Wireless Internet Problems

Hello there! I know this is a laptop forum but I have no where else to turn : )
You guys have helped me so many times and I really thank you all. My problem may be a simple one but im not sure.

Ok to the point. I have a Compaq Pavilion dv7. The wireless internet is great from all the way across the house. The problem was my ipod touch and ps3 got horrible connection in my room because of how far away the wireless router was.

I decided to purchase a wireless adapter for the PC so that I could move the router to the center of the house. The connection was good throughout the house but the PC has problems all the time having a consistent connection. The strange this is that sometimes it disconnects it self and it also says that it is connected with both local and internet.

I know the problem could be interference but my laptop works great in the same place my PC is.

Is there any sort of solution? If anyone could help me I would be very grateful.

THANKS, Shane

 

Is your network security set to WPA or WEP? I know for a fact that not all wireless devices readily accept WPA. Let me know if this fixes your problem.

 

sorry but how do you do this? Thanks

 

Well, I hold a Bachelor's in IT for one, and I work for a national telecommunication giant in their tech support department. I deal with this issue on a daily basis.

 

no , lol how do I change the network security like you suggested?
thanks

 

If his PC works sometimes and not other times, it has nothing to do with whether his adapter supports WEP vs WPA...

While there is a certain degree of overhead with an encrypted signal it is not going to result in the problems described in the original post.

Shane, the problem you describe is most often associated with --as you alluded-- interference.

You say your laptop functions there but we could use some more deatails

Router make and model?
Laptop make and model?
Desktop adapter purcahsed?

Are the drivers for the laptop adapter current -- if it came on a CD with the adapter, it is almost certainly not current.

Is the firmware on the router up-to-date?

If you want people to tell you how to do something, you also need to list the version of Windows you are using.

When you say the laptop works there, where is there? On a desk? Is the desktop on the desk as well, or more specifically, the antenna for the desktop. How close are they when the laptop works and the desktop not?

The most interesting piece of information you gave is that the desktop shows a connection, but it is not working. How do you mean, a connection but not working?

download the Xirrus wifi inspector from here:
http://www.xirrus.com/library/wifitools.php

Run it from the desktop and the laptop and compare results and report back. Specifically, please report back the signal (dbm) numbers. Are they consistant or swinging radically?

 

Hey I am working on answering the question to help me but in the mean time what I meant was that it shows I am connected to the internet on the lower right side by the time display. It says local and internet with great connection.

Then sometimes when I try to go to any site on firefox or any other browser the sites do not have connection and say that there is none. The problem becomes fixed after I reset the router and the internal internet connection.
It is just a pain to have to reset everything especially since my parents do not know how and they really shouldnt have to.

I am using windows vista 64 with my laptop and windows vista 32 with the desktop. The router is a westell versalink model 327W its the wireless router that you get through verizon.

Sorry dumb question but how do I update my router?

thanks I will get you the more info shortly thank you so much for the detailed help I really appreciate your time.

 

Well, that's a whole lot more information to work with.

First, don't update your "router" yet. First, it is not a router. It is a ADSL MODEM with routing capabilities.

If we do end up doing it, you will need a little more detail, but here is the link for later.

http://www.verizon.net/central/vzc....linkflag=guestonly_noregion&case=VersaLinkFix

Second, your description further clouds the picture. If this were a single computer having an issue, I'd say your problem is DNS related. DNS, simply, takes the domain name and translates it into something the computer can understand - numbers (or ip address).

So, why would DNS function on your laptop, but not on your desktop?

In addition to the other things we addressed, as a test please do the following on the desktop

START, type CMD in the search box at the bottom of the start menu. In a moment you will see CMD at the top.

RIGHT CLICK on that and choose RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR

A black box will appear with some writing. Click the box than type

ipconfig /flushdns
<enter >

Wait a few seconds

Now type
ipconfig /renew
<enter >

This will take a little longer but you should get a whole bunch of type.

Now surf the net for a while and see if the problem recurs.