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Linksys WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter

Linksys WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter

List Price: $79.99
Your Price: $49.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Product, Set up a little tricky
Review: No problems and super speed once I got it set up. It was a little tough to get running. I'm not sure what the issue was but I had to uninstall and reinstall once to get it working. Once I did that it found my network, set up the WEP and I was off and running. I download songs in no time and can send files around to my other PC's. The signal strength is good, I have excellent speed from about 50 feet through walls. The only issue I have is that the icon in the System Tray says the network card is not connected unless you log in as an admin. It works, just says its not connected. I'm trying to solve that one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Linksys Wireless 54g PC Card does not work with HP and XP
Review: Bought the linksys WPC54G wireless PC card for my HP pavilion ze4125 (AMD Athlon) running Windows XP with Service Pack 1a. Tried to install the Card as per instructions that came in the box, locks up my laptop everytime. The instructions tell to you turn off your laptop, insert the card, and XP should find new hardware. XP does find the Card and prompts you to insert the CD-ROM that has the drivers on it. It starts to copy over the drivers and then hangs. The only way to unfreeze your laptop is to pop the card out. If you reboot your laptop with the card in, it will sometimes hang at the initial windows screen (again, you will need to pop the card out to continue). I tried removing the drivers and installing from the CD-ROM instead, same problem. Every time you pop the card in, after you've installed the drivers, the laptop will hang (actually, the laptop is running - but the CPU usage is at 100% so everything is at a crawl). I also downloaded the latest drivers from the linksys website and searched the hp website for help. In addition I called the linksys help line and they said they never heard of this - but I've been seeing alot of similiar reviews for this card. If you are in the same situation that I am in, I suggest you try another card. Linksys obviously doesn't work with all laptops.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disabled my CD drive on Sony r505g notebook
Review: This product appears to have been poorly tested and rushed out the door. The installation of the unsigned Xindows XP driver apparently interefered with the operation of my Sony VAIO r505GL docking station's CD-RW/DVD drive (it no longer reads data). Uninstallation of both drivers and reinstallation of the drive's driver resolves this issue. Additionally, the device was unable to achieve a connection with linksys's WAP11 802.11B access point with a Windows XP home system ( even after ensuring that Wireless zero service is enabled, and following the advice in other reviews in Linksys's Knowledgebase). I am also unable to connect to public hotspots with this device, though it works fine with the Linksys G router. IT is possible that I have defective hardware, but Linksys support has ben tremendously unresponsive to my numerous complaints regarding the device. In short, wait a few months or look to another vendor.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Could not configure router
Review: I bought this product from Amazon.com and had to return it. It would not be configured. I owned the previous model (802.11b standard) and installed it with no problem. I purchased this and could not get it to work, even after calling tech support.

I have Win XP, and could not figure out what was wrong, so I had to send it back.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent product! Setup in 10 minutes.
Review: I just received the Linksys 54G router and network card and within 10 minutes I was surfing the net. I couldn't tell a difference in connection speed between my old hardwire cable modem and the 54G wireless system. I did have some issues getting connected via my secure company connection though. Other than that, it was instant and fast. Now I can work on the back deck with a beer at cable modem speed without wires. The freedom is well worth the money.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: No problems
Review: This works fine on my HP notebook. No problems. I like the Norton's Security software that comes with it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Requires XP Wireless Zero Configuration Service be enabled
Review: I installed the WPC54G with the WRT54G Router on a Sony GR-390 with Windows XP. The Router configuration went well using the included disk. After going to the Linksys site and downloading the most current driver for the PC card, the PC card installation seemed ok. The problem was that the PC card showed inactive and would not communicate with the router. I ran msconfig and checked the services tab and did not have Wireless Zero Configuration on the list. This is required to configure the wireless connection. Sony (and probably other OEMs) elected not to start this process in the Windows Registry. This is most likely the problem many XP users are having. It can be corrected by editing the Windows Registry to automatically start WZCSVC, but this should not be attempted unless you know how (if you must ask how, you should not be trying it). After making this change and using the Linksys knowledge base article ID KB10934338 mentioned in another review, everything works well.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: okay card, terrible software
Review: If you purchase this card, you're going to get the consumer-level, mid-grade card that you're paying for. This will probably be perfectly fine for you if there aren't any considerable obstacles (e.g. brick walls) between you and your base station, and if you don't need to configure the WEP encryption.

