Belkin Wireless USB Problem
 

An elderley friend has just bought a Dell XPS 420 running Vista. He wasn't told, and didn't think to ask whether it had a wireless network card. It doesn't.
Anyway, he's bought one of these:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=179211

His ISP is TalkTalk/Onetel and they have supplied a wireless router(I don't know the make). We've run the installation disc for the Belkin. We've run the installation disc for the router and it works fine when wired, but we can't get it to work wirelessly.

As an Apple user, all lthough I've used PCs at work for years, I have no experience with troubleshooting/setups. TalkTalk's tech support couldn't help, but gave me a number for 2nd line Tech Support but I can't call that until saturday(due to work).

Is there a simple answer to this? Does the Belkin have to be "turned on" within a configuration setting inside Vista?

Thanks.

There was a thread here very recently with Vista networking problems that would be worth having a look at.

Read what MS have to say on Vista and home networking on the MS site.

If you can tell us what the actual symptoms are / how far you can get it would be more useful than

SD

This was with XP but may be related

My sons laptop, with a Belkin PICMA card, recently stopped talking to the wireless router. Investigation showed that both XP and the Belkin utility were trying to access the wirelass network at the same time - neither of them successfully. I guess it was a bit like two people trying to get through a door together and getting stuck!!
As it was an oldish card I replaced it with a USB receiver, as part of the set-up process the option to allow the Belkin utility to take over the wireless capability was available.
Can't help but wonder if you have the same issue.

Have to say in my experience, don't touch Belkin, every time I have to replace them as they die or just don't work. Using Linksys atm and quite impressed.

Hmmm...when I unplug the ethernet cable from the router, we cannot connect to the internet wirelessly. Simple as that really.

Thanks. I'll check that out.

Have you verified that the Belkin product is known to work with Vista? You might look at Belkin : Support : Microsoft Vista Support for Belkin networking products

I have a Belkin range extender / packet repeater and the instruction book says that the setup process won't work with Vista.

YMMV

There are two sorts of wireless dongles out there - the ones that use the standard Microsoft wireless software, and the ones that don't (they usually require you to install their software before you show the dongle to the PC). By and large, the ones that just "plug and play" with MS are a lot less bovver.

Separately, I've had more problems with Belkin internet kit than with all the other brands put together, and don't touch it any more. Experts assure me I'm just unlucky.

I had a cheapo USB dongle for my old laptop - made by BlueNext. It came with no drivers, and "just worked". When the WiFi built into my friend Hans's Vista HP 6000 died, we plugged in the BlueNext dongle, and he was connected to his wireless network immediately. No drivers, no messing.

I just looked on Ebay - they are still on sale. See here for example
I have no interest in the company, but it's a nifty dongle. It won't work with Linux (no drivers!)

I've had similar problems with the kit in question - twice in fact. Apparently there was a quality issue and several other purchasers besides me returned the dongles for a refund. Mine was for my desktop PC (running XP) so in the end I settled for a PCI wifi card which worked straight out of the box. Performance was improved by using the native Windows wifi drivers rather than the Belkin drivers supplied with the card.

In the end, it turned out to be the Belkin software. A re-install solved the problem.