Intel 2100B Reliability?

[lilserenity]

Hello,

Again I have searched but not drawn a clear straight down the line answer.

I have tried both new and old drivers for the Intel 2100B mini PCI wireless card in my T40 and have since upgraded it all to a legit working copy of Windows XP SP2a etc. I'm using Windows to manage the wireless connection.

In Windows 2000 and XP, the 2100B has mostly been awful at retaining a P2P connection with my Power Mac G4 with a Broadcom based wifi chipset (on a PCI card, Belkin one, works just like an Airport Extreme... ) -- the G4 has never dropped a connection like the 2100B. Also a PowerBook G4 I had with the same Broadcom chipset never did either. It shouldn't matter that the G4 is 802.11g and the 2100b 802.11b surely?

I have no cordless phones nor a microwave. As I say the G4 doesn't loose the connection, it's always the T40 and its 2100B mini PCI card.

Is it generally considered that the 2100B is a pretty bad wifi card? I haven't heard it outright but that's the vibe I get. I am aware the 2200BG or the Atheros card is considered highly.

Is there a solution to this instability apart from shelling out more money? I have the card set to strongest signal etc. I have yet to try it with a wireless access point btw; only P2P at the moment.

As I say I have searched and found nothing quite conclusive and a heck of a lot of Linux stuff!

Thanks in advance!

Vicky

[jch]

I wasted a *lot* of time and energy trying to get the stock Intel 2100B card to work reliably in my T41. Kept dropping the connection. Just awful.

Finally shelled out the 60 bucks for an IBM/Atheros A/B/G card and never looked back. In hindsight, I should have done it when I first got the laptop rather than wasting all that time on the 2100.

My two cents.

.../j

[dorronto]

The original wifi card in my T40 was an Intel 2100b and worked fine. I have since switched to a 2200bg card (because I wanted the 54bps speed) and that works fine too. I transferred the 2100 card to a T30 and that worked fine also. There does seem to be a general, "Intel isn't the greatest card feeling" here on the forum, but actual experience is the KEY. I'm using a D-Link router at home.

Good luck,

Ron

[Wiz]

I had a T40 with the 2100B which gave me nothing but problems. I had lot of disconnects and also some bluescreens because of that card. Sometimes i had to reboot to use the wireless again because it simply stopped working. I ended up replacing the 2100B with a IBM/Atheros a/b/g and would recommend anyone using the 2100B to do the same. The Atheros was great and had no problems and all the disconnect problems were gone.

Now i have a T43P that came with a 2200BG and even if the 2200BG was much better (not hard to be better then the 2100b though) i still had disconnect problems and tried lot of different drivers. Some of the driver releases were supposed to fix disconnect problems, but i never solved that problem and read that lot of others had the same or other issues with that card. I also hate that proset API that use lof of memory and had lot of bugs (maybe most is solved now). I did the same thing and replaced the 2200bg with a IBM/Atheros 11a/b/g Wireless LAN mini PCI Adapter II and once again i no longer had any problems.

So from my experience with those two Intel wlan adapters compared to the two different types of Atheros i had and currently have i would for sure recommend Atheros and not any type of Intel wlan adapter. When i was searching for a solution for my 2200bg i also found a lot of people to complain about other Intel cards as well like the 2915abg and 3945abg.

I also install Cisco wireless networks for customers and most of the client problems i experience is clients using Intel cards. Of course there is some problems with others as well, but not as much as with the intel adapters. As long as there is any other option i would always recommend to stay away from the Intel wlan adapters.

[agarza]

I have a 2100bg installed stock on my T42p. It works fine and the connection never drops. This is my first internal PCI card I've used since I moved from a Orinoco PCMCIA Card which downloaded lot of GB's on my trusty T30.

[Wiz]

I have a 2100bg installed stock on my T42p. It works fine and the connection never drops. This is my first internal PCI card I've used since I moved from a Orinoco PCMCIA Card which downloaded lot of GB's on my trusty T30.

I don't think there is such thing as a 2100bg so i assume it's a 2200bg?

[Hotbrick]

I have a 2100bg installed stock on my T42p. It works fine and the connection never drops. This is my first internal PCI card I've used since I moved from a Orinoco PCMCIA Card which downloaded lot of GB's on my trusty T30.

I don't think there is such thing as a 2100bg so i assume it's a 2200bg?

My t42p came with a 2100b, but also had lots of disconnects; I picked up a (IBM) 2915abg from e-bay for 25 euro and had almost no disconnects anymore. Bought a Linksys WRTGL router and the problems are gone!
To me it was worth the 85 euro's to get rid of the extremely annoying disconnects!

