Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Adapter Reviews

• Great Unit, couple of quick tips in setting up

  
  By A14JBDSWKPKTZA on 2003-04-03
  This PCI card, installed in a 300Mghz Gateway tower, running Windows ME was a relatively easy install. A couple of glitches did occur though. When I first installed it, I followed the directions, and installed the software first, shut the computer down, installed the card, and rebooted. It auto recognized, and configured, and automatically found the signal, and it was done. Almost done. The signal was there, according to the icon at the bottom of the screen, but I was unable to log onto the internet. Additionally the computer was running super slow, way slower than usual, so I uninstalled the software, then removed the card, and it was back to running normally. Here is the fix, do not choose AD HOC as your system choice when setting up. Use the selection that allows, hard wired, and wireless devices, or any combination. Once I installed it that way, it worked perfect right away. Additionally, I removed the 56K modem via Control Panel, System, then Device Manager, then highlighting the modem and click on Remove. Then when I shut down the machine, I permanently removed the modem. It was useless anyhow, with a broadband wireless connection in the machine. Wah lah, great connections, and the computer was back to flying at full speed. Now I am super happy with the performance, and the ease of setup.
  One thing that should also be mentioned is that security with a wireless system is something to address. Anyone with a wireless laptop, can drive down the road, and get a connection. Changing the name from the default network name of "Linksys" is the first step. I would set your entire network up first, get it all running, then concentrate on keeping others out. Eliminates the confusion. Additionally, some firewall software, is also a good idea.
  When installing the card in the laptop running Windows XP it almost installed itself. XP has wireless network capacity built right into it.
  Wireless is the wave of the future, and it is here now. At the Comdex show this year, it was all the rave. The hardware manufacturers are working at a feverish pitch, in order to jump on the bandwagon with all kind of add on wireless devices. Definitely a cool tool, a must have add on.
  
  

• Works great with Win XP

  
  By A2HXE29CU1I24Y on 2003-06-30
  Installation was a snap - a few minutes of one's time. Find an available PCI slot and load the included driver with the supplied CD. Once installation is complete, the card will detect all available networks in the area. All you have to do is enter the necessary WEP key (if enabled) in ASCI or HEX format, depending on the type of wireless router.

  In my case, I am using an Apple Airport Base Station for my two Apple computers. I recently added a Windows PC using XP. I initially had hesitations in wireless network compatibility for the "G" standard properly commuicating with my "B" standard Base Station. I finally decided on buying the Linksys and found that there was no compatibility issue at all.

  The signal strength is excellent. I never had any problems with my network status and online surfing experience.

  My only complaint is the unattractive long, generic-looking antenna. Compare this with other products like D-Link, Netgear and SMC Networks that have a short (flat/square design) antenna.

  Why did I settle on the Linksys brand despite the ugly antenna design? For one, I have great experience with their wireless router (BEFW11S4) which I purchased years ago during it's initial release and have not had any problem with it. Second, Linksys is the current leader in wireless technology. I am hoping that they will be able to provide excellent drivers should compatibility problems arise with the latest operating systems. Third, Linksys is owned by another leader in the networking industry, Cisco Systems. These factors should be enough to assure a sturdier product.

  But before you purchase on any product, do your own research for your specific system compatibility.
  
  

• Intermittent Disconnects

  
  By A2WHFJLN0R2PD6 on 2003-02-27
  I recently installed an entire wireless network using Linksys 54g products.

  The installation took place in one room. The router was to sit in the room with the desktop, but I also installed the laptop in that room because it was easier than walking around.

  The first issue was that a neighbor had the same system (or 802.11b) and failed to secure he network so I accidentially picked his up and was a little confused until I realized what happened.

  Now the desktop has XP, the laptop has Win2k.

  Either the linksys desktop software (Which is different from the laptop software. Why????) or the PCI card itself had problems because the wireless connection would drop all the time, and to reconnect you needed to go through this whole process (about 3 clicks every 5 minutes as it dropped). It would not reconnect automatically even when I set the network as the default network to connect to, and it would repeatedly pick up the neighbors network even though I kept deleting it (you'd think it'd be able to detect the same MAC address and once I reject it once, it never brings it up again...).

