Do Network Cards Just Go Bad?

[suchs]

Wondering if anyone else had similar experience, and/or could lend some insight.

I have a Netgear MA701 on my Zaurus 5600.
Last year it worked fine in my house in the basement.  This year Ive moved and it works, but basically very very poorly.  Its either radio interference or a card gone bad.  

At this moment I am using Watapon ROm, though Ive tried it with all the other roms.  The Network Settings Current tab says that my signal strength is 100% but the signal quality is 0%.   I am less than 1 meter away from the wifi router!  

Now Ive noticed that if I touch the wireless card it brings the signal quality up to 100%, but as soon as I take my hand off, I loose all quality, and the connection too.  

The fact that I can easily connect with my laptops to my 802.11g network makes the Zaurus network card the prime suspect.  Ive also tried plugging the MA701 into one of my laptops and it sucks there too.

So the question is... do wireless network cards just "go bad" after a year or so?

Funny, this sort of thing happened with a Panasonic 2.4Ghz phone also.  

--Pete

[Da_Blitz]

oh no not a netgear!!!

i have had 2 and they break, its a known problem that !!!might!!! be firmware related (its not as easy as it sounds to test)

known problem basically you are SOL as you are likly not in the warantey coverag period, i say cut your losses and go with somthing else

[suchs]

Thanks you seem to be correct.  Just got a new Ambicom today.  Put it in and it connected immediately with great signal strength and quality.

So that proves it was a faulty MA701.  

Btw this the one I got....  an AmbiCom WL1100C-CF  works great ... even after 10 minutes!! ha hahaa.

Its just a 802.11 B card.  But for the zaurus i dont need speed.  huh wonder if it supports wpa...  

oh no not a netgear!!!

i have had 2 and they break, its a known problem that !!!might!!! be firmware related (its not as easy as it sounds to test)

known problem basically you are SOL as you are likly not in the warantey coverag period, i say cut your losses and go with somthing else
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