Problem with wireless adapter

[MasterBlaster76]

I ordered a Tenda W311U (exactly the same one that I've had working perfectly on my system for a year or so) for my nephew's laptop and at first, I thought it was going to work - plugged it in and was connected straight away.

So then, I plugged the other one into my PC and that dropped the connection on the laptop (full five bars, but with a yellow exclamation mark)! Upon checking with ipconfig /all, I discovered that the laptop was reading the new adapter with the old one's MAC Address - so I assumed that must be what's causing the issue.

So, I uninstalled the adapter, driver and all - hoping that plugging in the new adapter would now read as its proper MAC Address (because each adapter is supposed to have its own one, isn't it?) Now, the damn thing won't 'connect' at all. I tried it in my system, same thing. I tried installing drivers from the disk, drivers from online, I tried rebooting the router, tried various security settings and nothing works - the only adapter that wants to work either with my system or my nephew's is the old W311U! I know this can't possibly be the case, but it's like the machines have formed some kind of relationship with this particular adapter!

Along with the slowdown and typing lag I seem to be getting, I'm beginning to think of doing a fresh Windows 7 installation - not formatting the disk, just reinstalling Windows 7 in the hope that'll 'reset' everything and it'll recognise the new adapter - as well as get rid of the typing lag problem. It's worth a shot; I doubt if the new adapter is faulty, because as I said, it was connecting before provided my PC wasn't online, so if I send it back, they'll probably test it as not being faulty, so I'll incur the postage charge and still be stuck with an adapter that I can't get to work.

I'm at my wits end with these bloody adapters, so if anyone can help that would be great. If you reckon a fresh Win 7 installation might sort everything out, then that's what I'll have to do.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

No idea why this is happening then? I could try a reinstall of Windows 7 to see if it solves this issue (and the typing lag while online) but that's a real pain in the neck to have to do - you have to back up loads of files and so on.

 

[Chewie]

I remember seeing something about the typing lag before but can't quite remember what was used to fix it. What browser are you using?

Re the adapters, I have no idea at all. Never used a wireless adapter before

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I remember seeing something about the typing lag before but can't quite remember what was used to fix it. What browser are you using?

Re the adapters, I have no idea at all. Never used a wireless adapter before

I'm using Firefox - but I'm using that under Win XP as well and it's absolutely fine there.

Anyway, I've thought of a few other things to try before returning it:

I just tried turning the router off and unplugging all its wires, leaving it for 30 minutes - that didn't work either. Next, I'm going to give resetting the router a shot - in other words, resetting it back to its default settings, and changing the wireless keys back to the defaults as well (temporarily). If that doesn't work, I'm going to return the laptop to its factory defaults (it's only a couple of weeks old, so it's much less of a chore than doing the same to my system).

If none of that works, then the damn thing must somehow be faulty - but as I outlined in my post, it seemed to work at first.

All this would've been avoided if the built in wireless adapter in the laptop agreed to co-operate - why can't anything ever be simple???!!

Anyway, here goes with the reset of the router...

----------

Success! (where's the dancing banana when you need it??)

Both machines are online, and the laptop is reading the new adapter's proper MAC Address. Now all I have to do is change the keys back again (the default is unbelievably crap).

Feels good when you've been battling with an issue for a while and then you solve it. Hopefully nothing will happen when I change the keys back...

 

[sohum]

Nice, glad it worked out.

It's a shame that some hardware vendors suck so much that having to reinstall Windows is the only solution to fix the problem. I think Windows gets a bad rep for having to support virtually any device that fits into the USB standard.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Yep, thanks for that - I'm glad I didn't have to reinstall Windows to get it to work - and I'm surprised that the router reset worked, but it's good that it did. I'd like to thank you, Abhas, Chewie and the rest of the guys who have helped out during the trials and tribulations to get nephew online with his own adapter - much appreciated.