Forced to repair network connections....need help please

I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem is
hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to. It sends
out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows XP Home in my
house. The two Dell machines had been working well as far as always being
able to boot up and grab and make the wireless internet connection.

In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be fine.
About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and do a repair
of the network connection in order to establish the wireless connection. I
don't know why this is happening.

Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more importantly,
what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I originally thought that
perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be the problem but it really just
doles out the signal to the router and out to both Dell machines. So I
don't think it is the problem.

Please help if you can!

Thanks,
Walter

Walter Cohen wrote:
> I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem is
> hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to. It sends
> out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows XP Home in my
> house. The two Dell machines had been working well as far as always being
> able to boot up and grab and make the wireless internet connection.
>
> In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
> difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be fine.
> About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and do a repair
> of the network connection in order to establish the wireless connection. I
> don't know why this is happening.
>

<snip>

is the one that's loosing the connection farther away from the router?
it might be just a bit out of range or borderline

Walter Cohen wrote:
> I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem
> is hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to.
> It sends out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows
> XP Home in my house. The two Dell machines had been working well as
> far as always being able to boot up and grab and make the wireless
> internet connection.
>
> In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
> difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be
> fine. About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and
> do a repair of the network connection in order to establish the
> wireless connection. I don't know why this is happening.
>
> Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more
> importantly, what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I
> originally thought that perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be
> the problem but it really just doles out the signal to the router and
> out to both Dell machines. So I don't think it is the problem.
>
> Please help if you can!
>
> Thanks,
> Walter

It sounds like you are using Internet Connection Sharing on the win98 pc?
Why? I would remove ICS from the win98 pc then hook the modem directly to
the router. Hook things up this way and see if the problem is still there.
If it is post back with more details.

--
Kerry

No, the modem is hooked directly to the router and the router directly to
the pc, not using ICS.

Thanks,
Walter
"Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Walter Cohen wrote:
> > I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem
> > is hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to.
> > It sends out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows
> > XP Home in my house. The two Dell machines had been working well as
> > far as always being able to boot up and grab and make the wireless
> > internet connection.
> >
> > In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
> > difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be
> > fine. About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and
> > do a repair of the network connection in order to establish the
> > wireless connection. I don't know why this is happening.
> >
> > Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more
> > importantly, what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I
> > originally thought that perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be
> > the problem but it really just doles out the signal to the router and
> > out to both Dell machines. So I don't think it is the problem.
> >
> > Please help if you can!
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Walter
>
> It sounds like you are using Internet Connection Sharing on the win98 pc?
> Why? I would remove ICS from the win98 pc then hook the modem directly to
> the router. Hook things up this way and see if the problem is still there.
> If it is post back with more details.
>
> --
> Kerry
>
>

You have stated two different way that your modem and router are connected.
Which one is correct?

Connect the modem to your wireless router. This should deliver the internet
directly to the Dell. The Win98 PC has nothing to do with this at all. Take
the Win98 machine out of the equation altogether and the Dell computer
should STILL be able to access the internet.

You have issues on the Dell.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Walter Cohen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> No, the modem is hooked directly to the router and the router directly to
> the pc, not using ICS.
>
> Thanks,
> Walter
> "Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Walter Cohen wrote:
>> > I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem
>> > is hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to.
>> > It sends out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows
>> > XP Home in my house. The two Dell machines had been working well as
>> > far as always being able to boot up and grab and make the wireless
>> > internet connection.
>> >
>> > In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
>> > difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be
>> > fine. About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and
>> > do a repair of the network connection in order to establish the
>> > wireless connection. I don't know why this is happening.
>> >
>> > Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more
>> > importantly, what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I
>> > originally thought that perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be
>> > the problem but it really just doles out the signal to the router and
>> > out to both Dell machines. So I don't think it is the problem.
>> >
>> > Please help if you can!
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Walter
>>
>> It sounds like you are using Internet Connection Sharing on the win98 pc?
>> Why? I would remove ICS from the win98 pc then hook the modem directly to
>> the router. Hook things up this way and see if the problem is still
>> there.
>> If it is post back with more details.
>>
>> --
>> Kerry
>>
>>
>
>

Then it sounds like the Dell has some issues. Does it work OK if you use the
wired connection?