[jdhurst]

My T41 came with an Intel 2100 card. It had all the problems it is famous for. I threw it in the garbage can, got an IBM 11 a/b/g card and never looked back.

I have successfully set up the Intel 2200 card, and I have no experience with the newer ones.
... JD Hurst

[agarza]

I have a 2100bg installed stock on my T42p. It works fine and the connection never drops. This is my first internal PCI card I've used since I moved from a Orinoco PCMCIA Card which downloaded lot of GB's on my trusty T30.

I don't think there is such thing as a 2100bg so i assume it's a 2200bg?

You're right, mine is a 2200bg, no problems at all.

[lilserenity]

Wow, what a response.

I can't thank each one of you enough, so thank you, and uhh, thank you!

This confirms what had thought about the 2100B; so I shall look into getting a 2200BG or prefrably the Atheros based card in the future. Presently I am on dialup (whooo go me! web developer with dialup...can't be a bad thing) so wireless isn't too important, but once I have ADSL sorted I'll need wireless for the Mac in my bedroom and the laptop wherever I might be in the flat. That's when I'll get the upgraded card.

I thought there had to be something up with this [censored] thing, I have used a few wireless devices in the past: the Actiontec 56K/802.11b combo card in my beloved T23 that I miss so much, an Orinoco WaveLan Gold in my PBook 1400 (hell yeah it rocks!), and the Broadcom b/g chipset on my erstwhile PBook G4 and Belkin 54b/g card in my PowerMac G4 (yeah, stuff paying £80 or something for an Airport Extreme card... Just get a Belkin card with Broadcom's chipset for £5!) All have never been unreliable unless I'm pushing the distance at 130-150ft or so.

Thanks again everybody!

Vicky

[bill bolton]

This confirms what had thought about the 2100B; so I shall look into getting a 2200BG or prefrably the Atheros based card in the future.

The Atheros based cards have their own sets of issues. WiFi connectivity can be problematic for a number of reasons which have little to do with the specific hardware in use.

Cheers,

Bill

[tomh009]

In Windows 2000 and XP, the 2100B has mostly been awful at retaining a P2P connection with my Power Mac G4 with a Broadcom based wifi chipset (on a PCI card, Belkin one, works just like an Airport Extreme... ) -- the G4 has never dropped a connection like the 2100B. Also a PowerBook G4 I had with the same Broadcom chipset never did either. It shouldn't matter that the G4 is 802.11g and the 2100b 802.11b surely?

I had no significant problems with the 2100, other than the usual 802.11b/g frequency band conflicts -- which I did manage to reduce, see below. (I now have Atheros abg cards in both of our laptops, and the home access point running 802.11a only!)

I would check how many other access points there are visible, and what channels they are on. You can best do this with NetStumbler, downloadable from here:

http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/

With 802.11b/g, there are 11 channels, but they overlap, and ideally you only use 1, 6 and 11 to ensure that there are no conflicts between the access points. However ... there is usually no rhyme or reason to the access points in a residential area, and channel conflicts can cause drop-outs in wireless connections. Take a look at what channels your neighbours are using, and then pick a channel that's as lonely as possible. That should significantly reduce the dropped connections.

I realize that it's not a solution for you, but I love 802.11a because (1) the channels don't overlap in the first place, and (2) there are few access points out there polluting the channels.

[agarza]

sugo is selling a 2200bg for 20USD. Check here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

[The Spirit of X21]

I tried installing a 2100B in my T40. Awful stuff. Kept dropping my connection. The 2200BG is definitely a better option.

[helmet4000]

I called tech support about my 2100 on my T42 and after installing 2 drivers and then updated 2100 driver it no longer drops the connection every 5 minutes...i will check the drivers when i am on that machine again and post

[helmet4000]

Here are the driver details I promised:

First they had me install these two drivers (in this order):

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 38953.html

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4GXPEG

and then finally the updated driver for the 2100 wireless:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... rintLenovo

after downloading and installing the drivers and then rebooting, the card works fine

[sktn77a]

Have had an Intel 2100b card in my T40 for 3 years and never had a problem with Belkin, Dlink or Netgear routers. All with the original factory driver also! I did upgrade the BIOS but for no other reason than morbid curiosity (and you know what curiosity did......................) I've just bought an IBM a/b/g adapter II for the increased speed and "a" option but not because of unreliability.

I think you may have other problems (like 2.4GHz interference, which won't go away with a b/g board but maybe will with the "a" channel option).

