Workgroup and wireless problems

[meninblack]

My friend has a new wireless sky broadband router.
It will be working fine and then suddenely you will have to restart the router so that the three pc's/laptop's can connect.
The pc's are a mix of win xp home(x2) and win vista.

The two xp pc's can also see each other via a workgroup but the vista laptop keeps having to have the workgroup redone for it to see and be seen.
Sorry for the lack of info. I have posted this for a friend.

Any idea's?
Thanks
Kris

 

[G0AOZ]

I take it that all computers are wirelessly connecting to the router? And that the problem is loss of Internet, rather than interconnection between PCs?

See if you can temporarily connect one of the PCs with an ethernet cable to the router. Disable the wireless device on that PC. Now check when the next failure occurs to see if the wired one has lost Internet along with the wireless ones.

This will tell you if it's a wireless problem or an Internet connection problem.

If ALL PCs are losing Internet, then check the cable or phone line connections to the router, and see if you can look "inside" the router for line stats, etc.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[meninblack]

Every so often, they have to re-boot the router, and the vitsa laptop keeps dropping off the workgroup of the other two laptop's.

Thanks

 

[firewolfrl]

what are yours and the other 2 computers doing when the router drops?

there is a known issue that some routers cannot handle more than 255 concurrent connections without locking up.

a good explanation is when you open one normal web page. depending on your settings...you could be opening 4 to 10+ concurrent connections to the router for each page opened.
now if you use a downloader such as Utorrent or emule you could end up using all 255 concurrent connections on just one computer...all at once.

as for the Vista computer it is just luck of the draw. the router chooses one computer to drop when it starts to max out...in my case it was my wife's computer with an old linksys that I had....that was an issue I did not have a choice in fixing....LOL.


the higher end routers used for gaming work well and do not drop at the 255 limit.
some of the higher end routers can have almost an unlimited amount of connections. especially the ones that are Hotspot capable


The 255 limit is the bane of router designers. the cost of buffering hardware that is not even used till the router max's out can get up there. So maunufacturers cheat...they put only a small buffer that can handle the 255 for a bit then the router is supposed to temporally drop and reset to a clean state. that works for some computers but not all computers can handle that drop...such as the vista machine (explaination #2 for the vista machine...LOL)...this is all very fast...you can't even blink before it is done.
A cheap router will cycle itself....very fast to keep you on line when it is maxed out....but the packet loss when the packet hits a reset cycle is miminal but noticed by the other computers on the system that end up sending more packets and thus overloading the poor ole' cheap router


The better higher end routers do it a little bit different...they hit the 255 limit and then buffer and send the packets to a 2nd stage buffer. the first stage then resets while the 2nd stage handles the packet correctly. by the time the 2nd stage has handled the packet the first stage is reset and ready to rock and roll. there can be more stages with bigger buffers. this alternating setup works very well...

all this is done within the controller chips. the more you spend the better the router is supposed to be....lol that is the theory


get a gamers router and you should have most of the problem
of having to reset the router fixed...manufacturers understand that gamers are a core market for them and they want to make sure that the 255 limit is not an issue for their routers...gamers do get quite vocal

hope this helps

 

[meninblack]

Thanks for the detailed reponse.

I'm going over during the week so I'll find out more which may confirm what you had said,

Thanks again.

Kris

 

[meninblack]

Another friend has a wireless network and when his pc and laptop are connected via a cable, everything is fine. When he uses the wireless side with the laptop, it drops off the network at regular intervals.

Any idea's?

Thanks
Kris

 

[HalComps]

try moving the cordless phone to the end of the room, this way the phone is not between the laptop and the router. could be causing the drop off. or put the router at a high position.

 

[linney]

Sky User Forums and Support,

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-router/111-sky-broadband-router-details.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=sky+broadband+router&rls=com.microsoft:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=sky+broadband+router&rls=com.microsoft:

Update to the new XP Wireless Client:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=917021

How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313242/EN-US/?FR=1

How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP Service Pack 2

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870702/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

xp drops wireless then reconnects
thread779-941706

Wireless Connection and SP2
thread779-1271580

To re-install the wireless zero configuration service under XP, see:

http://blog.kevindonahue.com/archives/2004/05/multiple_wirele.php

"Turbulence In The Ether"

http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-03.htm

Network Map in Windows Vista does not display computers that are running Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120#appliesto