Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is Ok, let me state again, I am using a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop roughly 1998 vintage. I am using a PCMCIA wifi card, a Compaq WL 100. The driver I am using for it is genprism.2.0rc4. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).
. The card is active and recognized by the system. Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router. It WILL NOT ping external URLs such as Google etc. This card is old, it does not support WPA/WPA2 which is what is used by my wifi router (Xfinity/Comcast).
Okay, now we are getting some information (still don't know, for sure, exactly what the device is). "genprism.2.0rc4" indicates that it is probably the only WiFi PCMCIA card that will work with OS/2, and that would be the (ancient) driver for it. I don't know if you would need XWLAN with it, or not (probably not, since that thing existed before XWLAN did). You will need to carefully read all of the information that is available, to see if it tells you how to actually use it. I will guarantee that it won't work with a router that is configured to use WPA, or WPA2. In fact, it may not even know about WEP, which means you would need to set your router as an open access point (VERY risky). I would start there anyway, for a short period, because it will probably work. Don't leave it open, or somebody will eventually find it, and you never know what they might do.
Using DHCP does not work, however, if I use manual mode with a static IP the card will successfully ping my Wifi router.
DHCP not working is no surprise. You probably need a fixed address, so it will exist before the driver is totally initialized. I am still surprised that you can ping your router, but that indicates that the card, and the driver, are working. Now, the problem is, that the router needs to be configured to accept the connection from the device. As I said above, set the router as an open access point (no security, if the router will actually allow that), and see if it works. If that works, try WEM security level. It might work, if you can figure out how to insert the SSID and password for it (see below). You DO NOT want to leave your router set at anything less than WPA (which that card will never use).
This laptop does NOT have a LAN or ethernet port, I suppose this could be remedied with a PCMCIA NIC card and then I could add the adapter you mentioned.
Okay, that complicates things. To be honest, I doubt if a PCMCIA NIC card would work any better (and you need to make sure that you get one that is supported). It does remove the requirement for WiFi security, which should make it easier, and safer, to use (not to mention a lot faster).
FWIW, I have 3 PCMCIA NIC cards (actually CardBus cards), but the one that has a cable (3COM Meghertz 10/100 CardBus) doesn't work (I think it was fried at one time). The 3COM OfficeConnect 10/100 device does work, but the XJack connector is so flaky that it isn't usable (NOT a good design). The other one is an IBM 10/100 EtherJet. It loads a driver, but I have no way to connect it to the network (no cable), so I don't know if it actually works, or not. Any card that has a driver (and the hardware is still good) should work with a LAN cable, or a portable router setup.
So, will XWLAN work or not?
I doubt it, but I could be wrong. XWLAN was originally meant to operate WiFi, using the GENMAC driver (probably newer than what you have). You need to find out how to enter the SSID and password that the driver needs to connect (you may have done that already, if PING actually works). It may be done as a parameter to the driver. If so it would likely (and I am guessing) be in the Network Protocol setup, or directly inserted into C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI (if you can find out what the parameters are, it should be in the docs <which I don't have> somewhere, PROTOCOL.INI is a TEXT file). Even then, it will only work if the router is set to a security level that the device, and the driver, know about, and that would be a huge security risk (not to mention that other WiFi devices would need to use the same security level).
And, I have asked this question on at least two posts, where does one enter their wifi password? there's nowhere to enter it in the TCP/IP set up. Is there a configuration file where this would be entered? Wouldn't this be necessary to connect to my router even if it's encryption method is not supported by my wifi card? No one has given me a direct answer to this question.
The problem is, that it is probably at least 30 years since anybody even looked at that kind of setup. As I mentioned above, it is probably in PROTOCOL.INI, which is configured by the MPTS (AKA Adapters and Protocols) program. If you are using ArcaOS, that has been replaced by the NAPS (Network Adapters and Protocols) program. I no longer have the older program, but in NAPS, you select the device, and click on the Parameters button. If that is the right place, it will probably be obvious. You may also find a file C:\IBMCOM\MACS\genprism.NIF (or something like that). DO NOT change that file, but it should contain some useful information about the driver setup.