# Trendnet TEW-423PI Problem with XP Pro SP2



## sadsac

I've got a few of these Trendnet TEW-423PI el-cheapo 802.11g PCI wireless adapters. I'm trying to use one with a Biostar M7VIG motherboard. The adapter works great w/ 98SE, but with XP Pro SP2 it stops working after 10-30 minutes - and I can't figure out why.

It seems to be a hardware problem, because when the adapter fails, the configuration utility can't communicate with the adapter at all anymore. I've tried using the Trendnet utility to control the card, and also just allowing the windows configuration ultility to control the card. Either way, it always fails. I tried changing PCI slots, removing all of the other cards, and a new clean installation of XP Pro SP2. None of these things made any difference. The card fails after 10-30 minutes and the software can't talk to the card to reset, repair or disable it. A soft reboot fixes it but then it fails again after 10-30 minutes. It is rock solid on the same computer under 98SE with signal level at 95%+.

Anybody have any ideas or experince with the TEW-423PI running under XP Pro SP2?


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## kraichle

*Trendnet TEW-423PI*

Have you figured out what the problem was with your wireless card?

I have the exact same problem. I couldn't have explained it any better.

Although I have a Biostar M7VIQ motherboard I guessing it has the same features to cause the same problem.

I tried loading the newest driver off thier website but still locks up.

I've had a similar problem with a video card in the past and had to download an updated bios for the motherboard, flash the bios, and that fixed it.

I dread thinking that's what I'll have to do as it wasn't a simple driver update if I remember correctly.

The other thing I was going to try was to see if there is an updated driver offered for the mother board peripheral chipsets, before I attempt to update the bios.

I was really hoping you'd have figure it out by now.

Kurt


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## rsater99

*same problem*

I'd love to find a solution for this too. I have the same problem. Mine however drops the connection from anywhere between 10 minutes to a few hours, its random. The only way it starts working again is by restarting. Very annoying. 
I've also tried everything you have mentioned, the utility, xp's zero config, and a different pci slot......nothing. Any help appreciated, and if I figure anything out I'll make sure to post. thnx!


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## bromwich

I just bought one of these cards too. Same problem. I reasoned that the connection was dying due to inactivity, so set up a continuous "ping" to my router: ping -t 192.168.0.1
(I minimized the DOS window and left it running).

This seems to keep the connection alive for me.

Still trying to figure out the root cause however.

Cheers,
Julian.


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## Terrister

Sounds like a power management issue. Go to the system control panel, hardware, device manager. Now double click on your wireless card. Mine has the power management under the advanced tab. Yours may be different. Look for power management and disable it.


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## bromwich

Thanks for the suggestion, however that is the first thing I checked for. All power management (and anything else that looked like it might put the card to sleep) is already disabled.

As an update to my previous post, I also turned my computer around 180 degrees so that the antenna on the wireless card now has an unobstructed line of sight (other than some walls) to the router. The signal strength jumped from 70% up to 95 or 100%. I guess it didn't like transmitting *through* the computer itself.

My connection never drops out now. I will test again without the "keep alive" program running to see if it is still necessary, and post my results.

Cheers,
Julian.


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## overseastom

*I have the same problem - here's what i've found so far...*

Hi everyone. Just joined this forum since i have the same issue with this bloody Trendnet TEW-423PI wireless card and i cannot resolve it myself. It's in my girlfriend's pc and it always works when the pc starts and then interweb access stops less than 5 mins later. I read elsewhere that apparently if you run internet radio or an IM program that keeps a connection open (like Bromwich's continuos ping thing) it doesn't crash, but i haven't tried it myself. Here's a link to other sites' info and please if anyone finds out how to fix then please please please post it on up 

VelocityReviews Forum with similar issue --
http://www.velocityreviews.com/foru...erepair-nic-fails-80211g-b-compatibility.html

...and a description of the internal problem and a possible workaround -- 
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/12948

Good luck everyone and like i mentioned earlier, please repost with progress. Cheers,
Tom

p.s. (new edit) - came across a link to this too --
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/wlansupp.mspx

Find the Chapter titled Intermittent Connectivity about 1/3 of the way down the page for explanation too. The summary is that perhaps 802.1X authentication is enabled and is causing problems, so remove the checkbox from the Authentication tab of the wireless network properties window. Good luck once again people, when i next go to my lasses place i'll try these things out and let you know if they helped. Later,
T


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## YAHYA MALIK ALI

i had the same thing going on with mine try ctrl-alt-delete then click on processes look for the word wireless if you see anything starting with the word wireless left click on it and and then right click and end processes that will help until you can download sp3 after downloading sp3 you should be fine.


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## John Emdall

There are several revisions of this card. I have a client who has the "Version C1.xR" revision, which as of March 2010 is the latest. That card is based on the Realtek 8185 chipset. The WinXP drivers at the Trendnet site for this version (http://www.trendnet.com/asp/download_manager/list_subcategory.asp?SUBTYPE_ID=1061) are just a repackage of the Realtek chipset drivers, version 5.1102 dated 11/20/2007. Realtek has newer drivers for the chipset available, version 5.1114 dated 09/17/2009, which are available at their website: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=35&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

These drivers may also be available via Windows Update, which you can get to through the running the Hardware Update Wizard on the card's listing in Device Manager, by choosing "Update Driver" and letting it search online for updates.

The updated driver seems to have fixed the issue with the card randomly slowing down and disconnecting. We have still had an issue with the card not working at first when the computer boots, but I believe that is because the service that runs the card hasn't finished starting up before either the MS connection tool or the Trendnet connection tool have started, so they try to manage the connection details (SSID, encryption, etc.) before the card can actually respond. I fixed this by removing the Trendnet configuration tool from the Startup folder and replacing it with a batch file that waits about 15 seconds before it runs the tool.

For now, it seems we are up and running reasonably well.

-John Emdall


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## YAHYA MALIK ALI

hey you all I took some time on my own computer trying a few things I have Trendnet and gave you information on how to use yours with sp2 I downloaded sp2 then sp3 installed sp2 first then sp3 second i saw that they both installed their files in 

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

After installing I restarted my computer (by the way Im using windows XP pro) I restarted my pc left clicked on my computer double-click on drive c: double-click on on windows double-click on service pack files folder double-click on i386 folder scroll down to msconfig and double-click on it then left click on services tab scroll down to wireless zero configurat and uncheck the box next to it click apply if apply is not hi lighted then click ok
it will give a message to restart computer go ahead and restart your computer when it restart your trend net should be flashing and you should be smiling 
on restarting your pc msconfig will post a message just close it out if you dont want to see the message again put a check in the don't display box and then close it out. Please let me know if this works for you.


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