965, which is bascially the same, except it also has Draft-N, but as yet no one I know has tried one in the Wind. They sell for about $40.

 

I think the 8187SE in the Wind is fine. The router maybe an issue. You can try other laptops downstairs, see if that location is fine with your other laptop's WLAN card. Adjust your antenna pointing to where you will be using your Wind downstairs may help, or buy another wireless router.

If anyone decided to buy another WLAN mini-card, I would advise not to buy Intel WLAN mini cards for the Wind. Buy Athertos or Broadcom chipset WLAN mini cards if you want also to dual boot Mac OSX or Linux. I think most Dell's WLAN's cards use Broadcom's chipsets. You are almosr guaranteed that you will never get Intel WLAN mini-cards to work with these OSs.

 

I know several people who have made this change and had absolutely no problems. Also, there are already Linux drivers for that card, so it also works well with Ubuntu.

 

I downloaded the new drivers and still connection problems- -It will see the signal but won't connect. When I use a USB G wireless - it connects like a charm I think it is the Piece of S**t card . I mean how aggravating that it wont work out of the box and you have to dick around to get it working after spending $400 bucks. I guess they cheaped out on that part to get the price down.

 

I know that N cards work with the Wind...

Actually that's one of the really nice things about the wind is that because of the way the motherboard is set up it's SUPER easy to change out basically everything.

 

I have Megabook VR320 with Core Duo T2250, 2Gb DDR2 533 but my notebook can't connect to wireless LAN. The RaLink Wireless Utility seems fine but still it can not connect to wLan. Can anyone help me to solve this problem?

 

I had a nearly identical problem: random drop-outs of of the wireless connection every 20 or so minutes, even with an excellent connection to my router (which wasn't causing problems for any other machines on the network). The problem seems to have been defective drivers, thankfully not a hardware problem as I had feared.

The Wind uses one of three possible Wireless-G cards. Check the bottom of your machine to find out which (that will determine the right drivers).

My machine used the
Realtek 8187SE
card, and had 7-month old drivers (approx)

The current drivers are revision
5.9071.822.2008

Once I installed those, the problem seems to have solved itself completely.