  During this time the laptop's PCMIA card worked fine.

  We ended up hard wiring the desktop to the router, because they were in the same room anyways (the laptop of course would be used to wander the house).

  Can I recommend this card then? No. It didn't work. Do I recommend the PCMIA card and the router? Yes.

  Additionally the laptop software was much more intuitive than the desktop stuff.
  
  

• Unstable at Best

  
  By A3SEXJ3LT825HS on 2004-02-14
  First of all, I am not biased against Linksys, their PCMIA Laptop cards and Wireless G gateway devices (after loading the latest firmware) are top notch, works fine and pretty stable.

  But this product is unstable at best.

  Note that my laptop is using Windows 2000 while my desktop is using Windows XP for the WMP54G.

  - The original driver disk's software crashes instantly upon autorun. Bad omen, but if you manually run the software from the subdirectory, then you can get the drivers to load, but the WLAN Monitor software will not load (the newest drivers don't help).
  - There was a time where the card worked, but unless you are good with tweaking settings/drivers and just plain lucky, then you aren't going to get this thing to work.
  - I had to reload my machine and am tweaking and after two days, can't get it to connect. It is maddening, esp when it does "see" my gateway and give the indication that it sees a signal, but won't connect.
  - And, yes, I have disabled WEP and running my network at the lowest common demominator.

  I really hate to think that I am going to have to go out and buy a diffrent manufacturer card to work with my Linksys network, but the frustrations are not worth it.

  Maybe if you are using Win 2000 with this card, then you might have better luck, but really, unless you are an Electrical Engineer with a specialty in wireless protcol design and have a friend at Linksys that can write working drivers for you...go with something else.
  
  

• Installation difficulties in Windows XP

  
  By A1S2Z53R7HMVQC on 2003-09-03
  I had a few problems getting the WMP54G to work using encryption with my router (WRT54G) under Windows XP.

  The quick installation guide implies Windows XP will detect the card and set it up automatically. It did no such thing for me; it wanted me to provide the driver manually. I highly recommend getting the latest driver from the Linksys website rather than using the one on the CD.

  I don't recommend using the Windows network wizard, or whatever the thing is called. It added a Network Bridge device with an odd IP address. I could not communicate with my router until I deleted this device. This was not intuitive at all, but again this is a Windows problem.

  On to the next problem: when I used WEP encryption (either 64 or 128-bit), the wireless connection would drop out at precisely three minutes. Everything worked fine with encryption turned off.

  I then decided to try WPA encryption, which is supposedly more secure than WEP anyway. There is a Windows XP update to add this capability to the operating system, which you'll need to install. Unfortunately I found that this didn't immediately solve my problem: WPA was not available as a selection in the wirless network setup. I then updated the driver for the WMP54G and I was able to use WPA with no problem! Again, a word of advice: do NOT use the driver on the included CD! Get the latest driver off the Linksys website. I would imagine this was the source of my WEP problems as well, but I never went back to try it. I'm happy with WPA.

  Also make sure your router's firmware is up to date. Some manufacturers have only recently added WPA capability.

  Other than these difficulties, this seems to be a great card. It works just as fast as my wired LAN connection.
  
  

• No significant problems so far.
  By A1AE4Q581RBMJR on 2004-03-15
  I've been reading other user's reviews on this product and I'm not really sure where all the problems are coming from. First off, I am a computer technician with four years experience in the field, so I am fairly familiar with computers. But I've had this product for about one month and I've noticed nothing significant in terms of problems.

  I am running 2 Linksys wireless-G PCI cards along with the Linksys wireless-G broadband router (WRT54G). I have one machine running Windows XP about 5 feet from the router. I have a second machine running Windows 2000 upstairs approximately 25 feet away from the router. The machine next to the router gets excellent signal strength and the machine upstairs gets very good signal strength which really has no negative effect on the user's experience with Internet browsing (DSL).

