Adding a second computer

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Lawren, I would call Linksys' technical support. They will run you through it. I always call late at night if I need help. They won't help you if any of the other wireless gadgets are not Linksys. This is why I wouldn't buy two different makes and returned the Netgear card.

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

Lawren, what network connection options does your laptop give you? Typically, you'll see modem and ethernet and, if you do have a wireless card installed, wireless or, in Apple-speak, Airport

We have 5 computers running wireless (with an ethernet bridge to 2 others) using 3 WDS routers (Airports), a 500W amplifier and outdoor antennas.

Steve could find our network about 1/2 mile away but our neighbors are about that far away too.

Once you figure out if the wireless card is there and functioning, the rest will be easy. I found the hardest part with our system was sync'ing the WDS and ethernet bridges, but you won't have to mess with any of that stuff.

You're gonna love wi-fi. I'm sitting out on the patio in the cool evening air typing this, while my wife is in the kitchen on her iMac video chatting with one of her girlfriends. The "router" is a couple hundred feet away in our shop office. Very cool...

Pat

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I have Netgear and it stinks! we are always getting throw off....time to upgrade to Linksys.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Are you sure that your laptop has an onboard wireless card??
If so it should detect it pretty easily.

Well guess what? No wireless card because I can't find the Wireless Icon in the network setting or anywhere in the computer settings.

So my friend's mother misunderstood the guy.

SO before I run out to Best Buy.....does it need a Linksys 802.11g Compact Wireless USB Adapter AND Belkin 802.11g Wireless-G Notebook Card

or just the adapter would work?

It is an older IBM Thinkpad but been redone with XP.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I may have an old wireless B card laying around. If you want it let me know and I will try finding it. It is somewhere not far away in a land near to me. I just have no idea how near it is. I am sure it is somewhere within the walls of my house.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Lawren, I would stick with Linksys so you will get technical help if you need it later. The way I would do this is go on their web site and put in the model number that you have already and see what model number PC card they recommend for your laptop. They will give you the models that work well together. You can also do it by phone which I prefer or take the model number to the store and ask over there. They may recommend a different make because it is on sale but then you will get no technical help later if you need it.

Good luck with setting it up but once it is done, you will like the freedom.

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

Well guess what? No wireless card because I can't find the Wireless Icon in the network setting or anywhere in the computer settings.

So my friend's mother misunderstood the guy.

SO before I run out to Best Buy.....does it need a Linksys 802.11g Compact Wireless USB Adapter AND Belkin 802.11g Wireless-G Notebook Card

or just the adapter would work?

It is an older IBM Thinkpad but been redone with XP.

Lawren, You don't need a USB adapter just a wireless card of some sort, most should work. Once you install that in your laptop you should see the wireless network.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Lawren, You don't need a USB adapter just a wireless card of some sort, most should work. Once you install that in your laptop you should see the wireless network.

Thanks Ken

I have successfully done all sorts of card installs and upgrades to my Dell desktop. Hopefully an IBM Thinkpad A31 won't be any harder than that. I will buy the card by weeks' end and get this sucker up and running before school ends and we have bloodshed here.

Do you have any faves? or should I stick by Linksys as Emmy suggests? ( so far I like their support)

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I know I am going to hear it but I recommend to stay away from Linksys. There service is good and you will be calling them often. I had a linksys and I had nothing but headaches. I have been using a D Link without trouble for a year and a half.

You can get a d link wireless card for $35 after rebate from Amazon. plus no tax and free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Frank, you won't hear from me because I only know Linksys and I know that other companies are just as good or even better? I like the support if I need it and yes, I have called them often.

Belkin seems to be much easier to install and your make too without any problems. My main message to Lawren was not to mix several makes together but I may be wrong here too. I just want the technical help if I need it and Linksys provides this even after many years. It's time that I update my stuff but it works so why should I? I'll wait until the next computer.

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

Lawren,
I have used several different kinds of wireless cards and have never had trouble accessing my Linksys setup with any of them. That being said I would stick with one of the name brands Linksys, Belkin, D Link, etc. Some of the cheaper brands sometimes do stuff a little bit differently. I have a ZyXel card that I got for practically nothing at a CompUSA sale and although it works great it has a weird proprietary program that has to be run and it can't be set up and configed with the reg Windows stuff.
Frank, I know that some folks have some problems with Linksys products but you gotta remember, there are a lot of them out there so there are going to be some lemons. I recommend Linksys tofolks primarily because there is so much info out there (in forums, etc) about their products just because of their numbers.
Many of the other brands are just as good or better as far as quality and I find that most major brands work pretty well.

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

Lawren, how did you make out with hooking up the laptop?

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Lawren, how did you make out with hooking up the laptop?

I haven't had 30 minutes this week to run out and buy the card.....hoping tomorrow.

Thanks for asking. I'll keep you posted on status.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Lawren,

When you said old thinkpad, that automatically means there is no built in wireless. Since you have the new Linksys wireless router, any PC card will do from Best Buy. If you are running Windows XP, it will be plug and play. If you are running an old OS, I would either upgrade the laptop to Windows XP or simply buy a new one. It may not be worth the trouble. I used to run my home network with multiple OS's and it sucked. You can't easily share network resources.

One problem you may have is the driver for the PC card. To get the most uptodate version, just plug an ethernet cable into your router (I am assuming you bought a wireless router and not just a WAP that you plugged into your VoIP router.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Lawren,

When you said old thinkpad, that automatically means there is no built in wireless. Since you have the new Linksys wireless router, any PC card will do from Best Buy. If you are running Windows XP, it will be plug and play. If you are running an old OS, I would either upgrade the laptop to Windows XP or simply buy a new one. It may not be worth the trouble. I used to run my home network with multiple OS's and it sucked. You can't easily share network resources.

One problem you may have is the driver for the PC card. To get the most uptodate version, just plug an ethernet cable into your router (I am assuming you bought a wireless router and not just a WAP that you plugged into your VoIP router.

It is an IBM Thinkpad A31 running Windows XP pro. and yes I bought the Linksys Wireless - G 2,4 GHZ Version 6 model WRT54G.

My desktop runs XP home. I hope there won't be any issues with those two. Shouldn't be...

I don't have to be to work tomorrow until 3:30PM so should be able to buy and install it and get everything up and running. Will walk into Best Buy and buy whatever they have that has a reasonable spped to it at a decent price.

I have been very hard-pressed for time this week. I work 6 days a week as it is. Preparing for contractor and electrician coming Monday at 8AM.