Installing U.S. Robotics USR5410 in XP

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

I just bought a U.S. Robotics USR5410, 802.11g PC Card. So far, it's
working great.

It has the best reception of any wireless PC Card I've used and it's the
only one that I've been able to get to work on Win98SE TPs (240x & T20).

The USR 802.11g Wireless Turbo Configuration Utility works OK in win98SE
but when I tried installing the card in XP, it seems to conflict with
the native XP wireless connection utility.

Is there any way to install the USR5410 and let XP install drivers
without using the USR installation program?

--
Chas. verktyg@aol.spamski.com (Drop spamski to E-mail me)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

I suggest you check the documentation that came with the USR5410.
Sometimes if you let Windows install the drivers it thinks you need,
you end up with a big mess that's hard to fix.

 

[BigJim]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

have you tried starting xp then hot-plugging the card in.

"* * Chas" <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote in message
news:y7Cdnci73qZ4jiPfRVn-tg@comcast.com...
>I just bought a U.S. Robotics USR5410, 802.11g PC Card. So far, it's
> working great.
>
> It has the best reception of any wireless PC Card I've used and it's the
> only one that I've been able to get to work on Win98SE TPs (240x & T20).
>
> The USR 802.11g Wireless Turbo Configuration Utility works OK in win98SE
> but when I tried installing the card in XP, it seems to conflict with
> the native XP wireless connection utility.
>
> Is there any way to install the USR5410 and let XP install drivers
> without using the USR installation program?
>
> --
> Chas. verktyg@aol.spamski.com (Drop spamski to E-mail me)
>
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

"BigJim" <woody10277@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ZY-dnbbGD7CugiPfRVn-jA@comcast.com...
> have you tried starting xp then hot-plugging the card in.

Tried that first. The Hardware Wizard can't find any drivers, they're
buried in the software installation file (setup.exe).

The USR instructions say to install the software first and then insert
the PC Card.

I recall reading something about setting up Windows Zero Configuration
utility without having to install the manufacturer's software. Any
ideas?

Chas.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

"GomJabbar" <dkbatson@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1119760112.404266.178910@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> I suggest you check the documentation that came with the USR5410.
> Sometimes if you let Windows install the drivers it thinks you need,
> you end up with a big mess that's hard to fix.
>

I read somewhere that there is a way to get around using the
manufacturer's drivers and just go with Windows Zero Configuration
utility. Any ideas?

Chas.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

You can try the 'Add Hardware' wizard in Windows and look to see if
your specific hardware is listed. If so, it would probably work OK.
You could do a Google search on microsoft.com and see if Microsoft has
a driver on their site for your specific device.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

* * Chas wrote:
> "BigJim" <woody10277@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:ZY-dnbbGD7CugiPfRVn-jA@comcast.com...
>> have you tried starting xp then hot-plugging the card in.
>
> Tried that first. The Hardware Wizard can't find any drivers, they're
> buried in the software installation file (setup.exe).
>
> The USR instructions say to install the software first and then insert
> the PC Card.
>
> I recall reading something about setting up Windows Zero Configuration
> utility without having to install the manufacturer's software. Any
> ideas?
>
> Chas.

First, mount the CD and search to find *.inf. There should be one for
Win9x and one for XP/2K probably in separate folders. Copy the entire
folder (to include *.cat and *.sys files) to your HD. Right-click the
inf and select Install (without the card inserted). This installs the
driver. Then insert the card. It should be identified.

If you cannot find the *.inf file, then go the USR and download the
latest driver version.

To disable the USR utility, Start/Run command, type: msconfig[enter].
Select the startup tab, find the USR utility by name and uncheck the box
in front of it. Reboot. Alternatively, Start/Run command/type:
regedit[enter] and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and
find the entry for the USR utility and delete the key for it.

To remove the USR utility permanently, Control Panel/Add Remove Programs
and uninstall the utility. The driver, if already installed should
remain installed unless USR has done something different than one would
normally expect.

To disable Wireless Zero Configuration, Control Panel/Administrative
Tools, Services option. Find WZC in the list, right click Stop to stop
the service. Right-click Properties and set the Startup type to
Disabled. Reboot

One of these should get you to where you want to be.