  These are a couple of things that I learned while installing these devices:
  - For the Windows 2000 machine (and other 9x clients), the instructions specifically say to install the software BEFORE installing the card. I have no idea why this would be the case because Windows should be Plug N Play, but for some reason, it will not detect the hardware until the software is in place. (I used the device drivers from the CD, I did not use any updated drivers from the website).
  - Do not download the latest firmware (2.02.2) to the router unless there is something wrong with the router (unless you're adventurous). I updated the router firmware to the latest version from the Linksys website as soon as I was up and running and the router stopped grabbing an IP address from my ISP. After some frustration, I finally reset the router to factory default settings and the router came back up. I don't know if that is the definitive solution to the problem, but that's what worked for me.
  - Do not power off the router by pulling the power cord from the back of the router. I have not fully investigated this yet, but it seems like the router loses its settings for WEP and SSID when it's powered off. This can cause some more frustration (especially since I'm using 128-bit WEP).

  These are the things that I found out installing my devices. But besides those issues, I have not had any other major problems. I have no comment on Linksys customer service since I never called them. I hope that those who complained about this product were able to get their problems resolved. But I have noticed nothing significant so far. I will write another review if things change in the near future.
  
  

• Setup in minutes and works great !!!
  By A3JN8V8YBISD0Z on 2003-03-19
  I installed the Linksys 54g PCI Adapter and was up and running in just minutes in combination with the Linksys Wireless 54g Router, the setup was straight forward and easy to follow.

  I have had no disconnects or problems at all, the PCI 54g Router is in another room about 30 feet away.

  I do not have any 802.11b cards to support, this makes a big difference since the current firmware implementation drops to the 11 Mbps speed if you run in "compatibility mode" and it may not work that great even then with 11b cards. But if your setting up a completely 54g based network, this works great and with the default setting this is a breeze to install.

  I also have a 2.4 GHz WaveCom transmitter right next to the Wireless Router and have had no interference problems between them (the WaveCom sends high quality NTSC Video/Stereo into the next room).
  
  

• Connect Problems? Check the "CHANNEL"
  By A8ZS7LOYGM4X5 on 2003-09-15
  I've looked around on various boards to see if anyone had a solution to the problem so often described with this product where you see a message "A wireless connection is available", and the SSID shows up as an available network, but then you can't connect to it. I don't think I've seen anyone write up the solution I found, so I'm going to give it a try here, hopefully it'll help reduce stress for at least a few other users...

  I messed around with this problem for HOURS yesterday, but decided to try fresh today... I'd decided that if I didn't get it all working today, it was all going to get boxed up and sent back tomorrow! The root cause was that the router was on one channel (6 I believe), and the WMP55G cards (at least when you install the new driver) defaults to channel 11. (I may have these reversed).

  In this configuration, the network SSID was visible to the client systems, but would NOT connect - at least not usually - they actually connected once or twice briefly with the channels mismatched, but with everything in close proximity.

  The WRT54G's channel number (assuming you're using the linksys router) is on the "setup" tab on it's web interface. (I had a PC hardwired to the router to do this - that's a good idea if you're having RF problems as I was). It's down near the bottom of the screen in the "Wireless" section. Remember to hit "APPLY" after changing it, so that it takes effect.

  The WMP54G's channel number (Windows XP - SP1 with the latest driver, anyway) is on the "Wireless G Notebook Adapter Properties" window under the "Advanced" tab. It's labeled "IBSS Channel Number". You must hit the "OK" for it to take effect.

  I THINK I tried changing the channel on the router yesterday, but failed to hit "APPLY"...

  I had been seeing the same thing over and over... the network was visible to the client computers, but wouldn't connect... Interestingly enough, my portable WOULD connect, but the two PCI cards would not. Once I got all the channels synced up, it was fine.

  You would expect that if the card and router were on different channels (especially as far apart as 6 and 11), that the network would not be visible from the cards, but that's not the case! They are visible, but just will not connect - usually anyway.

  I believe that any sort of RF problem might cause a similar symptom... a bad antenna connector, an interfering wireless phone, (another network next door?) or what have you.

