Strong signal, but wireless access keeps dropping

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope everyone is doing great today. Someone here at the office has a
computer at home with a internet access through a local cable company and
has a wireless router set up to access the net via his laptop. There is a
desktop the plugs into the wireless router, and he uses the laptop to go to
other areas of the house and access the net. He has a strong signal with
his laptop but he keeps loosing the connection. I went to the house and
tried to figure out what it was but we don't have wireless at the office
(small office) so I'm not that familiar with it. He's using WEP. We've
tried switching to WPA, but he still drops the connection. We tried with no
security at all and he still drops the signal.

I took the laptop and used it at my brothers house because they have
wireless net access also, but the laptop didn't drop the connection. So I
don't think it is the laptop.

His desktop doesn't seem to have a problem with the connection, it's
connected via LAN cable directly into the wireless router.(3Com) We had a
Linksys I think before and thought it might have been the router, but not
so. Last time I was there he had speakers and other things NEAR the router
and we thought that could have been it so we moved them and it seem to work
fine for a while.

I don't understand, when I look in the tray and open up the wireless
settings, it shows all bars and a strong signal. We'll be online and all of
a sudden will lose the connection and get a page not found error. We'll
look and the connection goes, even though it's set to automatic connection
it still drops. I really don't have any idea what else it could be.

I tried to put as much information on this topic as I thought is necessary.
Does anyone have any ideas? Using XP SP2. I think he also tried or has
installed IE7. This stuff started happening before we recently upgraded the
browser. Please advise. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Anthony Smith
In God We Trust!

Anthony Smith wrote:
> Good Morning Everyone,
>
> I hope everyone is doing great today. Someone here at the office has a
> computer at home with a internet access through a local cable company and
> has a wireless router set up to access the net via his laptop. There is a
> desktop the plugs into the wireless router, and he uses the laptop to go to
> other areas of the house and access the net. He has a strong signal with
> his laptop but he keeps loosing the connection. I went to the house and
> tried to figure out what it was but we don't have wireless at the office
> (small office) so I'm not that familiar with it. He's using WEP. We've
> tried switching to WPA, but he still drops the connection. We tried with no
> security at all and he still drops the signal.
>
> I took the laptop and used it at my brothers house because they have
> wireless net access also, but the laptop didn't drop the connection. So I
> don't think it is the laptop.
>
> His desktop doesn't seem to have a problem with the connection, it's
> connected via LAN cable directly into the wireless router.(3Com) We had a
> Linksys I think before and thought it might have been the router, but not
> so. Last time I was there he had speakers and other things NEAR the router
> and we thought that could have been it so we moved them and it seem to work
> fine for a while.
>
> I don't understand, when I look in the tray and open up the wireless
> settings, it shows all bars and a strong signal. We'll be online and all of
> a sudden will lose the connection and get a page not found error. We'll
> look and the connection goes, even though it's set to automatic connection
> it still drops. I really don't have any idea what else it could be.
>
> I tried to put as much information on this topic as I thought is necessary.
> Does anyone have any ideas? Using XP SP2. I think he also tried or has
> installed IE7. This stuff started happening before we recently upgraded the
> browser. Please advise. Thanks!
>
> Sincerely,
> Anthony Smith
> In God We Trust!
>
>
Your friend should use WPA, not WEP.

As to dropping the connection, this most likely is due to radio
interference. This could be caused by the construction of his home or
interference from other sources of 2.4 GHz radio signals in the
vicinity. Such sources include cordless telephones, cordless
headphones, baby monitors, microwave ovens, and neighboring wireless
networks. For the latter, access his router's configuration utility and
check to see which channel the router is using. Most default to
channel 6. Although it appears that there are 11 channels available (in
the US), because of overlap you should use channels 1, 6, or 11. Change
the channel to channel 1 and see if that helps. If not, try channel 11.

In addition, go into the Properties of the wireless adapter and ensure
that any power save settings are disabled.

--
Lem MS MVP -- Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

I have been having the same issues...
I have found some improvement after reinstalling ot even better upgrading
the driver for your PC's wireless card.
what make & model is your PC?

Try resetting your router to factory settings and starting again.
In addition check to see if your router has a firmware update available from
the manufaturer... sometimes they address issues that have been found.

With all the wireless networks out there it could be that someone in your
range is using the same channel you are... try changing channels.
The are a few free programs out the that will scan for wireless neworks and
provide info about them such as signal strength, channel, etc.
Try: Network Stumbler - http://www.netstumbler.com/

Broadcom makes a large portion of the chipsets for wireless cards for
manufacturers. If you find that your wirelees card is one download the
updated driver which comes with a utility to detect wireless networks. It's
free and it provides info on detectable wireless networks as well as address
the broadcom
exploit:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=365

download the driver and broadcom utility here:

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NET...-802-11g.shtml

I have been able to minimize the issue, but as of yet have not found a total
resolution. I have found that for some reason that corrupted drivers are
still a major
Microsoft issue... not matter how many letters they add after their latest
operating
systems... Vista... MisdYa.

