Losing internet connection

[Sportsman]

My daughters computer connects to the internet wirelessly and has been working fine but has just started dropping the connection randomly.

before I go out and buy a new wifi card does anyone have any suggestions for a fix

Thanks

Dave

[Andy_1984]

My daughters computer connects to the internet wirelessly and has been working fine but has just started dropping the connection randomly.

before I go out and buy a new wifi card does anyone have any suggestions for a fix

Thanks

Dave

 

 

a friend had the same problem with his laptop. turns out it was just a simple case of updating the drivers. is there a good signal strength ?

[Sportsman]

a friend had the same problem with his laptop. turns out it was just a simple case of updating the drivers. is there a good signal strength ?

 

Yes, signal strength is excellent.

I'll try the drivers

Cheers

[ColinW]

I also have problems with my wireless. It does not like devices connecting and disconnecting in random order. For example if I close my laptop at night (disconnecting) and then at some time in the early hours my PVR goes into sleep mode I HAVE to restart the PVR before the laptop otherwise the laptop won't reconnect without rebooting the router! This would be OK if it was just those two devices. Unfortunately if my eldest daughter comes in, connects to wi-fi and starts doing whatever it is she does on her fancy I-phone thing, then goes out sometime later, my laptop loses connection again. When she does that I have to reboot the router. This wouldn't be so bad if I could do it from the laptop but of course once I lose the connection I can't access the router control page.

I don't know why it behaves like this, I suspect it is something to do with the dynamic IP address allocation getting confused somehow but that's just a guess. It's an old Belkin 802.11g type router, so I'm tempted to get one of the newer 802.11n types to keep up with next door (I get a five bars signal off his router and only four off mine) Let him switch channels for a change!

[Newt]

Colin - next time, try opening a cmd prompt on the laptop and then keying in ipconfig. If your network card displays an IP address, try ipconfig /release followed by ipconfig /renew. Otherwise, just do the /renew.

 

Please post back with the results of the above.

 

Note that the 802.11n router will only give you more speed if your network card is also 802.11n. If so, its probably worth the money to upgrade. Otherwise, I'd imagine there is probably a firmware update available for your present router and applying that would be a very good idea.

[Andy_1984]

if your running vista/win7 you might need to run cmd as an administrator by right clicking cmd.exe and selecting (run as administrator) to get ipconfig /release or renew to work

[chesters1]

My daughters computer connects to the internet wirelessly and has been working fine but has just started dropping the connection randomly.

before I go out and buy a new wifi card does anyone have any suggestions for a fix

Thanks

Dave

 

a network cable!

too early in the wireless field for decent wireless when houses have walls ,wallpaper ,plaster or perhaps just thick air ,mine wont venture 7ft from the hub to the pc.

just installed 4 network cables in the loft until it improves

Edited August 2, 2011 by chesters1

[Andy_1984]

chesters a signal quality such as "Excellent" shouldnt really get drop outs. ive installed lots of different types of wireless routers (old & new) in offices, lofts, cupboards. and even with a poor signal quality, drop outs have been non existent even through 4 walls.

 

chesters have you thought about wireless extenders? they are perfect for your low wifi field and are quite cheap.

 

cat5 from router to the extender, located just outside your wireless field if you need more you can daisy chain them , duct the cat5 to make a neat job and is more convenient than being tethered to the router if you have a laptop.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Andy_1984

[chesters1]

the wireless is fine in the same room as the hub

,extenders to go 7ft

if i moved the hub into the bedroom all i would be doing is using a longer phone line which is the same as using a network cable to where it is now but in the other direction.

network cables are more secure plus i needed more for the Vid and Satellite connection to the WEB

 

a drop out on a good signal is down to a bad USB connection i expect at the PC end at the dongle?

Edited August 3, 2011 by chesters1

[ColinW]

Colin - next time, try opening a cmd prompt on the laptop and then keying in ipconfig. If your network card displays an IP address, try ipconfig /release followed by ipconfig /renew. Otherwise, just do the /renew.

 

Please post back with the results of the above.

 

Note that the 802.11n router will only give you more speed if your network card is also 802.11n. If so, its probably worth the money to upgrade. Otherwise, I'd imagine there is probably a firmware update available for your present router and applying that would be a very good idea.

 

Thanks Newt, I'll try that.

It's not the speed that I'm interested in, it's the signal strength. The guy next door bought a new wireless router a few months ago and all but killed my networking for a while! I fixed it by switching my router to a different radio channel, but it still bugs me that the signal from his router is stronger in my house than the signal from my own!