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    Wireless internet connection randomly drops

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by mullenbooger, Jun 16, 2008.

  1. mullenbooger

    mullenbooger Former New York Giant

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    Hi all,

    I have somewhat of a strange problem that I've not been able to figure out. I have 2 laptops hooked up wirelessly to my netgear router. One of the laptops NEVER has any connection problems. The second laptop works nearly all the time but will occasionally experience one of two possibilities

    1) Wireless connection is fine (local and internet) but cannot load any webpages (firefox and IE are stuck trying to download the content).

    2) Wireless connection is fine, but is local only and thus cannot connect to any web pages.

    This is easily fixed (but is a pain in the butt since I do it ~1X a day) by restarting my modem, router, and laptop. I'm not sure if the problem is the router or my laptop. I don't think its the router because the other laptop has no issues, and when this happens, the bad behaving laptop behaves similarly when I try to switch it to my neighbors wireless (although it is a much weaker signal). But I don't think its the laptop because I experienced similar problems with a 3rd laptop. And also since it requires a restart of the modem,router and computer it makes me think its some kind of handshaking/compatibility issue between the router and my laptop. Any ideas on what it might be or how I can fix it?
     
    mullenbooger, Jun 16, 2008
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  2. Wirelessman

    Wirelessman Monkeymod

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    Do you have the same wireless adapter in both laptops?
     
    Wirelessman, Jun 16, 2008
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  3. mullenbooger

    mullenbooger Former New York Giant

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    One is a Dlink G card, the other (in the one that drops) is an internal lenovo b/g adapter. The third notebook that also had issues was the same dlink card model.
     
    mullenbooger, Jun 16, 2008
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  4. Wirelessman

    Wirelessman Monkeymod

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    So, it seems to me like your D-Link cards are not adapting themselves well to the router, do I make sense?

    Are you using WEP or WPA?
     
    Wirelessman, Jun 16, 2008
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  5. mullenbooger

    mullenbooger Former New York Giant

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    One of the dlinks is fine, the other isnt.
     
    mullenbooger, Jun 16, 2008
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  6. Wirelessman

    Wirelessman Monkeymod

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    I thought you said the third had the same problem with the same card??????
     
    Wirelessman, Jun 16, 2008
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  7. hoggie

    hoggie old boy

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    could be a " ad-hoc" problem. three laptops all trying two ways to connect
    make sure the option for "share this computers internet connection" is off
    try to connect one laptop at a time with the rest off.
     
    hoggie, Jun 16, 2008
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  8. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    How about, very briefly, the specs on each computer, and the age of each. Also, have you checked your immediate surroundings to see how many other wireless networks there are, and how strong the signals are? How aggressive is the roaming function set for in the wireless adapters - the more aggressively each adapter is set to roam, the more likely it is to follow a spurious signal from another network that intermittently gets stronger than your own network signal. Also, what's the physical layout of the router and the systems? Got any active microwave ovens nearby?
     
    Shyster1, Jun 16, 2008
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  9. A#1

    A#1 Notebook Consultant

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    don't overlook the obvious...what kind of firewall wall are you running...windows or third party...if it's third party make sure and set up a your network name in the gui advanced configure page...don't see how it could be an "ad-hoc" problem...unless for some unknown reason you've got your network setup that way

    your nics...are they all g, or a mixture of g, and b...if so make sure router is set to mixed if both types of cards are in use on your network

    what kind of isp do you have dsl...cable...and what brand and model number of modem are you using
     
    A#1, Jun 17, 2008
    #9