[anthax]

I have a T40 and it came too with 2100b and it's rubbish. It can hold the connection for about 5 minutes, then you have to repair connection or do something else to continue. Here in Finland those 2200bg cards for example are pretty expensive, so at the moment I'm using A-Link RT2500 chipset PCMCIA-card witch works exellent for me.

[tomh009]

Hei Anthax, I'm still curious about the circumstances under which people have trouble with the 2100b -- as it works well for many others.

In your environment, how many other wireless networks are within range for you, apart from your own, when the 2100b keeps disconnecting?

[lilserenity]

Thanks for everyone's chiming in here, excellent stuff.

I have been using the wireless a bit more this week and actually it's been a bit more reliable although I am certain to of jinxed it now by saying that.

I haven't noticed a trend where multiple wireless LANs in the area have 'confused' the 2100B, the amount of SSIDs I can see seems constant and some days are better than others.

I don't own a microwave or cordless phone so I personally don't have anything (or very little) equipment that interferes with the 2.4GHz wavelength.

As I say this week it's been pretty well behaved so maybe it's bucked its ideas up but I shall monitor it as I'm certainly not used to crappy wireless cards and I just find myself reaching for an ethernet cord when it starts playing up which defeats the object.

I tried the latest drivers and they didn't make any noticeable difference so I have rolled back to the old version and see how it goes.

Anyway, this T40 is a blinder. Love using the thing and so long as XP behaves (no reason for it not to frankly) then I shall enjoy using it every bit as much as my erstwhile Apple PowerBook G4.

Vicky

[tomh009]

I'm betting it's not the cordless phones or microwaves -- it's the other networks. And it may be that the 2100B is a little bit less resilient in the face of conflicting wireless traffic than, say, the Atheros cards.

It would still be interesting to know what channels the various networks are on, especially when you are having problems. So if you have time to run NetStumbler ...

[lilserenity]

Quite possibly.

On my PowerMac G4 right now using the T40 as an expensive 'router' of sorts by sharing the internet connection through the wireless P2P connection between them. Just a standard 40bit WEP key and using channel 10 and it's not dropped once.

NetStumbler found 3 networks including my own P2P network, so no more than the XP wireless manager found, but all using channel 11.

Maybe we found an amicable solution. Until I go into Brighton which is absolutely laced with open wireless networks, then I am sure it will have an absolute panic attack, and I don't quite fancy picking apart the WiFi settings outside a nice café in Brighton's Laines in summer....

Vicky

[tomh009]

NetStumbler found 3 networks including my own P2P network, so no more than the XP wireless manager found, but all using channel 11.

All three networks were on channel 11? If so, change your own network to channel 1 so it does not conflict with the other two. Your reliability should improve significantly. (Channel 6 would also be safe -- 1, 6 and 11 are the three non-overlapping channels on 802.11b/g.)

[BillMorrow]

just my two cents (or 2P as vicky is a brit)..

my only complaint about all the intel wifi cards i have ever had is the range is inferior to the atheros based card..

[tomh009]

I agree that Atheros cards tend to have somewhat better range -- but the Intel ones can still work well, and if you are trying to work on a tight budget (as I think Vicky is), the 2100B should be OK in the end.

[anthax]

I have my own Linksys G-network and sometimes one or two other networks, but they only sometimes and didn't have any affect on disconnections. I had two of those Ralink PCMCIA G-cards and they worked perfectly. Now I have HP nx7300 with some intel minipci card and it works perfectly. I don't think I have any cellphones or something like that messing up the signal becouse it works fine with other cards :/ I haven't tried on B-network, has it anything to do with disconnecting?

[tomh009]

So when you are getting disconnected there are no other networks? Have you checked with NetStumbler (which shows even networks that don't advertise an SSID) -- or if you haven't done so, can you do that check?

802.11b and 802.11g have the exact same radio interface so it should make no difference which one you use.

And on the 2100B -- when you are using it (and it keeps disconnecting), the signal strength is OK, right?

[anthax]

There were no other networks then when it kept disconnecting and no other things messing it up. Signal was allways perfect. I don't think I like to test that couse the card is in my desk and I would have to disassemble the whole machine again. Network connectiong just froze up

[tomh009]

Actually you should be able to run NetStumbler with your PCMCIA wireless card as well, without going to the trouble of disassembling the machine to install the 2100B.

[anthax]

I tested it and there were no other wlans at the moment. My neighbours use two wlans which are sometimes in the range so I can see them, but very rarely. So other wlans propably did not mess up my connection with 2100b.