First Wifi Fail

[raymac46]

I usually have a bunch of USB wifi dongles in the workshop in case a desktop needs one, or I'm having a problem with a laptop wifi.

One of my go-to units was an ASUS N10. I used it when I was installing the old Dell Inspiron desktop for the grandkids last fall. At the time I was getting crashes and dropouts, which I thought was a problem due to the distance from the desktop to my son-in-law's router. So I put in my best USB dongle - a TP-Link high gain unit with an attached antenna. That fixed everything.

So fast forward a few months, and I'm fixing up a better desktop for the grandkids. I plug in the ASUS dongle. I get a crash almost immediately, and I am 6 feet away from a router node. So I switched to an even tinier TP-Link nano wifi - one about the size of a mouse receiver. That one worked like a charm. Sadly I think the ASUS N10 has burned out somehow. This is the first time any wifi adapter has failed on me.

I had my son-in-law plug in the high gain antenna when he hooked up the better PC and he reports it's working great.

[securitybreach]

Well considering that they are just a pcb with flash memory, they could fail. I do not think I have had ever one fail before but then again, I also do not use them very much. My machines either have a built in adapter or they are on ethernet.

[raymac46]

Well, if I have a new PC I prefer some sort of internal solution but for these old ones USB works OK. it's easier to troubleshoot as well.

Edited May 29, 2021 by raymac46

[securitybreach]

Well I only use wifi on my laptops and phones. The desktop, two servers, tv, etc. are on wired connections.