Be Excellent To Each Other

Right, this has gone on long enough, and I'm running out of ideas.

The symptoms:

Every so often (or rather, with alarming regularity), GJ's PC will decide that it can't see any wireless networks and disconnect, then it decides it can, and reconnects.

Attempted solutions:

Following her magical spyware adventure, the PC has been formatted, and XP re-installed (this had started before the format though).
Swapping wireless cards hasn't helped.
Changing the wireless channel on the router hasn't helped.
Using the manufacturers software instead of the windows software to configure the network hasn't helped.
Switching to a static IP hasn't helped.

Admittedly, the position it's in is a bit borderline for getting a decent wireless signal, but it's been there for years without issue, so what can we do?

How old is the router? Tried resetting it to factory settings? Back up the config first, if there's anything there, clearly.

Going on 2 years, and yes.

Tried a different router? Do other devices have the same issue, or just her laptop?

Not sure why I'm asking you the basic troubleshooting questions that I know you'll have already asked yourself, mind

It's a PC not a laptop, otherwise that would perhaps make it easier to move around and determine if position was the issue.
Everything else seems to be working fine, although we do still have the old router, so maybe I'll give it a try.

How far from the ruoter is the PC?

I'd agree with trying a different router. They can go a bit odd, rather than just dying.

Upstairs and across a bit.


I'll dig the old one out and give it a try tomorrow, unless I can remember why we bought a new one in the meantime.

Any new bit of kit near the PC that could be interfering with the wireless signal?

There's a cordless phone, but that's been there for ages, and there's one on my desk right by my pc that's not having any effect on it.

Just go out. PC World will do. Buy a new router. Buy a new wireless card. Move on with your life.

But I've got another router, and I've already tried a different wireless card.

New or just different?

In my experience, this sort of tech stuff doesn't last particularly long, and there's only so much fiddling and bodging and swapping out old with slightly older before you just have to say "fuck it", and buy another one. If it still doesn't work, take it back for a refund.

Then I'd look at maybe reinstalling Windows. How old is the system? Something could be intermittently conflicting with your network drivers or something.

Buy a long cable and plug it in.

Wireless is for coffee shops.

Yeah, or this.

Personally I use proper wires for everything - my 360, PS3 and desktop PC. I only use wireless for gadgets and laptops.

Different.

I just reinstalled Windows, can you do me a favour and at least try reading the first post?

Powerline Ethernet stuff is cheap now. I've just bought two one-port bridges and a 4-port switch for under £100 and they are fancy 200meg ones -- the older, slower 85meg kit is pretty inexpensive.

I wonder if one of your neighbours isn't doing something to interfere, like a wifi point of their own, or a baby monitor or something. It'd explain the sudden change.

Alternatively, look at moving to 5GHz kit -- it made my wireless LAN a lot faster because of reduced interference. Pricey though.

Guess I missed that bit. Still, buy some new kit.

I'd be willing to subscribe to the wired/powerline/expensive stuff theory if every other bit of wireless kit in the house didn't work pretty much flawlessly.

Forget it. Plug it in.
Copper > voodoo

I agree, when it works, it's great, when it doesn't, I don't know what to do, but I think trailing a cable down the stairs is frowned up on, as would be drilling through the ceiling.

types.. deletes...

Probably for the best

Do you own the house/flat you're in or is it rented?

If you're owners IMO it's worth taking the one-time hit on running some CAT-5 around the place. Once it's in, job done. Forever.

Wireless is flaky, it's as simple as that. A mate of mine bought a pretty fancy SOHO router (cost him around £250 IIRC) so that he could get INVINCIBLE WIRELESS THAT ALWAYS WORKED.

After the fifty billionth evening of random disconnects from the online games we were playing, he drilled a few holes around the place and ran a cable to his PC. This is a guy who's a Cisco CCNP, so it's not like he didn't try lots of proper networky type stuff before he admitted defeat.

So what Grim said in two words, basically.

Apart from all the 'use a wire' comments a few other things to think about

Interference from other things - this can be as simple as closing the door or the neighbors buying a new cordless phone - our network at the moment drops out every so often when one of our neighbors boots up their router and it goes on the same channel we're on - this is a useful website to check what other networks are visible (try running this on different machines because my desktop right now can see 4 other networks my laptop can see 5 and they are sat right next to each other)

http://tools.meraki.com/stumbler#q=

In the past I also upgraded the external aerial on my wireless card (it was a screw on / screw off thing and i bought one from ebay with a really long cable for about 5 or 6 quid - it really made a difference).

Use a wireless repeater (this can be very hit and miss - and bloody expensive depending on what else you have around - we have a time casual / airport express which gets great reception in the far away rooms but it was about £70!)

If your not running dual band wireless N consider WTB's suggestion , and upgrade the kit

Thing is zaphod however thorough you are with your wireless, it's just too vulnerable to outside interference.

Next door could have a shite old microwave that'll fuck your wireless every time they turn it on.

Some old dear half a street away could have a twenty old CRT telly that'll knacker every wireless network in a 250 yard radius when she watches Corrie.

Christmas tree lights, cordless phones, fish tanks, bluetooth devices, the list just goes on.

