"MA111 crashes computer" I inherited a network of 4 hard wired computers and rwo that use Netgear MA111's.
The better of the two slows all the network down. There is something going on I can't find yet but this computer is always out of memory - which may or may not be related.
The other one crashes the computer when it is installed.
And when it is installed, the computer doesn't get past the POST. It just sits there with the red Compaq showing.
I've tried reinstalling but it won't boot if the MA111 is attached. Both computers work great if I run wires along the floor (not a very good solution).
In short, until NetGear gets its act together, avoid their wireless. Hard wird stuff seems to be great. From John Williams, April 18, 2005
"Put your technician hat on..." The MA111v1 wireless USB adapter is prone to causing the "blue screen of death" on Windows XP unless you download and install the BETA v2.5 drivers from Netgear.
Attempting to install the adapter without the current, unsigned drivers will more likely than not cause your PC to crash until you remove the hardware.
Once you get the right drivers the adapter seems to work properly, though it's only been installed for a short few hours.
$0.02 From "Doc" Savage, January 24, 2005
"inconsistent" We have spent hours tying to figure out why this adapter causes the blue screen. Could not find anything on netgears website that addresses the issue, which is unprofessional. After readint the forum I came to the conclusin that is definately a probem with this type of adapter From Jimmy Pearson, October 09, 2004
"absolutely horrible. dont even consider netgear." I bought two of these modems for mine and my brother's dell dimension computers. We've never had a problem with the computers before, but the minute we installed these modems we got the blue screens of death. It didnt happen all the time but enough that it was an annoyance. We called tech support, and I have to say that the tech support was the worst I've ever dealt with (which is saying quite a lot). It was god awful. unfortunately netgear's tech support offices are in India - every single person I talked to spoke a broken english with a heavy indian accent, to the point where it took me 5 minutes to understand one sentence he said. The website is also horrible, its design is impossible to navigate. Don't bother with this modem, there are so many better choices, and at 40 dollars a pop, its a total waste to but this. From jcp, September 17, 2004
"nice product" been using this for about 8 months now. works well, though im no far from the wireless base unit. DON'T download the xp WPA updates, and this works like a dream. you can also download Version 2.0 of the software for this device from netgear.com, as the drivers on the disk might be a bit old.
comes recommended after using this thing for everything from surfing slow, to high speed fragging sessions on UT2004!!!!
Small and decent. remember, you can always restore to an older sav point if you accidently d/l the WPA patch, an that way it will work again! From Russell Aitken, July 22, 2004
"great for TiVo" I'm using this adapter with my TiVo. Getting it installed was entirely painless, and its small size is a great advantage. I also like that the adapter comes with a USB cable, allowing it to be positioned for better signal strength, rather than being fixed to the port.
BTW, USB 1.1 is not a limitation. USB 1.1 offers bandwidth up to 12Mbps. So making this device high-speed USB 2.0 would only increase its price, not its performance (since 802.11b wireless is limited to 11Mbps anyway). From Vineet Kumar, May 18, 2004
"Remaining problem" Details: Adapter was working initially.
Then I installed updates to Windows XP from Microsoft.
I did not install Hotfix Q815485.
Now the Wireless Configuration Utility says the Signal Strength and Link Quality are Excellent; also the Wireless Network Connection Status says the Signal Strength is excellent. In the Device Manager, the properties says the "device is working properly".
However, when I launch Internet Explorer, no webpages will load; it says it cannot find the server. The Wireless Configuration Utility says, after about 15 minutes of operation, that data transmitted is '144', and received is '5'.
From Ron Meyer, May 09, 2004
"what a piece of cr*p" Look elsewhere for a wireless adapter. The driver is some of the worst software I have ever experienced. It regularly took 100% of my 2GHz CPU and settings changed unpredictably. I could handle it if it was a bit unreliable, but it was just a nightmare. I can't exchange it, so it's money down the drain. From Michael, April 10, 2004
"1/5 thumbs, works fine on linux but not XP" Its not fully supported yet under XP, as one can tell by Blue Screen of Death caused by this device.
