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I purchased this product in an effort to improve the quality of my WIFI reception. I had been doing some work online and had been unable to perform the function with the built in antenna alone. Once I connected the HWU8DD, not only was I able to perform the necessary functions but the speed and quality of my WIFI connection were both improved substantially.
Big 2.4 GHz antennas are readily available on the net. The big dish antenna cost about the same as the Hawking device so the only real disadvantage to using one is that it takes up a lot of space.
I don't know what kind of antenna is in the X40, but it's pretty good. The signal registered 0 bar on the USB adapter, and barely one bar on both the Hawking device and on the X40's internal adapter.
This device pulled in a weak signal in my house better than a wireless adapter with a typical stick antenna, but it did no better than the internal adapter in my IBM X40 laptop. In order to get that signal up to two bars (high enough to provide reliable performance), I had to use a large 2' by 3' 2.4 GHz dish antenna.
Too weak to be a reliable internet connection. The dish on the Hawking device is too small to really give you much of a boost unless you have a relatively bad adapter/antenna system to start with.
I connected it to the wireless adapter instead of the puny antenna it came with. Just make sure your wireless adapter has a removable antenna and that you order the big dish antenna with the right connector for your adapter.
To solve the problem I usually have to physically remove device, uninstall the device in hardware manager, uninstall software, edit registry to get rid of hidden references, reboot computer, reinstall software, reinstall device and maybe it will work. I had previously owned an HWU54D and it worked wonderfully. Most times it give "code 10" error.Got rid of the HWU8DD and got latest model which is HWDN1 and which seems to work with XPSP3 OK but not well with 64 bit Vista.Unfortunately Hawking is the only seller of these devices (which I need) so I am stuck but cannot really recommend Hawkings devices to anyone. Hawking stopped driver development at Win2K for that model so when I upgraded to XP I needed to shelve the 54D model (never you mind that Hawking says they have XP drivers for the 54D they do not work and tech support confirms that).I got the HWU8DD and it has been nothing but problems. Installation is not seamless and after install it will suddenly decide that it doesn't like the USB port or current driver. Their driver support is pretty much non existent and seems to be about 1 OS generation behind. Also no drivers for Linux that i can find.
The last netgear I bought get good signal. , I will not buy this again for the price.
This one would always drop , so I had to unplug and plug this back into the computer everytime I walk away from my computer for 5 -10 minutes. I bought this because my netgear stop working after two years of use.
Its not even ONE YEAR. I got into that habit.
So that was fine but now, this literally stop working. Even though it does received a better signal but its not worth it.
At least it lasted two years.
I was unable to get two Linksys usb adapters to work at all. My Linksys router continues to work well. But I have gone through two Linksys range extenders that have a very short life span and multiple failures. The Hawking worked on the first try and expanded my range better than Linksys. I am not a computer expert but an old gomer that just wants to use my computer.
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