Hope this helps!
Good luck :-)


"Anthony Smith" wrote:

> Good Morning Everyone,
>
> I hope everyone is doing great today. Someone here at the office has a
> computer at home with a internet access through a local cable company and
> has a wireless router set up to access the net via his laptop. There is a
> desktop the plugs into the wireless router, and he uses the laptop to go to
> other areas of the house and access the net. He has a strong signal with
> his laptop but he keeps loosing the connection. I went to the house and
> tried to figure out what it was but we don't have wireless at the office
> (small office) so I'm not that familiar with it. He's using WEP. We've
> tried switching to WPA, but he still drops the connection. We tried with no
> security at all and he still drops the signal.
>
> I took the laptop and used it at my brothers house because they have
> wireless net access also, but the laptop didn't drop the connection. So I
> don't think it is the laptop.
>
> His desktop doesn't seem to have a problem with the connection, it's
> connected via LAN cable directly into the wireless router.(3Com) We had a
> Linksys I think before and thought it might have been the router, but not
> so. Last time I was there he had speakers and other things NEAR the router
> and we thought that could have been it so we moved them and it seem to work
> fine for a while.
>
> I don't understand, when I look in the tray and open up the wireless
> settings, it shows all bars and a strong signal. We'll be online and all of
> a sudden will lose the connection and get a page not found error. We'll
> look and the connection goes, even though it's set to automatic connection
> it still drops. I really don't have any idea what else it could be.
>
> I tried to put as much information on this topic as I thought is necessary.
> Does anyone have any ideas? Using XP SP2. I think he also tried or has
> installed IE7. This stuff started happening before we recently upgraded the
> browser. Please advise. Thanks!
>
> Sincerely,
> Anthony Smith
> In God We Trust!
>
>
>

ok thanks for the reply everyone. I'll see what switching the channel does.
"Lem" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Anthony Smith wrote:
>> Good Morning Everyone,
>>
>> I hope everyone is doing great today. Someone here at the office has a
>> computer at home with a internet access through a local cable company and
>> has a wireless router set up to access the net via his laptop. There is
>> a desktop the plugs into the wireless router, and he uses the laptop to
>> go to other areas of the house and access the net. He has a strong
>> signal with his laptop but he keeps loosing the connection. I went to
>> the house and tried to figure out what it was but we don't have wireless
>> at the office (small office) so I'm not that familiar with it. He's
>> using WEP. We've tried switching to WPA, but he still drops the
>> connection. We tried with no security at all and he still drops the
>> signal.
>>
>> I took the laptop and used it at my brothers house because they have
>> wireless net access also, but the laptop didn't drop the connection. So
>> I don't think it is the laptop.
>>
>> His desktop doesn't seem to have a problem with the connection, it's
>> connected via LAN cable directly into the wireless router.(3Com) We had
>> a Linksys I think before and thought it might have been the router, but
>> not so. Last time I was there he had speakers and other things NEAR the
>> router and we thought that could have been it so we moved them and it
>> seem to work fine for a while.
>>
>> I don't understand, when I look in the tray and open up the wireless
>> settings, it shows all bars and a strong signal. We'll be online and all
>> of a sudden will lose the connection and get a page not found error.
>> We'll look and the connection goes, even though it's set to automatic
>> connection it still drops. I really don't have any idea what else it
>> could be.
>>
>> I tried to put as much information on this topic as I thought is
>> necessary. Does anyone have any ideas? Using XP SP2. I think he also
>> tried or has installed IE7. This stuff started happening before we
>> recently upgraded the browser. Please advise. Thanks!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Anthony Smith
>> In God We Trust!
>>
>>
> Your friend should use WPA, not WEP.
>
> As to dropping the connection, this most likely is due to radio
> interference. This could be caused by the construction of his home or
> interference from other sources of 2.4 GHz radio signals in the vicinity.
> Such sources include cordless telephones, cordless headphones, baby
> monitors, microwave ovens, and neighboring wireless networks. For the
> latter, access his router's configuration utility and check to see which
> channel the router is using. Most default to channel 6. Although it
> appears that there are 11 channels available (in the US), because of
> overlap you should use channels 1, 6, or 11. Change the channel to
> channel 1 and see if that helps. If not, try channel 11.
>
> In addition, go into the Properties of the wireless adapter and ensure
> that any power save settings are disabled.
>
> --
> Lem MS MVP -- Networking
>
> To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer