Wi-fi or Wireless fidelity has literally taken the world by
storm. Its usefulness and convenience has made it to various devices such as
laptops, tablets, mobile phones, gaming consoles and nowadays, even digital
cameras have wi-fi connectivity.
However, Wi-fi ready devices have only boomed and gained
popularity for just a few years now. So if you’re still using your old desktop
computer, then I’m pretty sure that those devices won’t have wi-fi connectivity
out of the box.
Fortunately, there are some ways that people can still enjoy
a wi-fi connection without having to dig deep into their pockets to buy a new
desktop computer. All you need is a simple computer accessory and some elbow
grease and you can already surf the World Wide Web wirelessly. Here’s how.
WHAT YOU NEED
A wireless internet connection is very similar to any form
of wireless connection out there (Bluetooth, infrared, etc.). For a connection
to succeed, you would need two things: first would be to have a transmitter
that would send out signals from a source (this would be your wireless access
point) and a receiver to intercept the signals from the transmitter.
The lack of a wi-fi receiver is the main culprit on why most
old computer systems do not have wi-fi connectivity features. Users can work
around this by either installing a USB-type receiver that they can plug in into
their USB ports or another way is to install a wireless PCI card into their
computers, both of which will allow their PC to wirelessly connect to a wi-fi
network.
The USB-type receiver is very easy to install and use,
however, it will take away one of your USB port for whenever you would like to
have a wi-fi connection. Moreover, USB ports on old computers are few and can
sometimes be glitch especially when they are loose. A better solution would be
to install a wireless PCI card. And (based on my personal experience) since it
is directly connected to your motherboard, there is a lower probability of
experiencing errors. Therefore, this post will focus on how to install a
wireless PCI card on older computers.
WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT
Wireless PCI cards costs can start at PHP1,200.00 and reach
as high as PHP3,000.00+ based on branding and features. But for starters, a
wireless PCI card worth PHP1,200 that supports b,g and n standards would be
okay and will support most wireless connectivity features.
HOW TO INSTALL
To install the PCI card, you just need to remove the side
panel of your CPU and depending on the brand and model of your computer; you
may have to use a screw driver to be able to this. Once you have removed the
side panel of your CPU, you would need to find a vacant PCI slot on your mother
board (most mother boards would have at least 2 available slots).
Then you would just need to line up the wireless PCI card
with the PCI slot in your computer and then push the card into place. Do note
that majority of computer casings would have a protective metal cover at the
back that you need to remove before the card can fit so you should remove them
beforehand. After that, you just have to connect the antenna and just screw
back the side panel of your computer in place and that’s it.
Now that that’s done, you can power back your PC and check
if your operating system would and could automatically recognize the new
hardware. If your PC can do so, then go ahead and start connecting to a
wireless network and start surfing the net. Otherwise, you may need to install
a device driver using the installation CD that came with the PCI card.
WHAT IF IT DOESN’T WORK?
There are only a few reasons why the installation would
fail. One is that you didn’t properly install the PCI card in the first place.
This is usually the most common problem with this kind of installation, so uses
should double check if they have correctly inserted the PCI card into the slot.
Another reason is that the PCI slot may already be faulty, in this case, try
inserting the PCI card into another slot to see if there would be any changes.
There might also be a problem with the device driver
installation. If the driver was not successfully installed or if it has not
been installed at all, the device will not function properly. And lastly, if
you’ve tried everything stated above and you still can’t get the device to
work, you can try calling the store where you bought the card from and ask for
technical assistance or better yet, return the device to the store and ask for
it to be checked and replaced if necessary.
EXTRAS
Aside from wireless connectivity, there are other features
that a wireless system can offer. One is that you can turn the wireless
receiver into a transmitter and share your wired internet connection over a
wi-fi network. For this function, you can use a built in feature in Windows 7
to create an ad-hoc network where other users in your network can join.
There’s also this third party software called connectify
that has the same function as creating an ad-hoc network. But this application
takes it one step further by adding some very useful features such as turning
your PC into a wi-fi hotspot, display connected devices in your network (super
useful in detecting wi-fi phishers and free loaders), simple firewall
controls, wi-fi file transfer between
devices, fully customizable SSID (or
network name), repeater functionality and autointernet selection.
Now if you’ve read the entire article, I hope you were able
to install and use your PCI card to connect wirelessly into a wi-fi network.
Till next time! :~)
