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Belkin F5D7050 54g USB Wireless Network Adaptor
Belkin 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 Network Adapter
NOTE: Before you read on, please note that this post was originally written in 2005. Many details will have changed by now, probably - drivers will have been updated and the hardware may have been revised. Plus, I don't use or even own any of these adapters any more. Still, if any of this information helps you, please check out my iPhone apps or sign up to dropbox with my referral link. Thanks!
I have used and set up three of these incredibly cheap 54g adaptors on Windows XP, Windows 98 and Ubuntu Linux. They seem to get a better signal than the PCI cards they replaced.
Windows
The main thing I recommend on XP is to avoid using Belkin's Wireless utility and let the Windows Add Hardware Wizard install the drivers directly from the CD, usually D:\drivers. If you already installed it according to the manual and it's misbehaving (dropped connections or "Windows could not connect") try uninstalling the Belkin utility from the control panel and letting Windows manage the device itself.
Since this unit has no USB serial number, if you plug it into a different USB port Windows will think it has a new device and install it again. Recent versions of Zonealarm firewall have caused problems as well, so try shutting firewalls down if you are still having problems.
UPDATE: Search Belkin support for F5D7050 to get a newer driver. This solves all sorts of problems. However, you have to magically know what version of the interface you're using, which is somewhat revealed by the FCC number. I have one which is F5D7050, which is version 1, and another F5D7050A which works with F5D7050_v2 drivers (If I remember correctly)
Linux
You need to install ndiswrapper. I installed mine with apt-get. Use it with the files rt2500usb.inf and rt2500usb.sys from the drivers directory on the CD. I have to boot with it unplugged and plug it in later so that hotplug will find it. Sometimes the command modprobe ndiswrapper is required before it will show up in ifconfig. Refer to the ndiswrapper installation wiki for details.
UPDATE: No need for any of that with a fresh install of Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06) - the included wifi drivers just work! Again, the first time I had to keep it unplugged during boot, and then plug it in, wait, and enable it in the Networking applet. I was at first impatient and tried to enable it before it was fully up and got a complete freeze which only a hard reset would solve. But now it seems to be working fully and normally, even though there's a warning in dmesg about old drivers.
16 comments
Have you been able to get this device running on Win 98? Was it SE or vanilla 98? Thanks.
There was a USB patch that was installed via Windows Update, but the machine did not have USB 2.0. Again, I didn't install the device using Belkin's utility, but let Windows' Add New Hardware wizard find the driver .inf file on the Belkin CD.
I tried the suggestion of uninstalling the Belkin software and letting Windows handle it. This has worked for me (so far) so thanks for the advice.
It will, however, be the last time I buy any Belkin networking product.
Thanks
Graham
in case there is any poor soul who find themselves here with problems with the most recent version of Ubuntu (Intrepid), there is a recent update - this device is natively supported now by the Linux kernel using driver rtl8187.
For a full tutorial, see this link:
http://linuxsoftwareblog.com/blog/?p=30
If it works, leave a comment!
But now I tried to install it again and it didn't work. First I tried the driver from the CD and had the same old problems that I before was happy to forget. It switches the WZC-Wizard on or of without asking and without checking if there is a second wireless adaptor that uses the WZC. Not necassary to mention, that the Device didn't show any wireless networks.
Then I found on the Belkin support sites two drivers for my K7sf5D7050A, the second one with "UK" in its name. I was unsure, which to choose, but now i can tell that neither works.
Maybe the best guess is, to put it back in the drawer, or even better, put it in the drawer of someone I don't like ;-)
http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=7912&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=790197f3e6b4f622403d093ce251d7c3
provided half-patched drivers and explains in detail, how to patch the rest. I wonder, why he didn't do all the patching, because its quite simple and much harder to explain idiot-proof others what to do, but however, I'm happy.
But what can I now put in the drawer of someone I don't like? Any suggestions?
After some day of testing I can tell, that the Belkin USB Adapter also works with the latest drivers (1.07) from Nintendo, if you patch them correctly.
After everthing worked for a while I made one mistake, i took a look in the devicemanager and noticed, that two other drivers were still installed. I recognized the manual which strongly pretends, that you have to uninstall any other drivers first. In fear of security issues I deinstalled both.
Afterwards, you already guessed it, the device stopped working. Reinstallation failed/crashed with an error message about internet connectione sharing, in brackets error numer 5 and even sometimes 6.
Solution was to reinstall the belkin an ralink drivers, remove any activated internet connection sharing, uninstall them and finaly reinstall the patched Nintendo drivers. Hope this might help some pour soul.
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