  The first thing I did today was to disconnect all the wireless phones in the house BEFORE starting to troubleshoot. The next thing was to turn SSID transmit back on, and security off. Once we got the channels synced up, both PCI cards synced up right away... then I turned SSID transmit off, verified that it was OK, then put in a WEP key, verified again, then went in and restricted the mac addresses to those of my client computers. It's all working reliably now.
  
  

• Easy Installation Plug & Play
  By on 2003-02-12
  Outstanding delivery of this item. I just arrived home when UPS pulled up and completed delivery. It took all of 5 minutes to install/configure using XP. Now I have 2 pc's networked using the wireless technology provided by Linksys. Outstanding speed, I have a 2 story and it works fine with my router/cable modem in the basement.

  Excellent product.
  
  

• Problems with XP SP1a & SP2
  By A1TMG47HQF75AD on 2004-08-30
  I tried installing this on an Athlon XP running a brand-new clean install of XP Service Pack 2.
  
  XP comes up and says it has a new "network adapter" but will not accept the drivers on the Linksys disk. Running the Linksys disk by itself fails, as the Linksys setup program crashes.
  
  Manually selecting the drivers sometimes (??) works, but after about 5 mintues the card stops working and after a few "repair connection" operations, WIndows disables the card. And it won't work again until you uninstall and reinstall the drivers.
  
  Some on the net believe that some of this behavior is due to a "common" wireless pakcage MS introduced in XP SP1a, and before that as a critical Hotfix. Maybe, but it seems to be more that this card just sux.
  
  BTW, I've been dealing with computers since 1971.
  
  
• If you wish to use WPA Encryption, this is not your product!
  By A29EDMEGH39ZP3 on 2005-03-25
  I bought this thinking no problem with current Wi-Fi technology. My Linksys WRT54G Router supports WPA-SPK; as is how I set-up my home network. Our Dell laptops run WPA-PSK encryption with no problem, easy set-up. When trying to bring our desktops into the network, we discovered THIS CARD DOES NOT SUPPORT WPA ENCRYPTION WITHOUT A THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE (at your cost). Buy the "2Wire" 802.11G adapter, either USB or PCI. It works right out of the box.
  
  J Matta
  Vernon Hills, IL
  
  
• It is great once it is running
  By A3CT4Z5MO03T7D on 2003-09-18
  I run three computers on my home network using the Linksys Wireless G set up. Running my machine that is plugged into the router is a cakewalk. My suggestion is to get a computer running on your base first. Next, I recommend leaving the defaults as they are until you get your wireless computer connected. If you are connecting to an XP machine, be certain that the configuration utility didn't establish a 'bridge' connection. If it did, you'll want to disable it. In fact, disable all connections on your network screen except for the wireless connection. Once you establish a connection, start setting up your security WEP. XP will not recognize your passphrase and the Linksys software won't let you copy the wep key. What I did was type the key into note pad so that I could then copy and paste it into the XP field. Believe me, this step is a big time saver, you'll get sick of typing the key. Good luck with it, you only need to go through this mess once. It's great after its set up.
  
  
• Is dropping a problem w/ XP? There's a solution!
  By A3MOT34UE7PPY6 on 2003-11-21
  I've had my wireless configuration for quite some time, and never experienced a problem UNTIL I had an XP system built. Then, 3-4 times, every hour, I'd drop and I'd have to tinker around to reconnect.

  After a bit of research, I found the solution! XP has something called "Wireless Zero Configuration" .. and to the best of my knowledge, Linksys is simply not compatible with this. Does that mean ditch your Linksys card or USB adapter? NOPE!

  Just do a quick search on the web, and it'll tell you how to disable the Wireless Zero Configuration, and all will be well again =)
  
  

• Works fine after some installation glitch on Linux
  By A19S3JSCAIWS26 on 2004-11-30
  By nature I tend not to believe in things that are not visible in action, and radio transmission is one of them. But TV and radio always work fine so I am of course exaggerating. It is true when things go wrong with wireless, troubleshooting is harder just because it for sure is not because of a dumb human mistake like not plugging in the cord, for example. But now that this thing is working, I am a believer.
  
