keithw

Running Win 98SE.

Have D-link USB wireless adapter which had been working fine. While actually in use, the Utility for it closed. Now I can not reopen it.

I've rebooted and reloaded the utility/drivers and ran System Works. Even downloaded the current utility/drivers from D-link.

When I try to open the utility, I get the hour glass for a few seconds, then it dissappears and nothing happens.

I've not experienced this with any other application.

Help would be appreciated, as I would like to get back on the air with that computer.

Keith

Dixie

Usually the first thing I do is try the restore and if that doesn't work then go looking for a solution. So try to restore first by booting to dos and at the c prompt type scanreg/restore and restore it to a date when it was working ok.

oshwyn5

To run the utility you probably have to be hardwire connected if it is the utility I think it is. Safety feature to prevent changing settings over wireless.

If you mean the utility to choose which network you are connecting to, enter your WPA password or WEP key then it sounds like an issue of a password for the program. Did you enter one to lock it?

keithw

Dixie--
I ran scanreg and it said everything was OK. I ran restore. The restore failed, but it used up my good backups!

oshwyn--
The utility of which I speak is the little program which becomes the "control panel" for the usb wireless adapter. It shows which signals are available, what the signal strength is, lets you set WEB and other configuration parameters, etc. I've never password protected it.

This is the program which simply will not open.

After 4 days and 2 emails plus 3 phone calls (none to a real person) to D-link, I've still not even heard from them.

So I'm sure hoping to get help here!!!

Thanks, Keith

Geekgirl

Sounds like an issue I had once, the system just wouldnt play nice with a particular brand of wireless adapter.

I know exactly what program you are referring to. You should be able to right click in the taskbar and open it up.
Is trying another brand an option for you?

Dixie

What is the model of it? Seems a lot of people are having problems with this one

DLink WIRELESS USB ADAPTER 802.11G 54MBPS

Have you tried re-installing the drivers for the one you have or checking to see if there are newer drivers for it?

keithw

The problem unit is D-Link Model DWL-G122, Version B1.

Until last Friday, it had been working fine. In fact, it was working when the utility closed and has never been re-opened.

It does not appear in the task bar, only the desktop. I've tried opening it by double clicking, right click>open, Start>Run, directly from the explorer---results are always the same: hour glass for a few seconds, then nothing.

I have reinstalled it from the original factory CD. I have downloaded the current drivers and utility from the D-Link site. I have run Wystem Works. I have rebooted. I have run scanreg.

I have run out of ideas.

What did anyone else with this probem do to solve the problem?

And by the way, I am not eager to run out and buy another one ---unless it's on a super sale!

More help, please!

Keith

oshwyn5

I always keep an eye open and buy a couple spares when wireless usb adapaters are on sale.
I bought This one for $9.99 yesterday at Fry's electronics.

My advice is to go into device manager and remove the device in question and any unknown devices or devices with yellow ! by them. Chances are something caused it to be misidentified and now the software won't launch since windows does not think it is connected.

keithw

Two great ideas, oshwyn! But alas, there's no Fry's here in Rockport!

I went to Device Manager: NO usb adapter! But there was a "Wave device for Voice Modem" which I do't have and don't really know what is.

So I deleted it.

Since the USB adapter didn't show up, I decided to reload the drivers and utility. It still didn't work.

Went to Device Manager again, and now it shows up. Hit Refresh, and it says it's searching for a driver for "Wave Device for Voice Modem!"

It appears your idea hit upon the cause: looks like the computer doesn't recognoze the adapter for what it is. NOw the issue is, How do I get it to recognize it properly? It appears that it ha given itself a new name. Identity theft, possibly????? ;-)

Where do I go from here; ideas, folks?

Keith

oshwyn5

This generally happens when you connect the USB device and the driver has not been installed or it is corrupt. The result is that windows looks at the device and guesses what it might be. Often you wind up with it showing as an unidentified human interface device.
Check under network adapters too as well as USB devices.

The wave device for voice modem has to do with your dial up modem. IT can be used as a phone so it needs a way to emmulate voices to the speakers. This wave device for voice modem is not needed normally if you do not use this feature. Just disable it (right click / properties/ disable in this profile - will now have red x) . IT is normally created when you first install your modem and sound card drivers.

Hard to tell off hand what the computer decided your wireless is; but you should also see if under the view option in device manager there is an option to show unused or hidden devices and enable that just to see if it shows somewhere.


Could always be that the adapter died or that your USB port did .
Do you have any other USB devices? I normally strongly advise against using a USB wireless adapter if you have any other usb devices connected.
This is because if you interrupt it to use say a keyboard or web cam, the wireless network will disconnect you.

keithw

Finally, after aobut 3 days, I heard from D-Link. To their credit, their response actually addressed the question I asked AND offered a solution which actually solved the problem! Often, way too often, answers from a manufacturer answer some question other than the one asked and are therefore useless.

Oshwyn, you were on the right track. Here's part of what they said:

"From your email it seems that there is an issue with the drivers for the dwl-g122, as a result of which you cannot open the wireless utility.

Please follow the steps below to uninstall the drivers in safe mode.

Due to the fact that you have attempted to install the drivers for the
wireless adapter, the device manager might be holding multiple copies of the
drivers which might be preventing the drivers from being loaded properly. In
order to address the problem, please do the following:..."

Basically, they told me to uninstall both the hardware and the software. It appears that I had not removed them both at the same time or in the right order, or something like that. Anyway, I "mostly" followed their instructions and it worked immediately.

In fact, it worked better than before, in that when I run winipcfg > Release all > Renew all, it now happens in seconds instead of timing out as before.

In short, I'm back on the air and a happy camper!

I appreciate your help; Thank You!
Keith

oshwyn5

Good to hear.
Yes often there is a specific order in which you must install software and then hardware when you set things up ; and a specific order to uninstall them if you have a problem. Normally there is instructions in the manual or on a manual on the CD; but you never know.
And if you mess up and get the order wrong or miss a step you now know what happens.

keithw

I guess I celebrated too early. The system worked fine until this afternoon, then while in use it quit again and the utility could not be opened. Same problem as before, so same solution, right?

The first try didn't work; the second did. The adapter and its utility appear to be working. HOWEVER....

...there is an even worse problem, I'm afraid.

When I go Start > Run > wnipcfg I get "Fatal error. Cannot read IP configuration."

I googled this of course. The solution sounds pretty complicated---and risky for a non-guru!

Anyone have a simple solution which might work?

Keith

oshwyn5

Once you get it installed and working one of the first things you should do that they never tell you is to go to device manager and select it and choose properties and look for power management tab and make sure that "allow windows to turn this off to save power" is not checked (or someting similar to that). Windows has the habit of turning things like this off as unnecessary at the most inopportune moments.

The other thing is that you do not want any other USB devices connected if you are using a USB network adapter, expecially a wireless one. The interruption when anoter device uses the bus path can cause the wireles adapter to disconnect and not reconnect.

I strongly prefer a PCI wireless if possible (actually I prefer wired ethernet when practical) or at a minimum a seperate PCI USB card for your wireless.