SMC 2532W-B problems...

[Jason Straight]

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On Sunday January 25 2004 03:43 pm, mrcool at stupidgamerz.com wrote:
> This is a bit off topic, but i need other opinions...  I have 2 (now) of
> these cards that "quit working", they will initialize, load, accept
> commands, and firmware, etc.  just like normal.  but nothing can see them,
> and they see nothing farther away than 3 meters.  Its as if the amp on the
> card, (or the antenna diversity jack) have quit, and so no signal is being
> sent out (or recieved).  The second card replaced the first one.  I did
> change antennas, as i thought maybe the antenna (omni) had shorted out.  My
> logic was that the 200Mw amp in the SMC2532W, broadcasting out to the
> direct short, eventually burned out.  Leaving the card to otherwise "work".
> (The antenna in use at THIS time had other problems that i thought i had
> fixed. so the short in the antenna was a logical thought to me. this is
> another story entirely)
>
> well. This time, a shorting antenna isnt near as likely.  Its possible,
> because it did rain last night, that moisture could have gotten in and
> shorted things out, but only in the connector, and this has happened in
> other circumstances and not been a problem. After drying out, they would
> return to normal.  I have a Senao (200Mw) thats been runnin for a long time
> (since 6 to 8 mos before i even got first the SMC)  Im not gonna say that
> it has shorted out like is possible the others have, but has been runnin
> considerably longer than all the others put together...
>
> Honestly, i dont think the others shorted out, as i couldnt find evidence
> of it in the first antenna i pulled down, i just accepted that as the best
> solution, and the second has been through a MUCH longer and more soaking
> rain than this just a few weeks ago...  My thoughts are perhaps the SMC is
> just a "weak" card, or more realistically, a lower powered card
> "overclocked" to 200Mw (for lack of a better word), that when its just
> broadcasting as an AP (and not many clients or activity) will eventually
> burn out... If this is true, would lots of clients and activity, or being
> activly associated to another AP (as client) allow it to "live" longer as
> it would have a "load" on it versus just being essentually an open curcit??
>
> Anyway, i hope i havent upset anyone with this post, as it is off topic. 
> But i need other folks opinions as it will dictate what i do next, and
> probably all future deployments as well.  Everyones thoughs will be
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jerryf
> _______________________________________________
> HostAP mailing list
> HostAP at shmoo.com
> http://lists.shmoo.com/mailman/listinfo/hostap

Rather than overclocked, oversold might be the better word. These cards - 
according to the FCC ID# are zcom/zcomax cards - 325HP's which are NOT cheap. 
I've used a handful of the 325's from zcom, and a couple of the SMC's. I 
haven't used one as an AP but the one in my laptop is quite a few months old, 
(close to a year) and has moved a lot of traffic. IE Mandrake cooker and 
stable tree's, DVD ISO's, etc...


- -- 
Jason Straight
jason at SkyCon.net
jason at JeetKuneDoMaster.net
SkyCon Networks
phone: (231)627-3528
http://www.skycon.net/
ICQ: 1796276
pgp: http://www.jeetkunedomaster.net/~junfan/pgp.key
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