tx-power boo boo :(

CrinkElite

Hi folks, I was hoping someone could shed a bit of light on something.

I have a Belkin PCI wireless g adapter in my desktop pc.
The NIC has worked perfectly since I got it about 4-5 years ago.

http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F5D7001&aid=5426&scid=0

In my infinite wisdom I recently experimented with the txpower settings using a linux live cd.

I can't remember what I did exactly but I think I cranked it up to 1000mw just to see what would happen.

I've reset the txpower to "auto" which defaults to 27dBm

Anyway, now my download speeds have dropped to 0 - 10 kbps and I get about 20% packet loss when I ping the gateway.

My signal strengths are still good (60-90%) and I can still see the router down the street.

I used wireshark to see if I was getting a lot of TCP retransmitions but they don't seem to be any more frequent than before.

So I suppose I should just suck it up and get a new NIC but I can't shake the feeling that maybe it's a software/firmware misconfiguration.

HTTP seems to work better than FTP as most pages load correctly but take a little longer than before.
Downloading a file can take a long time and frequently drops to 0 bps.
sometimes an mp3 will look like it's completed but will only contain half the file.

Has anyone had an experience like this?

Thanks for reading.

/update

I've found from page 8 of this manual
http://cache-www.belkin.com/support/dl/p74485_f5d7001_man.pdf

the power consumption is

Tx/Rx peak 550/350mA @3.3Vdc

I have no idea what that means but if I use this converter

http://www.jobsite-generators.com/power_calculators.html

.550 Amps @ 3.3V comes to 2.514864 watts.

this would mean that it can take over 2.5 times the wattage of my fancy Alpha clone which doesn't seem right at all

I'm tempted to jack it all the way up to 2500 mW but I'm afraid I'd dammage the card or PC.

Anyone have an opinion on this?

Fuzzy Clam

I,m astonished that you got 1 watt from a PCI card. If you try 2.5 watts please let us know the results:)