Bizarre problem with ANY Wifi Adapter in XP sp3

A CF-28 with ANY wireless USB adapter will connect to any AP then
immediately disconnect from any access point without even getting a DHCP
assignment, in fact: looking at my DHCP server, I'm not even getting
requests!

The odd thing is, I thought the adapter was bad, so I tried another, and
another, etc. Different manufacturers, etc. It works fine plugged into
ethernet.

I restored a disk imaged backup from 7 months ago when it was working
fine, thinking something in windows networking got corrupted.

SAME CRAP.

Doesn't matter what type of encryption, (or none) etc, same deal.
I'm at a loss. Any ideas??

Thanks.

Lee

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:45:56 -0600, Lee Maisel <nntp@dynasytes.com>
wrote:

>A CF-28

That would be a Panasonic CF-28 Toughbook. That's usually a PIII
600MHz to 1GHz. Maximum RAM is either 384KB or 512KB depending on
model. Windoze XP will barely run with 384KB and is slower than a
snail with 512MB. It would be helpful if you would kindly disclose
the missing details.

As I vaguely recall, the USB ports are USB 1.1, not 2.0. Some
adapters and drivers don't like 1.1. With 1.1, you're also speed
limited to 12Mbits/sec interface speed, which means that none of the
802.11g speeds will work.

>with ANY wireless USB adapter will connect to any AP then
>immediately disconnect from any access point without even getting a DHCP
>assignment, in fact: looking at my DHCP server, I'm not even getting
>requests!

Google does not find a wireless USB manufactory named "ANY". Could
you be a bit more specific?

>The odd thing is, I thought the adapter was bad, so I tried another, and
>another, etc. Different manufacturers, etc. It works fine plugged into
>ethernet.

Windoze XP gets irritated if you overload the registry with too many
serial and USB devices. You might try cleaning out the surplus
devices.
<http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/WindowsXP/UserTips/TroubleShooting/RemoveUnusedDriversandDevices.html>

>I restored a disk imaged backup from 7 months ago when it was working
>fine, thinking something in windows networking got corrupted.

There have been quite a large number of Windoze updates in the last 7
months. While most address security problems, they all tend to add to
the bloat, which is slowing down your limited memory system.

>SAME CRAP.
>
>Doesn't matter what type of encryption, (or none) etc, same deal.
>I'm at a loss. Any ideas??

Yeah, but it's not easily fixed. 512MB is not going to play with XP
SP3. I suggest going back to W2K which is much easier on the
hardware. Another possibility is Windows FLP:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Fundamentals_for_Legacy_PCs>
There are also plenty of small footprint Linux distributions.

There's always Windoze Fixit:
<http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/>

Make an image backup of your existing XP SP3 install in case any of
this goes awry.

If you insist on running XP SP3, you might try something drastic.
Reset the IP stack with:
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357>
It will break a few things that jam themselves into the stack, but
those can be reinstalled or repaired.

More drastic is Windoze repair:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNOQ0sCYY8s>
It will roll you back to whatever SP level is on the repair CD.
Updating from SP1 is a very long and tedious process. Not recommended
unless you're desperate.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Thanks Jeff.

It's a Panasonic CF-28 with the bios upgrade running 768MB Ram. You
are correct about the 1.1 USB, however, I've been using a USB 2.0
Cardbus adapter.

I would much prefer to run Linux, however the applications require
actual windows. :(

The unit is vehicle mounted and that's why I'm using it. It's old and
slow, but has worked just fine for what I'm using it for.

Network and WiFi were just fine for over a year, and suddenly this
weirdness started happening. What's odd, is I suspected it was
registry related, so I used windows restore tool to go back a month or
so, and that didn't work. So I suspected corrupt drivers, and restored
a complete disk image with clonezilla from about 7 mo ago, and I'm in
the same spot. Very mysterious..

I did try the microsoft fix, but no luck.. I'll try removing old
devices next and see if that helps.

Thanks for your help!

By the way Jeff, I noticed you are AE6KS :) I'm W5LMM

And all the apps I refer to are the ones we like... :)

73

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:50:21 -0600, Lee Maisel <nntp@dynasytes.com>
wrote:

>It's a Panasonic CF-28 with the bios upgrade running 768MB Ram.

I have several CF-25 laptops. Old and slow, but the touchscreen is so
nice.

>You
>are correct about the 1.1 USB, however, I've been using a USB 2.0
>Cardbus adapter.

