home 
wiki
wiki
CompaqWL200
Compaq WL200
Very popular PCI card, not manufactured anymore, and can be sorta kinda difficult to find.Vitals
- Manufacturer: Compaq
- Model: WL200
- Type: PCI
- External Antenna Jack: Reverse Thread SMA
- Chipset: Prism2
- Power: 100mW max. (20dBm)
- Recieve Sensitivity:
-84dBm - Drivers URL: Driver link is dead so try a search.
- Available New: (no longer in manufacture)
- Average Price: $170
- Vitals last updated: 13/8/02
Official Details
Old model - in German?Otherwise the same
search as above.Pictures
Operating Systems
Linux
Information on getting WL200's working in linux can be foundHow to set one up as an AP in Redhat 7.3 using the hostAP drivers
Windows
Should work without hassles under Windows 95/98/Me/NT4/2000. Compaq client utility clashes with XP wireless settings and most likely will just crash the machine.To solve this right click on the config.exe file click thecompatibility tab and set to run under Windows 95 or 98 compatiblilty.
Firmware
See drivers URL to update to firmware version 0.8.0 which provides the following (from web site):
Upgrades the firmware to Version 0.8.0 Upgrades the drivers to Version 1.34 Improves the Encryption GUI Improves the Installation aplication Adds 128 Bit WEP encryption Adds WiFi compatibility Adds Power Saving Mode Adds True 802.11 IBSS Ad-hoc mode Firmware Update utility supports all operating systems Fixes PCI Card IRQ and PCMCIA issues in Windows NT Adds support for Windows ME
Lots of companies made cards based on the Prism II chipset, and provide BIOS updates far beyond 0.8.0, which is the latest you will get from Compaq (eg. 1.4.2 from US Robotics). You can use BIOS upgrades from any of these companies to update your WL200.
1.4.9 is the latest stable Prism firmware. A flashing tool has to be hacked to flash this however. I managed to use a Dlink tool and a copy of the firmware hex file to successfully flash my WL200. (Sneeze)
Misc Notes
Doesn't require a PCI 2.2 compliant motherboard to work (eg. known to work in a P200MMX or possibly even earlier machine).
Known Issues
WL200 and WL210 Wireless PCI Adapter/Cards Will Not Function When Installed In Computers with nVidia Chipset
RELEASE DATE: August 2002
RESOLUTION
The WL200 and WL210 are
not supported on computers having an nVidia-based chipset.Despite this I have had success with Geforce4 MX440 on an Asus P4B533 board under W2k. NodeADD - Thats because the P4B533 has an Intel 845E chipset, not an nVidia chipset. Chipset != graphics card!
I had problems with the WL200 in rh7.3, 2.4.19 kernel. Downgraded to 7.1 2.4.19kernel again) as I've had that working before and it works beautifully. I don't really know what the prob is. I couldn't get it to grab an irq in 7.3.
I had problems with my WL200 under 7.3 with kernels up to 2.4.18. I switched to RH8 and grabbed kernel 2.4.20 from kernerl.org and patched the wireless extentions up tp v15. It now works beautifully with HostAP.
The WL210 doesn't work properly in any Windows 98 / ME / 2000 system I've tried, whether using nVidia or otherwise !!!!
Version 6 (current) modified Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:49:28 +0000 by gummAY
[EditText] [Spelling] [Current] [Raw] [Code] [Diff] [Subscribe] [VersionHistory] [Revert] [Delete] [RecentChanges]