DG834Gv2 and Windows 7

[BobSilvester]

Hi,

We purchased a Compaq Presario CQ61-327SA laptop running Windows 7 for my son yesterday. Tried to connect using built in wireless card to our trusty DG834G v2 which has worked fine with XP and Vista PCs situated in all rooms of our home. The signal strength was showing as high. Could not initially get it to connect however eventually did when the PC was in same room as the router.

The issue is that although the signal strength shows as high in other rooms in the house it only seems to want to work in the same room as the router. Have Googled and there seems to be some question over compatibility of Windows 7 and DG834Gv2 although some say they have achieved this. It obviously is working for ourselves in a fashion as it does connect but only when very close to the router. Yet signal strength is seen to be high in other rooms! Would be very grateful for any advice on this.

Regards,
Bob

[Mars Mug]

Are you sure it is your network you are connecting to, if the router SSID is still set to the default ‘Netgear’ then change it.

There should be no compatibility problem with Win7, the router operates on IP protocols and does not care what OS (if any) the connected network device uses.

What wireless encryption are you using? Try temporarily connecting without encryption.

You could be suffering from wireless interference from other 2.4GHz devices like video senders, security cameras, or wireless phones. If you have any of these try switching them off.

[BobSilvester]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your response. We are connecting to a non-default named network SSID (MATRIX). We are using WPA-PSK as our security option and have already tried switching this and access control off.

We do have a wireless phone in the lounge (cannot connect from there) and the dining room (router there and can connect from there). Have switched these off and still get 'Unable to connect' in lounge even though signal strength is good. Reception is good (4/5) in lounge and excellent (5/5) in dining room. At one point got it working in lounge but then switched to 'Limited access' displayed alongside MATRIX.

Can see other wekk SSID's displayed. They seem to have checkboxes selected for 'Connect Automatically'. Unchecked these but when go back to them these have become checked again. Is this relevant? We have always been connecting to MATRIX.

Have seen references to autotuninglevel causing problems in Vista/Windows 7 and also references to switching Wireless Zero configuration on/off. Have you any thoughts on this?

Somewhat concerned as other son is waiting for Winodws 7 to arrive to upgrade his Vista PC.

Regards,
Bob

[Mars Mug]

Windows 7 may be new, but there's no real reason why there should be any problems with it. If there is anything interfering with your network and it is a non-networking device like those things I mentioned then it will not show up in a wireless scan, and will not stop your adaptor from indicating a good signal strength from your router.

I suggest you try changing the router wireless channel, try just channels 1, 6, or 11.

[jmizoguchi]

Originally Posted by BobSilvester

We do have a wireless phone in the lounge (cannot connect from there) and the dining room (router there and can connect from there).

Make sure turn the wireless phone for test and see.

They seem to have checkboxes selected for 'Connect Automatically'. Unchecked these but when go back to them these have become checked again. Is this relevant? We have always been connecting to MATRIX.

This option for the Internet Port that how it will handle the traffic. this is for DSL user using PPPoE

Have seen references to autotuninglevel causing problems in Vista/Windows 7 and also references to switching Wireless Zero configuration on/off. Have you any thoughts on this?

Seems certain places do work so I would eliminate any of other 2.4ghz devices and make sure channel of wireless is either 1,6,11.

[BobSilvester]

Hi,

Have resolved problem by going back to shop and swapping the laptop with identical one. This one works! So presumably a hardware fault with the wireless card in the original or something went awry in the set-up of the original laptop settings wise.

Thanks very much for your all your suggestions.

Bob

[BobSilvester]

Hi,

So to summarise FYI to assist others my DG834Gv2 (without any firmware upgrades) does seem to work happily with a laptop that has Windows 7 installed.....since many posts seem to suggest incompatibility.

My other son is waiting for Windows 7 to arrive to put on his desktop. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can get his WG111 to work under Windows 7 using Vista drivers as I believe Netgear have not provided any Windows 7 drivers to download. I may be back!

Regards,
Bob