But if you don't use windows xp, e.g Linux, then this device works fine.
Another drawback is that this is a usb 1.1 device, so the maximum transfer rate is limited by the USB 1.1 bandwidth =(, in plain english.... its slow
From Kevin C., April 02, 2004
"fix for BSOD" the comment "fix for the serious error" was correct, goto www.windowsupdate.com and under normal updates not critical updates there will be an update related to wifi, this seems to have fixed the BSODs I got under xp every time the adapter was connected. From Steve, January 18, 2004
"similar results to others" if you want cheaper wireless with extremely small form-factor adapter, this is for you. it's on a SFF PC that does PVR stuff for me needing occasional internet access. i got the BSOD before rebooting after install. so far, so good, but 802.11b adapters in a 802.11g network bring the whole net bandwidth down to support them. consider upgrading to 802.11g adapter unless this form-factor is really the critical spec. From DPT, November 07, 2003
"Blue Screen of Death - Win XP Home" Lost many hours trying to find the root cause of the Blue Screen of Death on my Pentium 3 PC running Win XP Home Edition on most (but not all) shutdowns. I located these reviews while searching for driver updates, and they all conicided with what I had been experiencing myself.
After replacing the product, I determined that this device was in fact the root cause of my blue screens of death. I had even downloaded the V2 of their drivers, but still with the same result.
I relocated the device to another machine, an HP Celleron machine, also with Win XP home edition, where it works just fine. I got a Linksys USB adapter to work fine on my P3 PC.
Fortunately, I had 2 machines and 2 adapters, and I just had to swap them, so now I have both machines working okay.
I also noticed the range of this adapter is somewhat less than the Linksys device.
That all being said, the form factor of this device is unique and it is exceptionally portable. So once the software / driver can be fixed and works correctly, it will be a very handy product to have around. From Bill K., November 06, 2003
"Blue Screen" The driver is not certified by Microsoft (MS makes a competing product. Hmmm). The instructions reassure that everything will be hunky dory if you go ahead and install the drivers anyway. At first it appeared to work fine. Withing 5 minutes I got the Blue Screen of Death. I'm taking it back. From Vic Oeftering, October 19, 2003
"Serious Error at almost every Startup" When I first installed this product it worked great. All i needed it to do was to go through one wall and it worked out fine. Soon after installation I started getting Serious error upon startup and saying it had performed a minidump, this made me think my computer had some problem that conflicted with it. Until i put one on my roommates computer and it does the same thing. That really doesn't bother me because it still worked fine. But today is a different story, the device totally disappeared, even though my task manager still said it was running. I tryed uninstalling and reinstalling but it just seemed to act like it was doing it and not really do it. After going through the registry and deleting every netgear thing and retrying to reinstall it didn't work. since in can't return it due to rebates i'm stuck with this thing. From Stephen Myers, October 16, 2003
"Causes Blue Screen of Death" Just spend a gorgeous Saturday with a brand new Dell Dimension 2400 and this device. The driver software on the CD is clearly faulty, and the version I downloaded from Netgear had the same problems. Got repeated Blue Screens of Death on Windows XP Home. Uninstalled and re-installed numerous times. And a couple of times it even worked for a few minutes. I returned it and got a Linksys WUSB11 which took me 3 minutes to install and works flawlessly. Steer clear of this product. From Jim, September 20, 2003
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. MA111 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter Specs
Interface(s)
Original USB
Released date
May 2003
Platforms
Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Connection
Wireless
Network standard
802.11b
Speed
11Mbps
Number of computers supported
1
Operating range
150 feet
USB cable length
5 feet
Software
--
Extra?
--
Security
--
Power source
Bus-powered
Warranty
Three years
Where to buy Netgear MA111 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter?