Ditto. I'm partial to Netgear WG511v2 cardbus cards (mostly because I
have a few). With only one USB jack, wireless USB isn't a great idea.
I've also tried to replace the internal cellular modem with a MiniPCI
card, but ran out of time to make it work.

>I would much prefer to run Linux, however the applications require
>actual windows. :(

Yeah, I know the feeling. I just had to update a few APRS weather
stations that were running W2K without any problem because the
developer of the Winlink RMS server software built his software for
dot net 3.5 which will not officially install on W2K. There's a
workaround, but the few functions that won't play were the one's he
used:
<http://rainstorms.me.uk/blog/2008/03/12/microsoft-net-framework-35-in-windows-2000/>
I won't bother to guess what software you're running, but I think
you'll find Linux equivalents to most of the popular stuff.
<http://radio.linux.org.au/?sectpat=All>

>The unit is vehicle mounted and that's why I'm using it. It's old and
>slow, but has worked just fine for what I'm using it for.

Ok. See WinFLP for XP on old and slow. It also won't officially
install anything over dot Net 3.0. SP3 for WinFLP:
<http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3740>
Incidentally, we're using WinFLP on at least one laptop this year for
Field Day logging using N1MM software. No problems so far, but the
testing isn't quite done.

>Network and WiFi were just fine for over a year, and suddenly this
>weirdness started happening. What's odd, is I suspected it was
>registry related, so I used windows restore tool to go back a month or
>so, and that didn't work. So I suspected corrupt drivers, and restored
>a complete disk image with clonezilla from about 7 mo ago, and I'm in
>the same spot. Very mysterious..

Not really. Assuming what you say is accurate, that leaves a hardware
failure inside the CF-28. That's highly likely. I've mashed a few
pins on the Cardbus connector on one of mine. I've blown out the
PCMCIA controller chip by plugging in a flea market wireless card into
the slot. Try inserting a CF to Cardbus adapter in the slot and add a
CF memory card. Then, run a memory diagnostic. If that fails, you
have a bad slot or connector.

>I did try the microsoft fix, but no luck.. I'll try removing old
>devices next and see if that helps.

One other really dumb thing to try. Remove the battery and reset the
CMOS by unplugging the CMOS battery. I've had various laptops get
stuck in odd modes, that power cycling doesn't fix. I had to remove
the laptop batteries for at least 10 minutes to fix it.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 6/11/2012 5:50 PM, Lee Maisel wrote:
> Thanks Jeff.
>
> It's a Panasonic CF-28 with the bios upgrade running 768MB Ram. You are
> correct about the 1.1 USB, however, I've been using a USB 2.0 Cardbus
> adapter.
>
> I would much prefer to run Linux, however the applications require
> actual windows. :(
>
> The unit is vehicle mounted and that's why I'm using it. It's old and
> slow, but has worked just fine for what I'm using it for.
>
> Network and WiFi were just fine for over a year, and suddenly this
> weirdness started happening. What's odd, is I suspected it was registry
> related, so I used windows restore tool to go back a month or so, and
> that didn't work. So I suspected corrupt drivers, and restored a
> complete disk image with clonezilla from about 7 mo ago, and I'm in the
> same spot. Very mysterious..
>
> I did try the microsoft fix, but no luck.. I'll try removing old devices
> next and see if that helps.
>
> Thanks for your help!

Try booting one of the live Linux CD's and see how the hardware works
with that. I like to use the the latest version of Puppy for most
initial diagnostic work as it seems to support a broad range of network
cards and such. If it works then at least you will have confirmed it's
a Windows problem.

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:25:54 -0500, GlowingBlueMist
<GlowingBlueMist@truly.invalid> wrote:

>Try booting one of the live Linux CD's and see how the hardware works
>with that. I like to use the the latest version of Puppy for most
>initial diagnostic work as it seems to support a broad range of network
>cards and such. If it works then at least you will have confirmed it's
>a Windows problem.

Good plan. Here is an old list of some liveCD's and distributions
known to work on the CF-28:
<http://nobles.wordpress.com>
Looks like Puppy Linux is the right choice.

The CF-28 has a "hidden" MiniPCI slot:
<http://www.prc68.com/I/CF28Toughbook.shtml#LANu>
<http://www.prc68.com/I/CF28Toughbook.shtml#Rt>


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Lee Maisel wrote:

> By the way Jeff, I noticed you are AE6KS :) I'm W5LMM
>
> And all the apps I refer to are the ones we like... :)
>
> 73

It might pay to try running the USB adapters from a powered hub.

It could be that the USB ports are suspect and not supplying enough
voltage.

+1 on the Linux distro as a hardware check.

--