Q

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 07:02:52 -0600, "Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net>
wrote:

>To disable the USR utility, Start/Run command, type: msconfig[enter].
>Select the startup tab, find the USR utility by name and uncheck the box
>in front of it. Reboot. Alternatively, Start/Run command/type:
>regedit[enter] and navigate to
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and
>find the entry for the USR utility and delete the key for it.

If you're going to play with the startup options, I suggest you use a
utility made for the purpose. Some drivers start in more than one
place in the registry. I suggest Starup Inspector for Windoze:
| http/www.WindowsStartup.com
This is especially useful as the MSCONFIG program supplies with XP
does not allow one to resize the window making it difficult to see
what is happening.

Also, there are installations that leave considerable junk behind in
temporary files that interfere with susequent attempts at
reinstallation. Programs that drop read-only temporary files or
read-only directories during startup are the major culprits. For
these, I use one of the disk cleanup utilities such as:
| http/www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/
There are more powerful and elaborate programs available, which will
clean out unused registry entries, unreferenced DLL's, and uninstalled
program registry entries. These must be used very carefully to avoid
a trashout and are overkill for simple cleaup tasks. (Make sure you
have the sound enabled when you run CLEANUP40. Heh-heh.)


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http/www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

In alt.internet.wireless * * Chas <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote:
> Is there any way to install the USR5410 and let XP install drivers
> without using the USR installation program?

If you have already installed the USR5410 drivers, it's harder, maybe
nearly impossible.

Locate the .inf for this card, adn see if you can easily determine which
drivers *.sys, where copied to the Windows directories. Make note of them,
or copy the .inf file to some place for later reference.

With the card installed, use whatever uninstall program the USR program
comes with, followed by going to the Windows Device Manger, and
uninstalling the device.

Take the card out and reboot. Go back to the Device Manager, click on
view, show hidden devices, and then go down to the network adapters and
verify that the card is not there. Delete it if it is.

If you have Windows XP with Service Pack 2, from a clean start, you can
make some other connection to the internet, maybe wired. Insert the new
card, and let Windows search the web for drivers. Nothing from the
Wireless Maufacturer's CD, nor web site.

If it doesn't ask if it can search the web or look to a CD, it is probably
using the drivers you already installed. That might be okay. If you still
don't like it, uninstall the card again, and move the *.sys files mentioned
in the .inf file out of the Windows directories, and try again.

You can look at the properties of the card to see what drivers were loaded.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 19:35:19 -0700, "* * Chas" <dnafutz@aol.spam.com>
wrote:

>I just bought a U.S. Robotics USR5410, 802.11g PC Card. So far, it's
>working great.
>
>It has the best reception of any wireless PC Card I've used and it's the
>only one that I've been able to get to work on Win98SE TPs (240x & T20).
>
>The USR 802.11g Wireless Turbo Configuration Utility works OK in win98SE
>but when I tried installing the card in XP, it seems to conflict with
>the native XP wireless connection utility.
>
>Is there any way to install the USR5410 and let XP install drivers
>without using the USR installation program?

I've never used this card, so the following are just some general
suggestions (and a summary of the suggestions from other posters):

1. Look for an uninstall option that will leave the drivers and
uninstall the USR utility.

2. Look for just the XP drivers on the install CD or the
manufacturer's web site (usually an .inf file and a .sys file). These
are often labeled as Windows 2000 drivers. Then use device manager to
install just the drivers, and use MS Zero Config for wireless setup.
(This works well with a Linksys card I have).

3. See if you can get just the drivers from the MS Windows driver
install wizard (which requires a second network connection).

4. See if you can disable loading the USR configuration utility (look
in the start-up folders and in the run hive in the registry). Then
just use Zero Config for wireless setup. (This also works with a
Linksys card I have).

5. Uncheck the box in Zero Config that states "Use Windows to
configure my wireless network" and just use the USR utility.

 

[Andrew]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

In comp.sys.laptops * * Chas <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote:
: I just bought a U.S. Robotics USR5410, 802.11g PC Card. So far, it's
: working great.

: It has the best reception of any wireless PC Card I've used and it's the
: only one that I've been able to get to work on Win98SE TPs (240x & T20).

: The USR 802.11g Wireless Turbo Configuration Utility works OK in win98SE
: but when I tried installing the card in XP, it seems to conflict with
: the native XP wireless connection utility.

