Switching between wifi cards?

I have a Compaq Presario V6000 running XP.
I installed a TP-Link WN321G
http://www.tp-link.com/products/product_des.asp?id=47
I want to be able to switch back to the internal wifi card.
The TP-Link has taken over.
Sometimes I want to use the Tp-link usb adapter and
other times the internal card.
How do I switch back and forth between the internal card
and the external USB dongle?
Thanks, Mike

"amdx" <amdx@knology.net> hath wroth:

>I have a Compaq Presario V6000 running XP.
>I installed a TP-Link WN321G
>http://www.tp-link.com/products/product_des.asp?id=47
>I want to be able to switch back to the internal wifi card.
>The TP-Link has taken over.
>Sometimes I want to use the Tp-link usb adapter and
>other times the internal card.
>How do I switch back and forth between the internal card
>and the external USB dongle?
> Thanks, Mike

Taken over? How so? Are you unplugging the USB device or are both
wireless devices installed at the same time? You should be able to
just unplug the USB device, which unloads the driver, and leaves your
internal card functional. It's also possible to run both wireless
devices at the same time, and simply change the route metric or
default gateway:
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299540>
to decide which card gets all the internet traffic. However, trying
to connect with both devices simulaneously to the same wireless router
causes "weird things" to happen, so that's not a great idea.

Maybe it needs a bit of help. Go to:
Control Panel -> Networks
and right click on the TP-Link icon. Select Disable.
See if the internal card now works. To switch back and forth, enable
one, disable the other. You can also get to the enable/disable
functions by right clicking the respective icons in the system tray.

You might be able to do it a bit more elegantly with some added
software:
<http://www.netswitcher.com>
I have the program but have not used it to switch wireless devices.
I'm therefore not sure it will work for wireless switching.

--
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

Can't you just unplug the dongle and enable the internal wifi card?

"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote in message
news:q3jmc3h5b91m5qmfvdlttc3p59scoosk71@4ax.com...
> "amdx" <amdx@knology.net> hath wroth:
>
>>I have a Compaq Presario V6000 running XP.
>>I installed a TP-Link WN321G
>>http://www.tp-link.com/products/product_des.asp?id=47
>>I want to be able to switch back to the internal wifi card.
>>The TP-Link has taken over.
>>Sometimes I want to use the Tp-link usb adapter and
>>other times the internal card.
>>How do I switch back and forth between the internal card
>>and the external USB dongle?
>> Thanks, Mike
>
> Taken over? How so? Are you unplugging the USB device or are both
> wireless devices installed at the same time?

USB device is unplugged, when I click on the icon for the internal card I
get a window that says:

Windows cannot configure this connection

If you have enabled another program to manage this wireless connection,
use that software.

If you want windows to configure this wireless connection, start the
Wireless Zero
Configuration (WZC) service. For information about starting the WZC service,
see
article 871122 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on the microsoft.com website.

>
> Maybe it needs a bit of help. Go to:
> Control Panel -> Networks
> and right click on the TP-Link icon. Select Disable.

I did this, it didn't help. Although I had to plug in the USB adapter
in order to get the TP-Link icon to show so I could disable it.

As I write I'm removing the TP-Link software and will see if I
can get the internal card to work.
OK, removing TP-Link software didn't help.

Any other thoughts?
Thanks, Mike

"amdx" <amdx@knology.net> wrote in message
news:4f14e$46cad5cd$18d6b40c$8407@KNOLOGY.NET...
>I have a Compaq Presario V6000 running XP.
> I installed a TP-Link WN321G
> http://www.tp-link.com/products/product_des.asp?id=47
> I want to be able to switch back to the internal wifi card.
> The TP-Link has taken over.
> Sometimes I want to use the Tp-link usb adapter and
> other times the internal card.
> How do I switch back and forth between the internal card
> and the external USB dongle?
> Thanks, Mike
>
Hey guys, I did a system restore and got everything working.
Seems a bit involved to enable and disable the internal card, but
I don't need to do it often.
Thanks for the help.

"amdx" <amdx@knology.net> hath wroth:

>USB device is unplugged, when I click on the icon for the internal card I
>get a window that says:
> Windows cannot configure this connection
>
>If you have enabled another program to manage this wireless connection,
> use that software.

Looks like the TP-Link USB thing came with a wireless "client manager"
that seem to think it's also running the internal card. It may just
be a configuration issue. Go to:
Control Panel -> Network
Right click on the TP-Link USB thing and select properties.
At the top of the window, it might offer a check box with "Allow
Windoze to configure wireless device" or something similar. That
means disarm the TP-Link wireless client manager and use WZC instead.
That hopefully is the same as what you're using for the internal
wireless card. With both cards using WZC, you might have a chance to
do the enable/disable trick.

>If you want windows to configure this wireless connection, start the
>Wireless Zero
>Configuration (WZC) service. For information about starting the WZC service,
>see
>article 871122 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on the microsoft.com website.


>>
>> Maybe it needs a bit of help. Go to:
>> Control Panel -> Networks
>> and right click on the TP-Link icon. Select Disable.
>
>I did this, it didn't help. Although I had to plug in the USB adapter
>in order to get the TP-Link icon to show so I could disable it.

Oops. Y'er right. What I was really trying to do is stop or disable
any "management" programs running in the background that came from
TP-Link. It's a crap shoot, but I guess it didn't work.

> As I write I'm removing the TP-Link software and will see if I
>can get the internal card to work.
> OK, removing TP-Link software didn't help.
>
> Any other thoughts?

Yeah, but I don't like the implications. TP-Link apparently replaced
some parts and pieces of the wireless puzzle on the assumption that it
was the only device in the system. That's a fairly good assumption
but not a great way to write a driver. System Restore should put you
back to before the TP-Link stuff was installed.


--
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