| Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Adapter |
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Model: WMP54G
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 179
Form factor: Plug-in card
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Product Type - Adapter
Complies with IEEE 802.11g draft standards, and backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11b products
Supports up to 128-bit WEP encryption and WPA security
Up to 128-bit WEP encryption
32-bit PCI Interface |
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| Description: |
| The Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Card for Windows PC connects you with Wireless-G networks at speeds up to 54Mbps. It also has backward compatibility to interoperate with all the 11Mbps Wireless-B (802.11b) products found in homes, businesses, and public wireless hotspots around the country. With 128-bit security encryption, wireless data transfer is extremely secure. 128-Bit Encryption Toll-Free Tech Support from Linksys ! Year Linksys Limited Warranty Includes SetUp Wizard CD-ROM and user's guide |
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| User Reviews (179 total): |
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GREAT, January 26, 2005
By Bryan (Colorado Springs, CO USA)
This wireless PCI adapter from lynksys works wonders. Very simple to install. I had a harder time taking the side off of my computer than i did actually installing it. Works great with Windows XP. Its evertyhing i need. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for GREAT wireless network connection.
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Never could get it to work with Windows 2000, January 20, 2005
By John Tauxe (Lost Almost, NM USA)
Attempting to get the Linksys WMP54G PCI wireless card to work on a desktop computer running Windows 2000 was an exercise in frustration. After four sessions talking with Linksys customer support (at least it's a toll-free number, hence 1 star) and another session using on-line chat, I have given up. Linksys never was able to help me get this card working. The principal problem was that it inevitably made the computer hang. No amount of troubleshooting made a difference. Apparently, it seems to work for XP users, but I would not recommend this card for anyone using Windows 2000. I returned it.
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does not work with Linux, December 14, 2004
By Brian McMinn (Austin, TX)
I thought a NIC was a NIC and Linux would happily use this card but no, that's not the case. Apparently, the manufacturer of this card (and most wireless adapter cards) has not made enough information available to enable someone to write a driver for Linux. A company called Linuxant sells a $20 program that will adapt the Windows driver for use under Linux. That raises the overall price to where a wireless bridge (Netgear WGE101 for example) is only a few dollars more. No hassle (I hope!) and more flexibility makes that a better solution for me.
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Easy to install and stable., December 11, 2004
By Jude Ignacio (Tucson, AZ)
First, I already have a WRT54G, and my desktop has WinXP.
I took me less than 10 minutes to install this baby: open computer, stick the card into slot, close computer, attach cables, attach antenna, turn on computer, stick CD-ROM into CD player and follow onscreen instructions to setup WPA encrytion. Voila! 54 Mbps transmit rate. Easier than pie.
I've read reviews about the antenna falling off. As far as I could tell, one would have to manhandle the thing for it to strip the threads on the attachment. Otherwise, no problem.
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Works great on Mac OS X, December 7, 2004
By Robert Pratte (charleston, il USA)
I had three Mac towers that I needed to install wireless cards in. Two were blue and white G3s, the other was a G4. I installed the Motorola 802.11g card in the G4 and one of the G3s (a revision 1), and the Linksys card in the other G3 (a revision 2). All are running Jaguar 10.2.8, all worked like a charm on my Airport Extreme network. My only complaint is that the antenna seems a bit cheap, and I had to place it oddly due to the power and vga plugs. However, since I could rotate and tilt the antenna, this was easily accomplished.
Anyway, I did not encounter any problems using this card - I simply inserted it, plugged the machine in, clicked to turn the card on, and I was on the network. I had the same experience with the Motorola cards, and they seem to be a bit cheaper (in price), but I do not hesitate to recommend the Linksys card to Mac owners.
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Works fine after some installation glitch on Linux, November 30, 2004
By cupiemayo (Santa Barbara, California)
By nature I tend not to believe in things that are not visible in action, and radio transmission is one of them. But TV and radio always work fine so I am of course exaggerating. It is true when things go wrong with wireless, troubleshooting is harder just because it for sure is not because of a dumb human mistake like not plugging in the cord, for example. But now that this thing is working, I am a believer.
