I have a Win 2000 laptop with a Xircom wired lan adapter (PCMCIA) and a wireless lan pcmcia. I use them one at a time on the same slot. On a different slot, I have a dialup modem installed (Xircom).

The wired lan card connects well to our dlink wireless router and has good internet connection. DHCP is set to automatic.

My wireless lan card needs to be set manually to connect to the router. And it has slower speed than the wired lan. But that's not the big problem

This is my settings that work for the dlink:

IP Address : 192.168.0.254
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1

Preferred DNS server address: 192.168.0.1

Wins : 192.168.0.1


The problem is how come the wireless lan card cannot be set to work with automatic dhcp? I cannot connect to the internet with my account's hotspots at different coffee shops. Well, in automatic dhcp mode, i was able to connect to one cafe. But the rest are problematic.

I don't think that is the fix. I had my connection issues after a fresh OS install.

open up a command prompt and type in - netsh int ip reset reset.log

Have you checked your router to ensure DHCP is enabled for your router and giving more leases than the one your wired card gives?

Some people drop the DHCP list to 1 connection as they only use 1 PC but the minute you add another NIC you actually need 2 IP's so the DHCP won't give the second one...

Another thought have you tried resetting your TCP/IP stack maybe something got corrupted with the card swapouts and is causing problems.

(I like option 2 better as this would also explain why you aren't connecting at most hotspots.)

Hrm nowhere in your first post did you mention having this problem, reformatting, and it still occuring.... sounds like flakey hardware then.

Well just a stab here cause my built-in WiFi works great in my toshiba, but I've had great response with all my Xircom stuff. I'd bet those hotspots have a good deal of security and perhaps a small setting is preventing the negotiation to complete.

Are you able to recreate the problem with convential DHCP setups ie. LAN's? Have you run an ipconfig /all at any of the HS' to see what settings you got?

What exactly do I type after the command prompt? Tried the one posted and it didn't recognize the command.

I tried setting the wired lan manually. Then set the wirless lan to automatic dhcp. That didn't work. So I disabled the wired lan. Wireless is now working. BUt speed is very slow. Just like a bad dialup.

Oh you mean the reset command is new to XP only?

I use netsh fairly regualrly even on W2K though I must admit I never used it to reset the TCP/IP stack.

Then what you need is the Winsock Fix - http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html (and yes this does work on W2K as well)

How do I reset my tcp/ip stack?

I guess you didn't notice he's running 2K, not XP-SP2.