How can I test my network adaptor

Hi guys

Not sure if I have a problem or not as we have had issues of late with a loose wall socket where our phone line adapter is. Thing is my PS4 and wives laptop don't seem to be having a problem although my wife is complaining her connection is slow but her laptop is dated.

Recently I have found that when I first open the laptop I cannot go online,,, I just keep getting the webpage not available page on chrome and IE. My router is showing all lights ok, and my connection status in the system stray is full,, yet no internet. Funny thing is it always seems to clear and I get online after 5 mins or so,,, if I leave laptop lid open then I can go back to the computer anytime and get back online right away,,, but if I shut the lid I will encounter the same issue again whenever I retry???

i know BT are working on putting fibre optic in my area and of course the loose wall connection could be causing its own issues but is there any way I can find out if my laptop is the issue???,, I would guess the internal adapter perhaps??,, but if there is another possibility that I could rule out I would be interested to know also.

Cheers

 

May not be practical, but....download a linux live cd distribution(ubuntu would be fine). Then connect to your internet in ubuntu. Try and see if you have any network issues(basically use the internet for an hour or so). If you do, it's either the card in your laptop or your router.

If you don't, it's a windows driver issue and the card/router are fine.

If your wife's laptop and your ps4 are fine, it is most likely the card or the driver, not the router. The linux live cd test should at least tell you if it's the driver or the card.

 

Cheers mate,, but I dont know if I like the sound of downloading and installing a whole new operating system. There must be a way surely of running a diagnostic check on the card / driver? If it is the driver or card is it an expensive part to fix,, my warranty has now expired.

 

No you're not installing any OS. Ubuntu can be burned to a dvd and can be booted from the dvd as a OS. You do not need to install anything, it's a live cd as if you had installed the os on the dvd.

One thing you can try is a different driver. What exact network card do you have?

 

It's usually not that expensive, less than $100 for sure.

 

A new wi-fi card will be about $30, $50 max. You can get a intel 6300 ultimate-n, which seems to be a good card. The new Intel 7260AC card is also good and can be found for $30 new.

 

I bought an Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 card on amazon for like $18.99 and it works great! I get 80-100mbps on my fiber connection and I'm sure it can go a lot faster. You can also have use of the third antenna for more stronger signal. The Intel AC models use only 2 cables.

Intel Half Centrino Ultimate-n 6300 Pci-e Card 633anhmw 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4 Ghz and 5.0 Ghz Spectra 450 Mbps Support WIDI at Amazon.com

 

Hi guys cheers for all the help,, not sure if I have figured it out or not but though I would post anyway in case it ever help anyone else who might encounter the same thing.

First of all I ran the alien autopsy and tested my adapter,, all good aparently.
I then tried doing a system restore but still got the issue.
I then ran adware and virus scans,, no change
Next I tried un-installing my adaware and AVG and re-installing them. Seemed to work for a little while but then came back again.
Finally a thought occurred to me,, if it only happens when I first log on then perhaps something in the startup was causing it. So I ran msconfig and de-selected everything on startup. Booted back up and for 3 or 4 days I had no issues of it happening at all.

Tonight I went to download something using my torrent client and right away I had the issue again. It was then I remembered that utorrent always started up auto previously and was likely always running in the background even when not downloading. I can remember now that I lately updated utorrent as well so it may be the culprit. I noticed the current version I have of utorrent says 32bit and my machine will be 64 so perhaps something in the update is causing a clash with my browsers. Throughout the problems I have had I never seem to lose connection to the router, and my signal strength is always excellent.

Anyway I will monitor this for now