wifi keeps droping on pc, connects, drops after 2 to 4 seconds

[8howdoi8]

Sony pcv-rz54g, xp with sp3, engenius wirless 11b//g/n high power usb adapter. Signal 99, quality 100. Ap is dsl modem/wifi, connected to Mac in one room. PC located across house. My laptop works at this location without usb adapter. PC connects for 2 to 5 seconds than disconnects and recycles. Any suggestion would be grateful.

 

[BadBigBen]

Check in the DeviceManager, the settings of your WiFi card/stick.

the setting that I am talking about is called: COMPUTER CAN TURN OFF THIS DEVICE TO SAVE ENERGY (or similar wording)

do the same for your USB-HUBs...

also check your power-saving settings, set them to Performance or Always-On, to see if that makes a difference...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

While not a bad idea to turn the power saving OFF as suggested, I don't think that's the issue here due to the short timing of the drops. If it was power, I would think it would work for 30 minutes and then stop.

Try to locate a driver update.

 

[vacunita]

If its USB try it on another computer, if it exhibits the same behavior on another computer, maybe even on another wifi network than you can be pretty certain its the wifi card, and its time to buy a new one.

Also make sure nothing is interfering with the signal. Like a cordless phone near by.


----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[8howdoi8]

Wireless adapter is new. Don't have any power save settings, all set to never.
I may have found a cure for my problem. Went to Control Network Connections, have a 1394 lan that was connected. I disabled the 1394 lan and then when I enable it again I get connected to the wifi without any problems, it stays connected.
Don't know if I can remove the 1394 lan thing, and if I do need it can I get it back?
Hope this may help someone else that has the constant disconnect problem.

 

[goombawaho]

That doesn't make much sense to me, but yes you can disable the 1394 in Device Manager and keep it disabled until you might need it.

 

[BadBigBen]

that is exactly what I am thinking there Goom, that IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE...

Firewire causing WiFi drops, just "Does not compute, Will Robinson!"

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[8howdoi8]

You may be right on the 1394 being the problem. Yesterday got connected first time after enabling 1394. Today won't connect at all. I even uninstalled the firewire. No connect. Reinstalled, enabled, disabled and did not connect. So looks like some other communications problem. Installed new EnGenius wireless high power usb adapter, have excellent signal and quality strength. Rebooted my dsl/wifi modem and still intermittent connection. Connects for a second then drops and recycles. I have an old Toshiba laptop that connects the first time at the same location. I'm thinking there must be a conflict on the Vaio. Any software that would help detect the cause of the disconnects?

 

[kjv1611]

Hate to say it, but it sounds like it's the USB wireless adapter to me. Even if it's brand new, it could have been damaged in transit or been a flaky design. Those often heat up quite a bit as well, so it's possible if cheaply made, that it could have burned something out. If you have another adapter (as suggested earlier), try that. If you have a friend who can let you borrow an adapter, I'd try that. That way you can say for sure that it's the adapter and not something on the computer.

 

[8howdoi8]

kjv you were correct. I just tried my third usb wireless adapter and it worked the first time. This was a D-Link mid priced unit. The other two were higher priced units, so cost has nothing to do with quality. Knock on wood I've started the pc three times and it connected first try. Thank you all for your input. Love this site when you run into a sticky situation.

 

[kjv1611]

Definitely - in this area - price often has nothing to do with it. I've used cheap ones many times with better results than name-brand ones. On the router, though, I've had better results with the mid-high priced ones... well, for "consumer level models". Glad you got it worked out.