With all the reviews, I just add my experience using this card with on a Debian Linux box. I have to say it was a pain in the butt to get it working in my situation. I've tried ndiswrapper as most people would suggest, but with some customization (upgraded kernel, lots of backports packages, etc.), I could never get reliable performace out of this.
Now my current solution---a quite good one---is to use the RT2500 driver by www.ralinktech.com (note that older WMP54G cards use different chip, not RT2500; you have to check the version of your card). This one needs building from source, but it has been the only reliable solution for me. Note that if your system uses a lot of backports on Debian, you might need to downgrade the driver version, like I am doing right now.
So when this guy is working, it does so well. But I wish it has a better Linux support. On the Window side of my machine, the installation was a breeze so it should certainly be possible for Linksys to support Linux better.
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Be careful, September 24, 2004
By Just a dude (Phoenix Arizona)
There's very little indication on the box as to whether this is version 2 (WPA compatible) or version 4 (not WPA compatible).
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An exasperating waste, September 12, 2004
By JB3 (L.A., CA USA)
Desktop WinXP, wireless Win2000, two full wasted days.
The WMP54G is technically "active", but will not connect to the router. I literally reformatted the hard drive AND stripped the wireless machine down TO THE BONE to ensure there were NO other factors at play. I also paid a genuine guru (who makes a living at this sort of thing) to look at it, and after several hours he gave up too. This thing is going in the trash.
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A red cent is worth more., September 6, 2004
By Da Dawg Hunts
How anyone could put a product like this on the market beats me. I have never been so frustrated in installing a piece of hardware into a computer in my fifteen years working with them.
You can toss a coin and come up with the probablity of whether or not it will work in your computer. I tried it in my second one at the suggestion of linksys support (I never talked to anyone in India before)and it worked, whatever that was supposed to prove. The one that it wouldn't work in was the one I wanted to install it into and that one wasn't complyin'. And Linksys support was no help whatsoever. All they did was prove that their was nothing broken on their adaptor. If you buy one of these, make sure you get a list of the computers that it will work in. This card is priority to the nth degree. I tried to install mine during a moonless night and now I'm waiting for a full moon to try it again, before I consult with my vodoo oracle.
Or maybe I'll try to get it exorcised. Seriously! don't buy one.
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Problems with XP SP1a & SP2, August 30, 2004
By Kevin Murphy (Los Angeles, CA USA)
I tried installing this on an Athlon XP running a brand-new clean install of XP Service Pack 2.
XP comes up and says it has a new "network adapter" but will not accept the drivers on the Linksys disk. Running the Linksys disk by itself fails, as the Linksys setup program crashes.
Manually selecting the drivers sometimes (??) works, but after about 5 mintues the card stops working and after a few "repair connection" operations, WIndows disables the card. And it won't work again until you uninstall and reinstall the drivers.
Some on the net believe that some of this behavior is due to a "common" wireless pakcage MS introduced in XP SP1a, and before that as a critical Hotfix. Maybe, but it seems to be more that this card just sux.
BTW, I've been dealing with computers since 1971.
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Piece Of Junk!!, August 20, 2004
By proudcelt (Seattle, WA)
The Linksys WMP54G is a piece of junk. I purchased one recently for a two year old Dell desktop running Win2K. The drivers that came in the box would not load, so I let the OS finsih the install without loading drivers then used Window's update function to add them. Windows still didn't like the drivers, but I forced them through and the device changed status to Code 10, Cannot Start. Linksys tech support, which is in India, was less than helpful, assuring me it was a bad PCI slot. Removed the card and installed into a brand new Gateway desktop running XP Pro. Exact same problem. Read some reviews and did some research, then threw the Linksys product in the trash and purchased a Netgear WG311 wireless PCI adapter. Installed correctly the first try in the Win2K machine and took < 2 minutes to configure with my SSID and WEP key. Price is the same and the Netgear product works as advertised. The moral...DON'T BUY LINKSYS
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Very Stable Product, August 2, 2004
By Michael (California)
I have been through several networking brands including d-link netgear and belkin (dont ever try), and linksys has always come out on top despite its terrible customer service. I installed this on my pc (os:XP) and with about 4 hours I got the antenna pointed just right to get an 'excellent' signal strength. Being 30 ft away from my wireless linksys router which is behind 2 well insulated walls I was very impressed. So, even though it took quite a lot of my time, this product is well worth the $ in my opinion.
good luck!
