[Wlug] ticked at netgear

[Wes Allen]

Good advice, never tell them you're using linux.

Actually, it is not a hardware problem (though it sure looked like one).
Mandrake issued a new version of initscripts that "fixed" wireless network 
link problems.  And I installed it, however, I never rebooted my machine and 
the interface was already up, so I didn't notice the problem until this 
afternoon when I turned on my laptop.  I read the comments for the updates 
and found the issue.  Updates that break things, I'm having windows 
flash-backs.

Wes

On Saturday 02 November 2002 5:42 pm, Wes Allen wrote:
> Hi gang,
> 	I've got a ma401 card from netgear.  It worked beautifully under linux
> (better than in windows even).  Today I switch on my laptop, and I no
> longer get a link to my network with the card.  I figure I must've had a
> power glitch and my firewall isn't giving out dhcp address, so I restart
> it.  Still no link.  I check the settings of my wireless router, all good. 
> I boot my desktop to see if my usb wireless card works, it does.  None of
> my settings on my laptop have changed, I checked.  I tweak with iwconfig
> until my hands are sore, no luck.  So I finally call netgear because I
> figure that it is a hardware issue and I need to send in the card to have
> at least the antenna replaced.  Tech support says, "I'm sorry but we can
> only trouble-shoot on windows so we can't help you."  I tell them, "It's
> not a software issue, nothing has changed with my software from last night,
> everything is the same, the card is not picking up the link from the
> router, it's not functioning, it's a hardware issue..."  They say, "But we
> need to troubleshoot in windows."  I say, "Look, I've turned encryption on
> and off, I've tried different modes, I've tried different channels, I've
> turned rts and frag on and off [note: now it's not accepting values,
> another clue that this is a hardware problem].  Nothing works, your card is
> broken and I want to send it in."  I'm told to hold.  "I'm sorry, we cannot
> help you.  We need to troubleshoot in windows."  I slam the phone on the
> reciever so hard I think I nearly break it.  Now I am pissed, and I still
> have a broken card.
>
> 	Does anyone else have any history with wireless antennas not working all
> of the sudden?  This card hasn't even been out of the house, I leave it
> here when I go out for crying out loud!
>
> 	My next attempt will to disable encryption and go back to wvlan_cs to see
> if that jogs this thing.  But I truly think it's hardware; nothing,
> NOTHING, on my laptop changed, I didn't even turn it on this morning!
>
> Wes

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