Wireless Connection won't stay connected

[PrimaveraTard]

I had a NetGear MR814 11Mbps wireless router hooked up to my desktop at home and was able to work fine from my HP laptop (Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN, Driver V3.70.17.0). Then, one day, my network just got all sketchy. It would disconnect and after I would unhook my router and cable modem it would reconnect for a while. Now, it won't even stay connected for 5 min. I have disconnected the router and am just working off the desktop for now. Any idea what the problem is here. I am new to wireless, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt

 

[ryanlashway]

Make sure you are still using the wireless card software to access the point. For some reason my laptop jumped over to allowing windows to manage wireless connections and my connection dropped more then anything. if you have the wireless card software installed.

To accomplish this (if the wireless card software is installed)

Right click the My Network Places icon, then go to properties.

right click the wireless connection, properties
select the wireless networks tab and uncheck "Use Windows to configure Wireless Network setting"


Let me know if you need anything.

 

[TonyScarpelli]

ryanlashway

Man, you hit it right on the head with my system. I have a Linksys WPC11 ver. 3.0 PC Card on my laptop and a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless 4 port router.

After the last WinXP updates I was losing the connection after abut 18 minutes. I'd relog in and got the connection, then I would lose it agarin after 18 minutes. I spent hours reconfiguing everything I could think of to no avail.

I did what you said and it's been 45 minutes and haven't lost the connection yet. Five stars to you.

Thanks much.


Tony Scarpelli
Clinical Engineering Dept.
Maine Medical Center
Portland, Maine 04102

 

[PrimaveraTard]

ryanlashway - Thanks for the response. Did what you suggested and downloaded the software for my wireless card. It worked great for one night. But, when I got on yesterday, it started again with the disconnects. It stays connected about 2 min. then nothing. I've been forced back to just the modem again. The only change I made was that after I downloaded the new wireless software, I installed a new version of Norton 05. Any other ideas on what might be happening?

Matt

 

[ryanlashway]

Make sure you disable Windows XP wireless client.

Right click on Network Neighborhood, Properties, Right click the wireless connection, properties, go to the advance Tab and unselect the box for "Use Windows for Wireless Network" or "Manage Wireless using Windows" its something to that affect. If you have both running they conflict and will mess up the connection.


Also, side thing: If you have a Wireless Phone running on 2.4 or 5.8ghz make sure they are not on the same channel. It is rare that this is an issue any longer but it used to be an issue sometimes.

 

[bcastner]

Both of the adapters mentioned here work fine under Windows control of the device.

. if pre-SP2 on XP, apply this Hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=826942

. it would be best to move to XP Service Pack 2, and apply this Hotfix:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...4d-e7c1-48d6-95ee-1459234f4483&displaylang=en

. In both cases, make certain that "enable 802.1x authentication" is unchecked or disabled, both in the property sheet under Device Manager for the device, and in the Windows settings. This option for pre-SP1 is in the connection property sheet, Advanced. For SP2 this selection is listed under the property sheet of the identified Access points.

. Do not disable SSID. It is worthless as a security measure, and confuses things.

. See if more recent adapter driver software is available, and if so, install it.

Finally, this claim is not true:

"Also, side thing: If you have a Wireless Phone running on 2.4 or 5.8ghz make sure they are not on the same channel. It is rare that this is an issue any longer but it used to be an issue sometimes."

These are DSS devices and do not have "channels." Moreover, the 5.8ghz phone cannot interfere.

 

[bcastner]

Nearly forgot three other links:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;870702

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;313242

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/index.php?p=43

 

[ryanlashway]

Also, side thing: If you have a Wireless Phone running on 2.4 or 5.8ghz make sure they are not on the same channel. It is rare that this is an issue any longer but it used to be an issue sometimes."



Please note " This is rare" and "used to be an issue sometimes"

With the older cordless phones with was an issue as documented in man of the older manuals for wireless devices. I ran into this issue myself with a older negear access point, whenever I turned the phone on and the connection was made between the handheld and base unit I would lose connection, I then had to read the manual from the phone to find default channel and verify the access point was not on it.

Wireless Freq is wireless freq, wether it be for a phone or a wireless point, this is why you have so many different channels and each manual list possible signal issues and devices that may cause this.

 

[ryanlashway]

P.S. Yes, any wireless adapter will run fine with the XP wireless manager, the issue you run into is a Netgear, Linksys whomever will report different connections then the windows wireless manager.

My main point was the card software usually runs smother and reports better signal strength and was also to point out that having both running would cause issues and is the most common factor in an issue like this.

 

[bcastner]

P.S. Yes, any wireless adapter will run fine with the XP wireless manager,..." This is certainly not a claim Microsoft would make:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;313242

But it certainly should be true for any current adapter.

"My main point was the card software usually runs smother and reports better signal strength and was also to point out that having both running would cause issues and is the most common factor in an issue like this." The second note on running both is valuable advice, and I thank you. See the link at the beginning of this post.

But the smoother and better signal strength is highly questionable, and certainly wrong under SP2. And missing here is wireless security, for which Microsoft essentially is alone at the moment at enforcing this at the client level. Longhorn, for example, in its WinHEC beta notes shows that Microsoft plans to not allow unsecured connections at all.

Give the MSFT client another chance. It is more than decent under SP2.

 

[PrimaveraTard]

Well, I'm done. Getting a new router. nothing seems to be working. Thanks for trying guys.

 

[PrimaveraTard]

Got another NetGear, this time a WGR614 (I think thats what it is). Have been working fine for the last two days.

 

[TonyScarpelli]

I have a Linksys WPC11 ver. 3.0 PC Card on my laptop and a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless 4 port router.

After the last WinXP updates I was losing the connection after abut 18-20 minutes. I'd relog in and got the connection, then I would lose it again after 18-20 minutes. I spent hours reconfiguing everything I could think of to no avail. Then I did the recommended turning off "Use Windows to configure Wireless Network setting". But that didn't last long. I changed one setting and couldn't get a connection again. I downloaded the so-called latest updates from Linksys and got a connection for a bit, but then changed a couple settings for my system and after that couldn't get a connection again no matter what I did.

I uninstalled the current Linksys drivers and application. Cleaned up my disk and registry, rebooted and reinstalled the original drivers on the CD that came with the card. Then I changed the WEP settings according to my router.

Guess what? For two days I've been on for over three hours.

Nuts, huh?

Hope this helps someone.

CU

Tony Scarpelli
Clinical Engineering Dept.
Maine Medical Center
Portland, Maine 04102