Interference with MA401 Wireless Card
 

I have just installed the Netgear MA401RA Wireless Card and it seems to be recognized (I'm getting 2 happy beeps) but when it's plugged in I am getting a constant feedback noise from the laptop speakers? I understand that this isn't necessarily a "networking" issue, but it is somewhat related. Is there a way to disable my soundcard temporarily or some other workaround to elimininate this humming noise?

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks, I'm a bit of a newbie.

Is this offhand a compaq? I've seen this exact same thing in a Compaq Presario 1200, it would only happen when their was traffic over the line, didn't happen with a wired card, dunno why... I got it to go away when I physically disconnected the speakers when I had it open once, nothing software wise would get rid of it.

Cheers,

Finegan

I have the same issue on my laptop. I have a compaq presario 1800XL-650 and a linksys WPC11v3. I hear the interference all the time. I have heard that this happens on a newer Compaq 1525us too. Definitely sounds like a compaq specific issue, dont know if it has got to do anything with JBL active speakers.

The interesting thing is, if I hold the head of the wireless card, it somehow shields it and stops the interference.

Finegan, on a different note... I'm getting a more and more of those 'Error writing Tx Descriptor to BAP' errors these days. More often when the card gets warm after a certain period of use. When it does that, I try to un-configure the interface and cardctl eject, but sometime it says "ioctl() device or resource busy" in which case I have to physically pull the card out, let it cool down a bit ( I have even tried putting it in the freezer for a minute, but what needs to go in there is the laptop, heh ) and use it again.

I'm running 128 bit WEP which I hear makes it more prone to errors because of all the extra work the card has to do to encrypt the data. What I'm curious about is whether if this is WPC11 specific or not.

Wanna hear something funny? I think its a grounding issue, no kidding, put you finger under the edge of the wireless card, right up against the body of the laptop, make certain you're touching the card and the laptop, and push up slightly and the sound will disappear. This won't happen on a wired card as the wired card is, because of the ethernet cable, grounded.

Lovely engineering that is, compaq.

Cheers,

Finegan