Why does it conflict? What do you mean? What do you see in Device
Manager? Any yellow (!) next to the network device? If the drivers
aren't installed correctly, try to install them correctly.

Here's what I've done: if you have a yellow'ed device in drive
driver, remove it. Then do Control Panel -> Add New Hardware. You
should be prompted to install this device. If you let it pick a
device, try installing whatever device it picks. If that still
doesn't work, you may find that after Setup ran it uncompressed/copied
some drivers a program directory for the card - try browsing to the
..inf files you might find there. Sometimes it is just a matter of
installing/re-installing the drivers a few times to get it right, even
in XP.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
*******************************************************************
----> http/www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
*******************************************************************

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

"Andrew" <usenetMYSHOES@bizaveMYSHOES.com> wrote in message
news:cddzcasdfyhj4923435411@bizaveMYSHOES.com...
| In comp.sys.laptops * * Chas <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote:
| : I just bought a U.S. Robotics USR5410, 802.11g PC Card. So far, it's
| : working great.
|
| : It has the best reception of any wireless PC Card I've used and it's
the
| : only one that I've been able to get to work on Win98SE TPs (240x &
T20).
|
| : The USR 802.11g Wireless Turbo Configuration Utility works OK in
win98SE
| : but when I tried installing the card in XP, it seems to conflict
with
| : the native XP wireless connection utility.
|
| Why does it conflict? What do you mean? What do you see in Device
| Manager? Any yellow (!) next to the network device? If the drivers
| aren't installed correctly, try to install them correctly.
|
| Here's what I've done: if you have a yellow'ed device in drive
| driver, remove it. Then do Control Panel -> Add New Hardware. You
| should be prompted to install this device. If you let it pick a
| device, try installing whatever device it picks. If that still
| doesn't work, you may find that after Setup ran it uncompressed/copied
| some drivers a program directory for the card - try browsing to the
| .inf files you might find there. Sometimes it is just a matter of
| installing/re-installing the drivers a few times to get it right, even
| in XP.
|
| Andrew

Thanks for the input. Conflict was the wrong choice of words. The card
has always worked great. I only want the card inserted in my laptop when
I use it at a Wi-Fi hotspot 2 -3 times a week.

What was happening was I had to switch between the XP Wireless
Connection Utility Tray Icon and the USR Tray Icon to get the card
switched on and configured each time I used it. I wanted to use the XP
Windows Zero Configuration Utility instead of the US Robotics program.
I've given up on WZC and disabled the service. Now it's only the USR
utility.

Chas.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

"* * Chas" <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote in message
news:y7Cdnci73qZ4jiPfRVn-tg@comcast.com...
| I just bought a U.S. Robotics USR5410, 802.11g PC Card. So far, it's
| working great.
|
| It has the best reception of any wireless PC Card I've used and it's
the
| only one that I've been able to get to work on Win98SE TPs (240x &
T20).
|
| The USR 802.11g Wireless Turbo Configuration Utility works OK in
win98SE
| but when I tried installing the card in XP, it seems to conflict with
| the native XP wireless connection utility.
|
| Is there any way to install the USR5410 and let XP install drivers
| without using the USR installation program?

Thanks for all the input and suggestions. The only reason I want
wireless is to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots several times a week and
occasionally for wireless networks at motels.

I only want the card inserted when I need to use it. I don't want the
wireless software running in the background when it's not needed.

The USR 802.11g, USR5410 PC Card works great, even with Win98SE.

I use a number of laptops but most of the time I'm working with a IBM
240x that I carry around in my car. I wanted to use XP's Wireless Zero
Configuration so that I had the fewest number of steps to get a wireless
connection.

I tried installing the USR drivers without their configuration utility.
USSR's installation program uses InstallShield and runs from Setup.exe,
it's the same file for 98/ME/Win2k/XP. The instructions say install the
software and restart then insert the card. What they don't tell you is
the New Hardware Wizard comes up and you have to dance through letting
the Wizard find the USR drivers. Once done, it works well on Win98SE but
it conflicts with XP's Wireless Zero Configuration.

I tried copying the drivers and .INF file to a floppy then uninstalling
the USR Utility, and letting the New Hardware Wizard install just the
drivers (it usually works with the .INF file) but they wouldn't install.

