Wireless Connection Conundrum

Got a new laptop through work (Lenovo X41) and can connect through enterprise nodes at work perfectly. Trying to get my home and other hotspots to work. Here are the symptoms.

1. Set up home network connection including WEP security (3 other PC's in my home already work fine wirelessly). New laptop says it has good connection, but I can only surf for one page or maybe two on IE Exp or Mozilla before it will no longer load pages. It just trys and then sits there.

2. IPconfig shows good ip address and I can ping to external DNS servers like ATT 4.2.2.2 no problem even after my browsers stop working.

3. Other programs that try to connect to the web fail as well (TC2005). My VPN program (ATT dialer) sometimes works for short time and then loses heartbeat.

4. I can connect with ethernet cable to my Dlink wireless router and everything works perfectly.

5. If I install another wireless USB adaptor into my new laptop (one that works fine on several other computers) and disable the internal adaptor I get the same symptoms as above.

6. Other hotspots (unsecured) exhibit same symptoms

 

Sounds like a service is being shutdown. Check all of your power management settings, including drivers advanced properties. Also check with your company IT dept. They may have settings setup for their networks. VPN setups can really lock things down, even if your not using a vpn connection. Most are setup where you can not access or even surf the web when a VPN connection is made. This prevents back doors.

Since it works some I would guess it's a VPN shutting it down.

I hope you are using WPA instead of WEP.

 

I looked at the power management and don't see any problems. This happens really quickly (seconds) after first successful page load. Also, I can ping successfully even when the webpage or other programs don't work. Our VPN allows us to go anywhere without restriction of any kind. Also, it still is a problem when I am not using the VPN. I tried disabling the firewall temporarily and I still get the same problem. I'm using WEP, but I my router doesn't support WPA. I suppose I'll have to upgrade this sometime. I do understand its risks (I work with security experts). Any other thoughts?

 

Are you using a static IP?

 

Try disabling the vpn from loading at startup. Use msconfig.
VPN has all kind of timers in them.

It almost acts like the wireless card has a problem but you tried another.

It's rare these days but some wireless chip sets do not play well with others.

Try a adhoc and see it it will connect and stay up.

 

My VPN doesn't start automatically. Maybe there's some hidden preload??--Not sure- I'll ask around at work. Also for KegOBeer's question I'm using a dynamic IP.

 

Problem turned out to be a compatibility problem. I had a D-link 514 11B router that didn't like my new laptop card. Upgraded to a new Buffalo Turbo G router and worked fine.

 

I have found that dlink's wireless are finiky as well :/ with multiple customers -