Connection drops in games, every 10 minutes or so

Hi all,

I know this thread is about my desktop computer, but please don't close it; this could just as easily happen to a notebook, and the content of the thread is not based on the fact that it's a desktop.

Anyway, the issue: I have a rather screwed up network situation. Basically, the cable modem and router in my house are in the basement, and I live two floors above that. My room does not have an ethernet jack, as there is no wiring in the walls. For a while now, I've been using an AC outlet ethernet adapter. I'm not sure how it works, but it plugs into a wall outlet and has an ethernet port, so you can connect two ethernet devices via power lines with a 10Mbps connection. These adapters have stopped working recently, though.

So, I decided to buy a USB wireless dongle, seeing as I have never had any luck with PCI slot wireless cards in this desktop. I installed the drivers for it, and connected to the wireless router in the basement, the very same that my laptop has been flawlessly connected to for several months. For browsing the internet, forums, chat, etc. it works just fine. I have not experienced connection issues so far.

However, I am completely unable to game on this connection; even though the connection meter says I have a very good signal at 48Mbps, it is erratic while gaming. I cannot seem to go more than 10 minutes at a time without getting a crippling lag spike, lasting 20 seconds to a minute. During this time, I completely lose control of my character in-game (mostly TF2, Left 4 Dead and CoD4), and come back a minute later to find myself dead. It's especially annoying in Team Fortress 2, where you automatically disconnect from a server if you lose connection for 30 seconds. During these connection drops, if I hit Shift+Tab to see my Steam Community window, my Friends list says "Could not connect to Steam servers."

I never lose my connection unless I am in a game, and when I am in games it drops consistently, no matter what game or server. Since this started happening, I've tried three different USB wireless modules.

Any suggestions as to why this might be happening, and any advice that doesn't involve tearing the walls out to run Cat6 cables from the basement to my 2nd story room?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

If you completely lose the internet connection, then my guess is that the computer is turning off the USB. Go to your device manager and make sure that the computer isn't allowed to turn off power.

What router do you have in the basement? If it is an older model, you might consider upgrading. I would also buy a wireless access point, and then run ethernet from that to your desktop. Or, you could use an extender/repeater to boost the wireless signal from your wireless router.

I've never had any problems with wired or wireless NICs in my desktops. Without your history, I'm guessing that there are IRQ conflicts that have made things difficult. I've had the best luck with D-Link wireless NICs in my desktops using Intel based motherboards. In any case, this thread will probably be locked soon, with a recommendation to visit forum.desktopreview.com.

 

I think it is far more likely the usb adapter is overheating.

I have never had good luck with USB adapters when the bandwidth shoots up. I will bet that you get the same result with a LARGE download like a Windows update.

when you say you've had no luck with pci slot adapters, which ones did you try? Did they have external antennas?

 

I've checked the Device Manager, and even power settings, and there's nothing should let the USB turn off. I'm not sure what exact router it is, it's some Linksys wireless-G router that's been working fine for years. Like I say, it doesn't drop connection in my notebook at all, even during gaming.

Overheating, that's an interesting theory. I'll try it out next time it drops the connection.

I've used several PCI wireless cards, all with one or two antennae. I've had a Ralink card that came bundled with the computer, that didn't even have drivers, a Linksys and a D-Link card, both of which had drivers but could never see a wireless network.

 

There can be quite a few reasons why a network doesn't show up - hidden SSID, WPA2/AES used on the router but the operating system not patched (XP doesn't see it without the WPA2 hotfix), weak signal, router set to 802.11x but the card doesn't support 802.11x (ie: 802.11g on the router but card only supports 802.11b), etc. It can be a pain in the butt to identify what's causing the problem. I had problems with my D-Link Xtreme card in my e1705 under Vista - I kept getting disconnected during large downloads, and all of my equipment is D-Link. It turned out to be a compatibility issue between the card and my chipset: XP worked like a champ, but Vista just didn't play nice. I had a similar issue with an Atheros based internal wifi NIC. I finally switched to a Gigabyte internal wifi NIC, and I haven't had any problems since!

USB network adapters can be hit or miss - sometimes a particular brand just doesn't play well with a particular router, or the drivers are complete crap, or not optimized properly. You could try borrowing one from a friend to see if it works better.

 

I had this problem and it pissed the out of me for a while. It turned out that Windows Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) was competing with the software that came with my linksys pci adapter, resulting in a dropped connection every few minutes. I just went to msconfig and disabled the 3rd party adapter software and made the wzc default. Try that and let me know.

 

I'm on Vista Home Premium, and all the security settings match. No PCI adapter has worked, yet USB models seem to have no trouble, except in gaming. Also, both the router and adapter are 802.11g.

Wow, I never knew about that. My adapter is a TRENDNet USB wireless dongle, and it does have its own configuration/monitoring software. I'll try disabling, and maybe later uninstalling, that utility and just letting Windows do its own thing. If this turns out to be the cause and solution, I will be very happy.

 

yeah it took me the longest goddamn time to figure it out. I still have the software and drivers installed, just disabled (that's just how i have it...i dont know if it makes a difference)

 

I don't think any of us mentioned a firmware update....you could always try that. Could be the router has some basic, minor compatibility issue with the chipset in your USB adapter.

It still sounds like heat to me, though