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no worries, May 21, 2004
By Dr. Rob (Huntsville, AL)
This is a great card for your desktop. I have a homebuilt PC runing windows XP. I set up a totally wireless G network yesterday morning with a linksys wireless router kit and the desktop was the first to go online (and it was not the computer used to configure the router). Sofware and hardware Installation were both easy and took less than 5 minutes. I get great reception about 40 feet from the router on a different floor of my apartment. I have been able to stream long streams without dropping. Excelent card, worth the extra dough.
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Mystified about the negative reviews., May 20, 2004
By AlexP (Jacksonville, Fl United States)
I cannot understand the negative reviews of this product. I used 12 of them for a customer in one network and they have been running for 2 years without a single issue.My only criticism is that there is no antenna extension available and for a workstation squirreled int he back of a desk behind a wall just cannot get decent signal strength. Other than this, this card set up the first time and works wonderfully.
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Unstable Junk, April 24, 2004
By Matthew A Cox (Boston, MA)
Do not buy this card. It will break on you within 6 months if you ever get it to work properly. This is my second card both have failed with the dreaded (will not start code 10) error within 6 months of purchase.
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Stay away if you have older hardware, April 10, 2004
By Filipe Badaro
Got one of those, and even after a month trying I couldn't get it working properly with older hardware (Celeron, P2, P3). It has been reported by several users that this card has issues with Intel BX/ZX chipsets, once you plug the card the system does not boot at all. Linksys support was useless solving this issue.
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Plug and play on MAC!, March 18, 2004
By unknown
Zero installation hassles. Shows up just as an airport card would. Great product to get the old G4 connected without the wires. Reccommended.
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No significant problems so far., March 15, 2004
By mcswing (Los Angeles)
I've been reading other user's reviews on this product and I'm not really sure where all the problems are coming from. First off, I am a computer technician with four years experience in the field, so I am fairly familiar with computers. But I've had this product for about one month and I've noticed nothing significant in terms of problems.I am running 2 Linksys wireless-G PCI cards along with the Linksys wireless-G broadband router (WRT54G). I have one machine running Windows XP about 5 feet from the router. I have a second machine running Windows 2000 upstairs approximately 25 feet away from the router. The machine next to the router gets excellent signal strength and the machine upstairs gets very good signal strength which really has no negative effect on the user's experience with Internet browsing (DSL). These are a couple of things that I learned while installing these devices:
- For the Windows 2000 machine (and other 9x clients), the instructions specifically say to install the software BEFORE installing the card. I have no idea why this would be the case because Windows should be Plug N Play, but for some reason, it will not detect the hardware until the software is in place. (I used the device drivers from the CD, I did not use any updated drivers from the website).
- Do not download the latest firmware (2.02.2) to the router unless there is something wrong with the router (unless you're adventurous). I updated the router firmware to the latest version from the Linksys website as soon as I was up and running and the router stopped grabbing an IP address from my ISP. After some frustration, I finally reset the router to factory default settings and the router came back up. I don't know if that is the definitive solution to the problem, but that's what worked for me.
- Do not power off the router by pulling the power cord from the back of the router. I have not fully investigated this yet, but it seems like the router loses its settings for WEP and SSID when it's powered off. This can cause some more frustration (especially since I'm using 128-bit WEP). These are the things that I found out installing my devices. But besides those issues, I have not had any other major problems. I have no comment on Linksys customer service since I never called them. I hope that those who complained about this product were able to get their problems resolved. But I have noticed nothing significant so far. I will write another review if things change in the near future.
