On 7/29/2018 4:10 AM, micky wrote:
At a hamfest today, I bought a 11AC USB Wireless Adapter, so I could use
my phone as a hotspot if my home internet goes out again.

I overpaid for a generic adapter, and I coudl just take my loss and buy
a new one, but I really reallly really want to learn from this.

First the device plugs into USB, I get a message that says it's loading,
and it shows up in Device Manager which says it's working properly. As
one of 10 network adapters. It has no yellow. Does that mean I don't
need the driver that is supposed to be on the mini-CD that came with it?

Isn't there supposed to be a screen that shows the various wifi signals
around me and allows me to pick the one I want?
If I need more software, is there any source for generic software, to
list available wifi signals and let me choose one. Is all that included
in "driver" if I find a downloadable driver on the web????

The instructions give a download url at www.mediatek.com but there is no
longer anything downloadable there. I thought I'd heard of that company
and that it was a good one!

Though everything looks new, even the bag the mini-CD was in, the CD
cannot be fully read. It will show the high-level directory but the
blue circle keeps spinning. And even then, though some file names look
good, others have a row of ???? in them. Like abc?????.pdf !!!

Once it stopped spinning but when I tried to look inside a subdirectory,
again the spinning blue circle.

I can't get the CD to display even that much anymore. I thought I heard
water dripping, but eventually I realized it was the CD drive, every
couple seconds, and when I opened it, the metal plate under the CD was
hot, quite hot!!

For a while my CD drive didn't work at all anymore, with another CD and
a DVD. Now the CD works again but I can't play the DVD. Which is more
likely. The drive brokee so it won't play the new CD, or the new CD
caused the drive to overheat and broke it? (I'll try with more CDs and
DVDs and replace the drive if need be. )

This new mini CD has a quarter inch "scratch" near the outer edge, but I
thought the CD is written from the center out so any damage at the outer
edge would be in a file. ?


The top level directory has subs for Mac, Linux, and two kinds of
Windows. Huh? Migdal and Amway, or some such names. What are
they????

https://www.mediatek.com/products/co...broadband-wifi

Ben