  With all the reviews, I just add my experience using this card with on a Debian Linux box. I have to say it was a pain in the butt to get it working in my situation. I've tried ndiswrapper as most people would suggest, but with some customization (upgraded kernel, lots of backports packages, etc.), I could never get reliable performace out of this.
  
  Now my current solution---a quite good one---is to use the RT2500 driver by www.ralinktech.com (note that older WMP54G cards use different chip, not RT2500; you have to check the version of your card). This one needs building from source, but it has been the only reliable solution for me. Note that if your system uses a lot of backports on Debian, you might need to downgrade the driver version, like I am doing right now.
  
  So when this guy is working, it does so well. But I wish it has a better Linux support. On the Window side of my machine, the installation was a breeze so it should certainly be possible for Linksys to support Linux better.
  
  
• Just recieved it .......
  By AHNPQJ3QDZOMO on 2003-02-05
  Had the wmp54g delivered a few hours ago and the install went flawlessly... connected to my linksys wrt54g straight away with DHCP with no troubles... it was as simple as popping in the PCI card and loading up with the latest driver from the linksys website.
  Initial speed seems reasonable although I have never had any 802.11b products so cant compare between the two standards... but it connects at 54mbps at a distance of over 15meters...
  If using the wrt54g with this product I recommend updating the wrt54g with the latest version of firmware from linksys as it fixs a few bugs especially if you also use b clients.
  
  
• Better news from the linksys front
  By A1JK770AD79J3X on 2003-03-21
  I wrote an earlier review with a much lower rating on this card because I (and linksys technical support) couldn't get it to stop dropping the connection. I sent the card back and got another one. It turns out that it was the card that was at fault, and I suspect, just a one-off. In other words, the linksys software, router, and wireless card now work together beautifully. Hey, anyone can have a bad day once in a while, and while I wish I didn't have to go through all the drama, all's well that ends well. By the way, Amazon was great in handling the refund on the original bad card, and got a new one (separate order, not an exchange) to me very quickly.
  
  
• BEWARE! DON'T BUY THIS CARD! NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS
  By A35N0TZ3U7T88U on 2003-10-28
  I'm not trying to pigeon-hole Linksys here, but let's be real. I've purchased 4 different Wireless-G cards, and installed them in every PCI slot in 3 different systems, with the systems running both Windows 98SE and Windows XP, and have had nothing but problems. They don't work. Yes, I have installed them in much newer systems running XP-Pro, and they worked. That's what prompted me to recommend this Linksys setup to another client running slightly older hardware. WHAT A MISTAKE!!! Linksys tech. support is absolutely horrible. In the end, the Linksys tech told me to purchase cards from another manufacturer! NO KIDDING HERE!!!! Talk about a lesson learned. I very much recommend you stay the hell away from these particular cards.
  
  
• Terrible Mechanicals, poor winXP integration
  By A3SI2SQ3W4UNWZ on 2003-11-03
  This card is an extreme departure from my experience with many other Linksys products which have been uniformly positive in my experience.

  This card is very poorly made - the antenna mount is press fit together and *very* fragile. The antenna is also a fragile construction all on its own. The lack of drivers/management utility that work well with windows XP really stinks.

  The units I purchased were returned and Belkin PCI cards were purchased instead. These have a solid construction plus a driver/utility that makes reliable connections in windows XP.
  
  

• Junk
  By on 2003-12-01
  This is the kind of card that makes one drill holes in the wall and run hundreds of feet of cable, because that is a lot easier than making it work. Setting up regular ethernet cards is so simple, it amazes me that setting up a wireless card is such a troubleshooting exercise.

  I tried this card in an older machine with an ASUS MB and Windows ME. Frequently locked up the system(despite pulling every card out of the box except video), never could get it to connect to the Linksys AP. Built another system with an MSI MB/2400+ Athlon. Still locked up regularly. Would only connect to the AP (sporadically) if the antenna was disconnected. Tech support was not good. They kept telling me the antenna must be connected, despite my explainations that I knew that, but it wouldn't work that way. Tech eventually says it sounds like the card is defective and to return it.