Wireless is just too damned flaky to be trusted as full-time networking solution IMO. Like I said, a mate of mine dropped £250 on a business-class router, and he still couldn't get reliable wireless inside his own bloody house with it.

Thanks for trying to help guys, I'm getting dangerously close to the 'putting a laptop on my credit card' stage. See that's the odd thing, it's ONLY *my* PC that's being affected.

Get an xbox

Oh I completely agree and if it was up to me every item i had would be wired into the router , however some people dont like wires.



However you might still be back where you started because its the position / location of the machine which causes it rather than the hardware itself (however if you want to go down this route i'd recommend disconnecting a cable on one of the fans inside your pc and asking Joans to re-connect it - make sure you stand *well* back and be ready to flick the mains switch off just in case)

Just buy a new router! Old wireless router tech is shite!

This is the bit that'd make me think it's something around you that's changed, and that's where it effectively becomes impossible for you to troubleshoot.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/367681/ ... wi-fis-way

Please get out of this thread.

My friend paid £250 for a SOHO router and it made fuck all difference!

I'm not saying your idea won't work, but why chuck £100 away on a technology that's fundamentally wonky?

Seriously, Joans has probably already spent more time trying to troubleshoot this problem than it would have taken to do an absolutely perfect and invisible job of running a cable from the router to the back of the PC.

So why is everything else working perfectly?

Well hey, as far as I can see you have two options. Cables, which you seem unwilling to do, or buying a new router, which you seem unwilling to do. Wireless tech is flaky, and in my experience, wireless routers crap out after a few years. You can sit around and wait for a miracle cure from someone on here, but you'll likely be waiting a while.

I'll get out of the thread if you want, but I'm only offering genuine advice. You seem unwilling to believe that you're not going to be able to just fix the problem by juggling wires and messing with system settings. It sounds to me like your router is in a bad place, and on top of that both your current router and the other one you used just aren't up to the job anymore. Whether that's because they're 'worn out', or all of your neighbours have got with the times and their shitty routers are interfering with yours, I dunno. Oh, and replace 'router' with 'wireless card' where appropriate, because it might be that instead!

So, buy a new router/card with more recent tech, or fit ethernet cables.

Can I also ask - where did you actually get the router? Did it come free from your ISP?

Admittedly a new router may end up being a possibility, but cables seem an unnecessary way of resolving something that used to work perfectly well. I've been messing around with computer hardware long enough to know that throwing money at a problem isn't always the solution, so I was hoping to get some alternative suggestions, and I've received many. Unfortunately, your advice has been to do things that I've already said I did in the first post, and then to spend money on things until it works properly, but hey, if I end up buying a new router, then thanks for the advice.

Hope not, I wouldn't need to be at that desk with a laptop. If we can't get it sorted its going to have to come downstairs and be connected to the telly. Can't help thinking that a 50" monitor's going to be overkill though.

As I've said, wireless networks are a flaky business. They genuinely do just stop working. I've experienced it in my own house, in the girlfriend's house, in my brother's house, etc. I don't know if it's increased interference in the area as time rolls on and more people have their own networks beaming around, or if wireless networking kit is just poorly built, but they tend to deteriorate in functionality as time passes - in my experience.

Replacing something that just doesn't work anymore isn't 'throwing money at the problem'.

But also, I see wireless networking as a very convenient way to connect to the net temporarily. I personally wouldn't dream of relying on one with my main machine. So I dunno.

I don't disagree with you, but if its the router why is everything else that's connected to it (even in the same room) working ok?

We've got entire buildings of staff running entirely on wireless. There's nothing inherently flaky with the technology, though it benefits from good gear and knowing what in a building can cause problems.

I mentioned above - maybe it ain't the router, but the wireless card in your PC. I reckon one or the other could do with replacing.

Residential home vs controlled office environment innit.

Not really. The problems and technology are the same. I've been running wireless in this house for five years without a single issue until the router itself died, at which point I replaced it. The tech works - and if there's a specific problem with a single device, there will be a root cause in there somewhere.

We certainly think it is more PC oriented.

Stupid wireless connection.

Meh, still always had better luck with wires.

Edit: @Crasty

Joans/GJ - have you tried setting both the card and router to 802.11b? If that works, then it's likely a signal range problem as it is typically a better signal with longer reach than g/n, but lower bandwidth.

That's a good point. Also, I also found that turning all encryption off generally solves any weird problems. Obviously you don't want to do that permanently but it might get it working for now.

The tech works situationally, and the factors affecting a dodgy connection can often be entirely outside your control, especially in a residential situation.

Some people run for years without issue, others have a non-stop nightmare, most folks fall somewhere in-between.

Certainly when we went through a phase of doing home support for certain people in our organisation, the 'my computer won't work' calls were about 75% down to dicky wireless and 25% everything else.

If people have a good experience with it then more power to them, but my own experience is that when it goes wrong it's far more bloody trouble than it's worth.

I have to say that I hard-wired all my PCs in. The wireless works very well for iphone and laptop and stuff, but it knackers up and you end up having to reboot them (yes, even the phone sometimes) often enough for it to be a nuisance. Cable = genuine 0 problems ever, and that's worth the effort IMO. Especially if you're running some internet service over it!