What I ended up doing was disabling Wireless Zero Configuration service
and reinstalling the USR software. The USR Utility puts an icon in the
Start Menu Startup folder. It doesn't show up in MSCONFIG!

I deleted the Startup icon. Now when I want to use the wireless card, I
insert it, boot up and then go into Network Configuration and Enable it.
The USR Utility automatically detects the card, and connects to a
network (not necessarily the one I want).

Thanks again,

Chas.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

> I deleted the Startup icon. Now when I want to use the wireless card, I
> insert it, boot up and then go into Network Configuration and Enable it.
> The USR Utility automatically detects the card, and connects to a
> network (not necessarily the one I want).
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Chas.

Seems like a lot of effort to save 0.1% of your processor power or system
resrouces. Is your PC that close to the edge that running the little ap
makes a difference?

Tony

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

In alt.internet.wireless * * Chas <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote:
> What was happening was I had to switch between the XP Wireless
> Connection Utility Tray Icon and the USR Tray Icon to get the card
> switched on and configured each time I used it.

I made a small bat file, and then put two shortcuts on the desktop, in the
bottom right, so they look like they're in the systray ;-)

<http/support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311272> provides
an executable called DevCon for Device Control.

devcon status * > all_devices.txt
will give a text file with all of the devices and the current status.
Find the name of your WiFi card there... Mine is an SMC2435W.

PCI\VEN_104C&DEV_8400&SUBSYS_8402104C&REV_00\5&2509CBFA&0&0051F0
Name: SMC2435W 22 Mbps Wireless Cardbus Adapter

devcon status "PCI\VEN_104C&DEV_8400*"
ensure that this shows only the status from the one device that you want to
affect. (It's interesting what shows up under the same "VEN_" number.)

I made a batch file with one line:
devcon %1 "PCI\VEN_104C&DEV_8400*"

then I put two shortcuts to the bat file on my desktop, adjusting the
properties so that one has a "target" of the bat file enable, and another
shortcut for disable.
"C:\downloads\DevCon\2435.bat" enable
I even picked clever icons for the two shortcuts ;-)

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

"Tony Field" <anthony.field@NOSPAMntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:VwCwe.16733$BD2.13154@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
|
| > I deleted the Startup icon. Now when I want to use the wireless
card, I
| > insert it, boot up and then go into Network Configuration and Enable
it.
| > The USR Utility automatically detects the card, and connects to a
| > network (not necessarily the one I want).
| > Chas.
|
| Seems like a lot of effort to save 0.1% of your processor power or
system
| resrouces. Is your PC that close to the edge that running the little
ap
| makes a difference?
|
| Tony

It's not a matter of power savings. The system is a PIII 500 240x with
192MB of memory running XP SP2 so it's not real powerful but it works
fine for what I'm using it for (ACT!, Street Atlas, Excel, Word and the
internet). I don't want a wireless card antenna hanging out of it all
the time for the 1 or 2 times a week that I may use it.

The big annoyance was the steps that I was having to go through to
enable the wireless card. Now it's only 2-3 steps to get it running.

I carry this and/or an identical 240x running Win98SE in my car and use
them as large Palm Pilots. I have an almost new X31 that I don't want to
subject to the daily abuse that the 240x TPs take ($300 investment vs. a
$2000 investment).

BTW, the USR5410 works much better than the IBM A/B/G internal car on my
X31.

Chas.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless,comp.sys.laptops,ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad (More info?)

"* * Chas" <dnafutz@aol.spam.com> wrote in message
news:gd6dnZOYiOAaFl7fRVn-vA@comcast.com...

> It's not a matter of power savings. The system is a PIII 500 240x with
> 192MB of memory running XP SP2 so it's not real powerful but it works
> fine for what I'm using it for (ACT!, Street Atlas, Excel, Word and the
> internet). I don't want a wireless card antenna hanging out of it all
> the time for the 1 or 2 times a week that I may use it.

One last thought. You could get a wireless bridge. Something that connects
to the Ethernet port. The wireless bridge is a self contained unit. OK this
would be another investment, but it would not take any power to ruin the
wireless only the ethernet port which is probably fairly low.

Tony