  Returned card, replacement is no better. Tech support is again useless. Making up nonsensical things to try/problems. No solution. "Knowledge Base" on the website is hardly a knowledge base. Basically just a reproduction of the documentation that comes with the card.

  Built another system with an Intel 865 based MB and Windows XP. Put card in, installed drivers and after monkeying with the channels it works fine. I was happy until I found out that there is no linux support for this card. Tried the driver loader from Linuxant.com and only had modest success. Can't connect to AP, but can talk to other machines in an ad-hoc mode.

  To summarize, this card is really hit or miss. If you have the right hardware combo and run Windows, it will run fine. The wrong hardware combo and you're left with a paperweight. The unfortunate thing is there is no way to know if the card is going to work in your system before you buy it.
  
  

• Product seems okay but tech support is the worst ever
  By AUSP5TNLEF6VY on 2004-08-14
  I feel that you should only buy the Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Adapter (which I bought from Amazon along with the Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router) if you can set it up yourself with no help from the Linksys tech support team (I made my calls at night and they were all routed to India). My Dell PC running Windows XP would not boot-up after initial set up of the card, and then later would not recognize the card. The Linksys techies reading from a very limited script had me switch slots, asked me to test the card in another PC (which I did not have available), and then suggested I return it for a replacement. Oh yes, one of them also said that my computer needed a BIOS update! I wonder how many RMAs result from such totally inadept and inadequate tech support!!! I suggested taking a look at the Windows Registry which both technicians I spoke with refused to do. So after hanging up, I did it myself, deleted all references to the adapter, and voila... I was in business again. I have only just set up my wireless network and have not yet enabled encryption. I'll have to see how that goes.
  
  
  
• A red cent is worth more.
  By A2G4IBQPTLGL8Z on 2004-09-06
  How anyone could put a product like this on the market beats me. I have never been so frustrated in installing a piece of hardware into a computer in my fifteen years working with them.
  You can toss a coin and come up with the probablity of whether or not it will work in your computer. I tried it in my second one at the suggestion of linksys support (I never talked to anyone in India before)and it worked, whatever that was supposed to prove. The one that it wouldn't work in was the one I wanted to install it into and that one wasn't complyin'. And Linksys support was no help whatsoever. All they did was prove that their was nothing broken on their adaptor. If you buy one of these, make sure you get a list of the computers that it will work in. This card is priority to the nth degree. I tried to install mine during a moonless night and now I'm waiting for a full moon to try it again, before I consult with my vodoo oracle.
  Or maybe I'll try to get it exorcised. Seriously! don't buy one.
  
  
• Solid
  By A3D9P4O6VKIB8A on 2005-04-28
  This card works solidly if you use the linksys software to manage the card... 3 weeks so far and it hasn't dropped me once. I tried using the windows wireless zero service to manage the card and it dropped connection every few minutes... just disable wireless zero and go for the linksys software. Also I'm running 128 bit WEP and no problems... I've heard WPA has problems... simple... don't run WPA... throughput hasn't been as advertised, but that doesn't bother me too much... I'm used to not getting what is advertised.
  
  Update 4/22/08- WPA2 now working with no problems on XP and Ubuntu. For XP be sure to download the latest driver from Linksys and configure your connection for PSK2 (same thing as WPA2). Still do not use Wireless Zero.
  
  
• Out of box Ubuntu support
  By A360IGP4F64714 on 2006-02-07
  I'm running Ubuntu 5.10 on a Dell Optiplex GX150. The WMP54G card was recognized as ra0 and started working after WAP details were input, with no updated drivers or changes required. I configured, activated and set ra0 as default gateway, from the wireless admin tool (no command-line required). I'm using it with a WAP54G access point.
  
  (Don't bother with the included CD and directions, which are intended for Windows.)
  
