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Here's a few things to think about regarding the RJ-45 vs USB
stuff. Please note none of this is really specific to Starband,
just what industry info I thought might be appropriate to the issue
at hand :
(1) *If* the USB connection is working properly, there will be
no noticeable improvement in speed by connecting directly to the
NIC. Our maximum bandwidth is only a small fraction of the
maximum for USB, assuming their driver and your machine are up to
snuff. A side-note here is that the (Microsoft) USB layer works
*much* better with high-throughput drivers in Windows ME and 2000
than in an previous versions. (Not a suggestion to upgrade,
just the facts)
(2) If you're having troubles with the USB port and
connection, it's possible, even likely, that the problem resides on
your motherboard. MB's that use the VIA USB chipsets are known
to be plagued with USB issues. If you're running an AMD Athlon
or Duron processor, (NOT necessarily the Socket 7 K6) the odds are
very high that you -do- have a VIA USB chipset. If so, your
first line of defense is to go to
http://www.viatech.com
, and download/install their latest "4-in-1" driver
set. If you're not sure what chipset you have, look in the
"Universal Serial Bus Controllers" and/or "System
devices" sections in Device Manager. VIA's install package is
universal across all USB-enabled Windows versions.
(3) Check to make sure you have Power Management SHUT OFF for
all devices, and that your BIOS doesn't have any latent ACPI
bugs. If you don't know what ACPI is, don't worry about
it. Check the tech support area of your motherboard
manufacturers website, and see if they've released any BIOS updates
that address ACPI issues. (blunt side note : If you
aren't qualified to flash a BIOS, have someone else do it!)
(4) Check to make ABSOLUTELY sure that you don't have a lot of
startup "stuff" that either accesses Winsock early at
boot-time, or uses a lot of CPU cycles. Examples are automatic
"clock setters", and the SETI-at-home software. There
are literally hundreds more.
(5) If you have a 700+ mhz processor, (any flavor) and are
running any version of Win9X, (not 2000) get the "fast
processor" update from Microsoft. It fixes timing issues with
disk and network drivers. The information on the MS site claims
it's only relevant to startup/shutdown issues, but there's more to it
than that.
I'll again point out that none of the above has anything directly to
do with Starband. I've read going on hundreds of messages here
screaming about USB issues, so thought the above might be
timely. In my case, the MC software runs without issue on a
Win2K server box with an Intel chipset. Not that I'm any
genius, mind, I've just had to support my own customers with similar
issues. (not related to Starband at all)
Last, I'll point out that apart from the obvious warranty and support
issues, using the NIC port on the 180 without knowing how to install
just the AS_AGENT is a good recipe for long-term disappointment.
Like most others around here, I would -prefer- to have the acceleration/firewall/router
all built into one box, with a nice friendly RJ-45 jack on the
back. Until and that happens tho, (assuming it does) I'll
suggest that we exhaust all the reasonable alternatives, before
charging off and making hacks based on assumptions we can't validate.
Also remember, your first line of defense in regards to technical
support should be Starband and/or your system manufacture.
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