WindowXPP SP2 Wireless issues

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Hi -

I purchased a new laptop computer with built in wireless B/G and have had
problems from the get go. The manufacture Acer model Aspire 2012WMLi uses a
mini PCI Intel wireless card. I setup my router to mixed mode since my wife
uses a PowerBook at 11Mbs. I'm aware of the issues with XP losing the
wireless connection and Centrino based laptops. The manufacture advised that
this issue would be addressed with SP2 release. In the meantime I change my
router to B mode only with great results. While in the B mode my XPP machine
maintained a solid continuous 11Mbs connection. One of the issues while
running in mixed mode was that the connection speed would vary greatly from
54Mbs down to 1Mbs for no apparent reason. Of course the connection would
drop and XPP would announce that there were multiple connections (neighbors)
available however I would have a terrible time reconnecting. As mentioned
when I changed the router to B (11Mbs) mode everything stablized and locked
my connection at 11Mbs with a through-put to my cable connection at 3Mbs.
Pardon my long winded background however today Microsoft pushed SP2 to my
machine, I had been waiting hopefully with the SP2 install my problem would
be fixed as promised by my manufacture.

After I installed SP2, the first thing I did was turn off the new firewall
and started to evaluate the new wireless client included with SP2. What I
found was with this new client even with my router in B mode only I started
to have exactly the same problems I experienced with mixed mode B and G on my
router. You can image how frustrating this was to me. I experimented with
several setting in the client and found that if I forced my machine to work
only in the B mode my connection once again became reliable at a solid 11Mbs.
My question is this. Is my problem a hardware problem or a software
problem? My first thought was software however I'm starting to think think
hardware.

Thank you in advance for your cousel.

My best,

Larry