  
• Better Wait On 802.11g
  By A38NU7AV18MVS7 on 2003-02-16
  Had it running for a short time with not much luck. 802.11g has the same interference problems as 802.11b, as it will fight cordless phones, etc. I had the WAP in one room and the PC in the other. Connections would take a long time and would fail periodically. The fastest speed it would connect at, only two rooms away was 24Meg. Sometimes it would connect at 36Meg but quickly drop back down, sometimes to 10Meg. Someone around my house is running an unsecured WLAN as the card in my PC would get a week signal and pick up in IP address from somewhere else. Oops. I had to configure the PC end to look for my network only. If you follow Linksys's instructions, it will us the default configuration, which is wide open, and leave your network assessable to anyone around you. I soon tired of messing with it and got an RMA and shipped it back. I'll wait for 802.11a's prices to come down or see what new wireless protocol comes out next week.
  
  
• bad software bad documentation
  By A1Y85GQ09Y95JL on 2003-07-21
  Don't waste time on this one if running XP home. It wouldn't correctly install the newest driver available on the Linksys web site so I had to do it manually (repeatedly.) Once the card was actually recognized, the supposed setup wizard still refused to run. There are 3 wireless networks in my area but it would only recognize my if I input the name maunally in network settings. I altered every last possible setting manually on the card and on my Linksys G router but no go, the card would recognize that the network existed but refused to connect. Bottom line, buy anyone elses!
  
  
• warning to linux users
  By on 2003-09-16
  as of september 15, 2003 there are no linux drivers for this card
  
  
• The antenna *will* fall off
  By AOUB4XH2J80FN on 2004-01-06
  As a computer tech, I recommended this to one of my clients, a regrettable decision. The card itself works very well, but there is one key flaw with this card:

  --------------------------------------------------------------
  The antenna will break at the slightest bump, and there is no way of putting it back.
  --------------------------------------------------------------

  We took this thing back about 3 times, each time the same result, the card was put in, everything worked great, the computer was pushed back beneath the desk, and oops! The antenna hit the wall/cord/something and it came off. The antenna cannot be reatteched, so a replacement had to be obtained.

  Linksys needs to remedy this problem fast, likely by making a one piece antenna that is *sturdy*. Computers do get bumped around, and the antenna falling off is the last thing you want to worry about.

  We have a second computer with this card in, and it works great, since we were 'extra' gentle with it. Basically it means we can't move the computer due to the high chance of the antenna falling off. I give this product 2 stars, because when the antenna is on, it works great.

  At the end, we resorted to getting the USB Linksys wireless adapter. Even though it is slower at 802.11b, the unit is very sturdy (nice sturdy antenna) and took care of my client very well.
  
  

• Poor Quality and Support from Linksys.
  By A3KZXERLMGYHP8 on 2004-07-07
  I just received on 07/06/04 my WMP54G that I purchased here from Amazon.com. The product was well packed, and when it arrived it was brand new condition and it looked to be fresh from Linksys. When I opened it up, and followed the instructions for Windows XP which is pretty easy, the brass connector that you screw the antenna on on the back of the PCI came off. It looks like that small SMA connector is pressed into the card, not soldered, and it can't hold the weight of the antenna. I called Linksys and asked if this was a known problem and they said no, and they made excuses that it was my fault. I got an RMA from them and I am sending it back. I should have ordered the USB one, but I figured this would be better. I would never purchase this type item again!
  
  
• problem installing driver in xp
  By ABDSE2IM8GOYQ on 2005-03-30
  If setup.exe in product's driver cd is not running in your pc, and your operating system is xp, try below.
  
  1.Right click on setup.exe.
  2.click properties
  3.choose Compatibility tab
  4.choose "run this program in compatibility mode for" Windows 2000.
  5.Click ok.
  6.Run setup.exe again...
  
  
• Linksys WMP54G
  By A31U58XL0RCA37 on 2005-08-02
  This is the 3rd linksys wireless PCI card I have purchased (2 of which are this model, the WMP54G). I have gotten tremendous reception on both (one is on my desktop on the 2nd floor of my house and this latest one is on a desktop in my basement... the access point is on the 1st level of our house.
  
  

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