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On Modems and PC Printer, February 22, 2004
By Derek Wong Kok Hoong (The Republic of Singapore)
If you buy a modem or a telephony card, this one is considered good. Personally, I have used internal modem and US Robotics modem which lasted me almost two years for each Personal Pc and three years for a Pacific Internet and Singnet Singapore Internet Service Provider. Recently, I have a problem with Efficient Network Modem which is acknowledged to be a very very good broadbandth modem. Their service is not very good in Singapore, being that you have to bring your not working modem to their Singapore Service Centre at a isolated industrial building in Singapore for servicing by their greedy money modem service professionals!!! If you used a printer, most of us acknowledged that Epson and Canon are the most popular models, jet printer and laser printer being easily found in almost every Singaporean home and Lexmark Z43 is the one I am currently using and which I believe would be the nemesis of Cannon and Epson in years to compete for the business market worldwide. So Cannon and Epson, watch out for Hong Kong based strong brand Lexmark. All said, Compro Computer is a very very good brand to use too since it serves me for almost three years now. I am lucky to have a good computer IT professional friend Mr. Chia Kok Onn, IT manager Singapore of a big MNC firm in Singapore to check on my PC regularly. And not to forget my Pay Department best friend, and upperstudy Senior Top coder Chief Coder Mr. Lee Kok Sin to service and advise on my Internet broadband connection and HP Scanjet and CanonScan N1220U model which are probably the top two scanners in the worldwide market. Do you use a digital organizer too? If so, maybe I suggest to you to use Casio instead of Palm Zire or the titanium model as Casio is made in Japan and is of lasting enduring quality. What does it means, it means that my casio digital organizer has served me well for eight years and it recently is still in good condition. A palm zire may not lasts more than three years with a drop to the floor which may costs you 20% of your cash asset on servicing charge. This is a remark from stingy me who would not spend more than SGD 30 on servicing my Siemens business handphone. All right, that's all on technology comment now, if you are interested in finance websites, do visit me at http://www.geocities.com/derek6196/ I hope to make friends with you too. This is Derek Wong from derek6196@hotmail.com and dwkhkyks@hotmail.com Singapore
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Not worth the price! You can do better with another brand!, February 17, 2004
By Lou Dog (Waxhaw, NC United States)
Initially, I had no problems with this product. I installed it in Windows XP, and it all went rather smoothly. Signal was significant enough to surf the net most of the time, but it was never great and signal dropped out about 10-15% of the time. It is on the opposite side of my house from my router, but I don't live in a mansion and it isn't that far away that signal should drop out in my house. The card has been installed for about 4 months now and I have been experiencing nothing but trouble. In fact, I can't get it to work anymore. The long and bulky antenna continually falls out of the card because the threads have become stripped even though I have rarely touched it once I installed it. So I was constantly having to push the antenna in to ensure it was connected. Now, even when I have a very strong signal, I am having a compatability problem with Windows XP which I never had before. For some reason, it will no longer automatically detect my network settings. I have had numerous calls into Windows and Linksys support with no luck of getting the card to work. It will not automatically or allow me to manually configure an IP address. I have 4 laptops all usings linksys wireless PCI cards and had have no problems. This product however is just plain flaky and in my opinion, a real piece of junk. It's not built well, the antenna is too long and the product isn't doing what it was purchased for. I have spent (wasted) hours deleting network settings and hardware, reinstalled from scratch and it still installs network bridges that are not required and will not find an IP address. After wasting several weekends, I am giving up and will be switching brands. These types of devices are plug and play, but unfortantely, this card has been anything but. I like Linksys products and stand by my router, but not this card. I expected it to last at least 1 year. 3-4 months is unacceptable and the hassle of warranty replacement isn't worth the $50-60 bucks I'll spend on another brand for half the price of the Linksys product. Not a good value and certainly not worth it's expensive price tag.
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