--
Kerry

Walter Cohen wrote:
> No, the modem is hooked directly to the router and the router
> directly to the pc, not using ICS.
>
> Thanks,
> Walter
> "Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Walter Cohen wrote:
>>> I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem
>>> is hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to.
>>> It sends out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows
>>> XP Home in my house. The two Dell machines had been working well as
>>> far as always being able to boot up and grab and make the wireless
>>> internet connection.
>>>
>>> In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
>>> difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to
>>> be fine. About 60% of the time I need to go into network
>>> connections and do a repair of the network connection in order to
>>> establish the wireless connection. I don't know why this is
>>> happening.
>>>
>>> Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more
>>> importantly, what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I
>>> originally thought that perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be
>>> the problem but it really just doles out the signal to the router
>>> and out to both Dell machines. So I don't think it is the problem.
>>>
>>> Please help if you can!
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Walter
>>
>> It sounds like you are using Internet Connection Sharing on the
>> win98 pc? Why? I would remove ICS from the win98 pc then hook the
>> modem directly to the router. Hook things up this way and see if the
>> problem is still there. If it is post back with more details.
>>
>> --
>> Kerry

No, I'll say the same thing but just a different way....
The cable line comes into the modem as it should/needs to; the modem goes
into the router, the router goes into the pc via a nic card.

Walter

"Richard Urban" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> You have stated two different way that your modem and router are
connected.
> Which one is correct?
>
> Connect the modem to your wireless router. This should deliver the
internet
> directly to the Dell. The Win98 PC has nothing to do with this at all.
Take
> the Win98 machine out of the equation altogether and the Dell computer
> should STILL be able to access the internet.
>
> You have issues on the Dell.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Walter Cohen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > No, the modem is hooked directly to the router and the router directly
to
> > the pc, not using ICS.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Walter
> > "Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
> > news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> Walter Cohen wrote:
> >> > I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem
> >> > is hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to.
> >> > It sends out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows
> >> > XP Home in my house. The two Dell machines had been working well as
> >> > far as always being able to boot up and grab and make the wireless
> >> > internet connection.
> >> >
> >> > In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
> >> > difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be
> >> > fine. About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and
> >> > do a repair of the network connection in order to establish the
> >> > wireless connection. I don't know why this is happening.
> >> >
> >> > Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more
> >> > importantly, what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I
> >> > originally thought that perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be
> >> > the problem but it really just doles out the signal to the router and
> >> > out to both Dell machines. So I don't think it is the problem.
> >> >
> >> > Please help if you can!
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > Walter
> >>
> >> It sounds like you are using Internet Connection Sharing on the win98
pc?
> >> Why? I would remove ICS from the win98 pc then hook the modem directly
to
> >> the router. Hook things up this way and see if the problem is still
> >> there.
> >> If it is post back with more details.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Kerry
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>

Walter Cohen wrote:
> No, I'll say the same thing but just a different way....
> The cable line comes into the modem as it should/needs to; the modem
> goes into the router, the router goes into the pc via a nic card.
>

Walter

The way your first post was worded it sounded like you had it set up modem -
win98 pc - router. Obviously we misunderstood you. Does the Dell act up if
you connect it to the router with an ethernet cable?

The dell doesn't have a nic card, only the pci wireless adapter.

Thanks,
Walter
"Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Walter Cohen wrote:
> > No, I'll say the same thing but just a different way....
> > The cable line comes into the modem as it should/needs to; the modem
> > goes into the router, the router goes into the pc via a nic card.
> >
>
> Walter
>
> The way your first post was worded it sounded like you had it set up
modem -
> win98 pc - router. Obviously we misunderstood you. Does the Dell act up if
> you connect it to the router with an ethernet cable?
>
>

Walter Cohen wrote:
> The dell doesn't have a nic card, only the pci wireless adapter.
>

That's too bad it would have helped with the troubleshooting. Do you see any
errors in the event logs when you lose the connection?

Start ==> Run ==> eventvwr.msc

What does the signal strength show for the wireless connection? Does it
fluctuate?

--
Kerry