Side-by-side, a Lucent wireless card gets a better signal and is able to maintain it through aforementioned obstacle (brick wall). This Linksys card has a weaker signal and flaps quite a bit. The Cisco 802.11b card is allegedly better than the Lucent card, and I haven't had the occassion to test one of those.

Having said that, this card does function fine when operating under conditions that are more wireless-friendly.

The software, on the other hand, is a nightmare if you need to configure the WEP encryption. I accidentally entered data into the WEP Passphrase field, for example, and I could not find a way to clear that data without editing my registry. Even if you only have one WEP key, you'll need to enter it in all 4 available key fields. You'll repeatedly get an error message about key length if you leave a key field blank. Copy-and-paste functionality appears to be unavailable (it is actually hiding under the right mouse button when you click on text entry fields), which is annoying when you have to enter the same 26-digit hex key 4 times. In short, it's non-intuitive and potentially disastrous for someone who isn't comfortable with regedit.

If you don't need advanced configuration features, and you're going to use this card in a reasonably small area with few obstacles, you will probably be perfectly happy with this card. Otherwise, I'd recommend spending another [$$$] and going with Lucent's or Cisco's 802.11b cards.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great product, minor glitch when installing on XP
Review: I've been using Linksys networking products for the home for 2+ years now and feel they are good value for the $. Documentation has historically been poor but I think Linksys is attempting to correct that problem.

For this new 802.11g network-interface card (or NIC) I installed it on my laptop with Windows XP. The install appeared to be OK but I later learned that the Linksys WLAN Monitor software/utility did not install as part of this process. I had to go back to the CD and install it, and then all was OK.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works nicely!
Review: I installed this card into an old Sony Vaio PCG-F160 laptop - i.e, a 300mhz laptop running at it's max memory of 192mb! I just upgraded to Windows XP SP 1 on it. (And believe it or not, XP runs at a decent speed even!)
I also use a WRT546 wireless-G broadband router/WAP, and 2 WMP54G cards for my two desktops.
I have had very little trouble with the card's functionality - it communicates very well with the WRT54G router. It is nice to be able to take the laptop anywhere in my home and have my broadband internet connection ready at a moment's notice.
Pros of the card and software:
*The setup was REALLY easy!
*Network connection appears to be stable and quite reliable
most of the time
*Speeds are MUCH FASTER than my wired LAN when I use Ad-Hoc
mode on my router to transfer files between my other pcs.
*Linksys actually knows how to buld their products
with a sense of aesthetic STYLE. Have you seen the other
brands out there? Some are downright "FUGLY"! Not
everyone cares about appearance for their wireless
components. But *I* do.

Cons:
*The edge of the WPC54G that sticks out of my laptop is raised and prevents me from using my RJ45 wired lan card without removing the wireless card first. Not that I need the wired connection any longer. Still, HIGHLY annoying!
*If you currently have a 2.4 ghz cordless phone, you may need to buy a 900mhz, or the new 5.8ghz cordless phones. When I or my significant other use the 2.4ghz phone , the wireless network is SOMETIMES, not always, disrupted momentarily, although reconnection is quickly reestablished - about 5 seconds or so - it seems to be a problem only when initially taking the phone "off the hook". Once a conversation is in progress, the network seems to be stable once again. Also, there are 11 channels you can select from when setting up your network on the WRT54G router(and on the notebok card too of course), ranging from 2.412Gghz to 2.462Ghz. I curently use channel 6, which is 2.437Ghz. Maybe using a different channel would alleviate, or at least minimize, this annoyance..?
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The software takes a little getting used to at first. The "WLAN Monitor" software is very simplistic to use, but the WEP encryption/passphrase aspects had me confused for a little bit. I still have a lot of experimenting to do with my new wirelsss-G network, but so far: AWESOME!


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