Having trouble with Network adapter. Any ideas?

I have a Dell XPS 420 that's a little over 4 years old, it has a Broadcom 802.11g wireless network adapter in it that hasn't been used in a couple years because the antenna broke, I just bought a new 7dbi wireless wifi antenna booster that fit's.

I also just did a "clean" upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 and installed a GTX 560 TI w/ drivers, I'm trying to figure out if the network card is just shot from being out of use for 2+ years, is that normal?

My laptop is on the same wireless connection, in the same room. My laptop's connection status is:

Speed - 36 MBPS
Signal - 2-3 Bars
Sent - 17.5 Million Bytes
Received - 286 Million Bytes

Desktop:

Speed - 54 MBPS
Signal - 4-5 Bars
Sent - 11,500 Bytes
Received - 35,500 Bytes

This just seems strange, it's getting a stronger signal, is this from the new antenna? It's fluctuates a little, sometimes loads a page, next min it CRAWLS along and barely loads anything, much more of the latter. What else could be doing this? A router setting, though I doubt it cause my Xbox 360 runs fine off the router and so does my laptop.

The Desktop has been upstairs directly connected via Ethernet and the internet loaded fine. I just brought the it downstairs today and hooked up the antenna, the labeled speed and signal strength is normal, but the sent/received activity is atrocious. Is there something wrong with the type of antenna? I tried going into safe mode with networking on and still SLOW as a snail. Am I missing something, anything I can try?

The network adapter itself is only just over 4 years old, could it be on it's last leg already? Any advice or thoughts appreciated.

Hey VGJunkie.


Ok so does the wireless adapter have same characteristics if you take off the Antenna booster?


Try that so we can narrow down the issue and maybe rule it out.

If the booster is not the issue then connect your card Ethernet and look for updated drivers for your adapter. Its possible that once you installed Windows 7...the drivers are not proper or do not support Windows 7.

Let us know how it goes...

Cheezewhiz said:

Hey VGJunkie.


Ok so does the wireless adapter have same characteristics if you take off the Antenna booster?


Try that so we can narrow down the issue and maybe rule it out.

If the booster is not the issue then connect your card Ethernet and look for updated drivers for your adapter. Its possible that once you installed Windows 7...the drivers are not proper or do not support Windows 7.

Let us know how it goes...

Click to expand...

Well without the antenna the wireless adapter doesn't work at all so it needs an antenna, whether or not it's the right type or good quality antenna I'm not sure I got it cheap off eBay (http://tiny.cc/22pedw), but you might be right, there's a chance it's the drivers.

Every so often I'll get a page or two to load, and then it basically stops loading the pages, I'll bring it back upstairs tomorrow and try to find the right driver for it, if not I can try bringing the adapter up to a local radio shack or similar store. LoL, of course SC2 require's an internet connection to play

I'll keep the thread updated, thanks for helping me out, I appreciate it.

no prob dude. I would assume that playing games online is always better via Ethernet instead of wireless. When I play BF3 on my pc I get no issues while wired connection but get issue when i connect my Wireless N Belkin adapter. Get lag and stutter.

Cheezewhiz said:

no prob dude. I would assume that playing games online is always better via Ethernet instead of wireless. When I play BF3 on my pc I get no issues while wired connection but get issue when i connect my Wireless N Belkin adapter. Get lag and stutter.

Click to expand...

Good point, I'll try running a Ethernet first I think I have a 50ft cable, I have to see if it'll reach my room. Can't beat a hard line.

Cheezewhiz said:

no prob dude. I would assume that playing games online is always better via Ethernet instead of wireless. When I play BF3 on my pc I get no issues while wired connection but get issue when i connect my Wireless N Belkin adapter. Get lag and stutter.

Click to expand...

hey, just thought i'd let you know everything is up and running well , I think the adapter was being interfered by my dvr or one of my appliances. Anyway thanks for the help I'll be posting if I have any problems (knock on wood).

Sounds good. Glad its working.