symptoms of wireless dying?

Hi,
I have a Presario laptop with built in wi-fi (54g 802.11b/g WLAN)
More & more frequently I am getting a dialogue box popping up from the
wireless icon, telling it has successfully connected. Given I do
nothing I find this odd.
I wonder is this a sign of anything since from time to time it WILL
disconnect and I can't See my router for ages, even after refreshing
or even rebooting. IT just seems to re-connect at random.
help?

(E-Mail Removed) writes:

> Hi,
> I have a Presario laptop with built in wi-fi (54g 802.11b/g WLAN)
> More & more frequently I am getting a dialogue box popping up from the
> wireless icon, telling it has successfully connected. Given I do
> nothing I find this odd.
> I wonder is this a sign of anything since from time to time it WILL
> disconnect and I can't See my router for ages, even after refreshing
> or even rebooting. IT just seems to re-connect at random.
> help?

Sounds like you have a great case for trying a new wireless adapter to
see if the problem goes away.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

thanks, so that is hardware then, yes? Expensive? Hard to install in
a laptop?


On Mar 14, 9:16 pm, comph...@toddh.net (Todd H.) wrote:
> fornewsgro...@shaw.ca writes:
> > Hi,
> > I have a Presario laptop with built in wi-fi (54g 802.11b/g WLAN)
> > More & more frequently I am getting a dialogue box popping up from the
> > wireless icon, telling it has successfully connected. Given I do
> > nothing I find this odd.
> > I wonder is this a sign of anything since from time to time it WILL
> > disconnect and I can't See my router for ages, even after refreshing
> > or even rebooting. IT just seems to re-connect at random.
> > help?
>
> Sounds like you have a great case for trying a new wireless adapter to
> see if the problem goes away.
>
> --
> Todd H.http://www.toddh.net/

(E-Mail Removed) writes:

> thanks, so that is hardware then, yes? Expensive? Hard to install in
> a laptop?

Yes.
No.
No.

Respectively. The internal wireless module in that machine could e
replaced as well. If it's in warranty you might have to prove your
case to the support yahoos to get them to send you a new module, but I
have just recently had such a thing happen with a Dell.

Otherwise, popping a wireless adapter into the USB port and completely
disabling the internal wireless card is also relatively simple to
try.


--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

LOL. The external idea didn't even occur to me.
thanks again.
On Mar 14, 10:00 pm, comph...@toddh.net (Todd H.) wrote:
> fornewsgro...@shaw.ca writes:
> > thanks, so that is hardware then, yes? Expensive? Hard to install in
> > a laptop?
>
> Yes.
> No.
> No.
>
> Respectively. The internal wireless module in that machine could e
> replaced as well. If it's in warranty you might have to prove your
> case to the support yahoos to get them to send you a new module, but I
> have just recently had such a thing happen with a Dell.
>
> Otherwise, popping a wireless adapter into the USB port and completely
> disabling the internal wireless card is also relatively simple to
> try.
>
> --
> Todd H.http://www.toddh.net/

On 14 Mar 2007 20:49:13 -0700, in alt.internet.wireless ,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>Hi,
>I have a Presario laptop with built in wi-fi (54g 802.11b/g WLAN)
>More & more frequently I am getting a dialogue box popping up from the
>wireless icon, telling it has successfully connected. Given I do
>nothing I find this odd.
>I wonder is this a sign of anything since from time to time it WILL
>disconnect and I can't See my router for ages, even after refreshing
>or even rebooting. IT just seems to re-connect at random.

Local interference messing with your signal?
--
Mark McIntyre

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

Wireless is not dying. Something like 260 million wireless chipsets
were sold last year, with no end in sight. I predict a long and
successful life for wireless (unless the FCC or Congress screws it
up).

>I have a Presario laptop with built in wi-fi (54g 802.11b/g WLAN)

Does the Presario have a model number? Any clue who's radio is
inside?

>More & more frequently I am getting a dialogue box popping up from the
>wireless icon, telling it has successfully connected.

It's trying to tell you something. Most likely, it's interference
from another Wi-Fi system on the same or adjacent channels. You might
want to try resetting your unspecified wireless router to a different
channel (1, 6, or 11) and see if it helps. It might also be a
marginally weak signal, or poor signal to noise ratio (signal
quality). If these are a problem, a better antenna or reflector might
help:
<http://www.freeantennas.com>

>Given I do
>nothing I find this odd.

Your Presario does not require your permission to complain. It will
do so whether you do something or not. Try to get used to the idea
that the computer has a mind of its own and will do things without
your participation. Given sufficient technology and progress, it may
eventually run your life for you.

>I wonder is this a sign of anything since from time to time it WILL
>disconnect and I can't See my router for ages, even after refreshing
>or even rebooting.

Taking a refreshing shower or bath will not help your see your router.
I should point out that you can see your router without an appointment
or permission from your Presario. If you haven't seen it for ages, it
might be misplaced or stolen. If it disconnects itself and walks
away, it's a sure sign that it fails to appreciate your presence. A
wireless psychologist might be in order as I suspect a compatibility
problem.

>IT just seems to re-connect at random.

I've heard that complaint about IT (information technology) people.
They certainly are unpredictable and random. Do you work in IT?

>help?

Change channel (1, 6, or 11). Check signal strength and signal
quality. Look for interference. Use Netstumbler or Kismet to sniff
for other users. See FAQ for possible sources of interference:
<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Interference>

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

OK, NOW I am having trouble sending attachments and some pages take
for ever to open (for example www.stockhouse.com, while others will
open with little issue (for example www.google.com).

MY IP can find nothing wrong.

I thought perhaps it was my wireless card, but when I am out I can
hook up at any coffee shop providing wireless.

I have reset my router several times as well as power cycled.

Any idea's before I go crazy?

On 5 Apr 2007 09:29:06 -0700, "Discoduck" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
in <(E-Mail Removed) .com>:

>OK, NOW I am having trouble sending attachments and some pages take
>for ever to open (for example www.stockhouse.com, while others will
>open with little issue (for example www.google.com).
>
>MY IP can find nothing wrong.
>
>I thought perhaps it was my wireless card, but when I am out I can
>hook up at any coffee shop providing wireless.
>
>I have reset my router several times as well as power cycled.
>
>Any idea's before I go crazy?

Run long ping tests (to your wireless router, gateway, DNS server,
and/or the remote site) to see if you have a packet loss problem;
e.g., "ping -n 100 www.google.com"
If so, use traceroute ("tracert" in Windowsland) to pinpoint it.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

"Discoduck" <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>OK, NOW I am having trouble sending attachments and some pages take
>for ever to open (for example www.stockhouse.com, while others will
>open with little issue (for example www.google.com).

Google is appearing quickly because it's coming from your browser
cache. Web pages that use CMS (content management system) such
StockHouse are different each time and need to come from their web
server.

>MY IP can find nothing wrong.

I think you mean your ISP. It would be nice to know who that is so I
can determine if you're on DSL, cable, satellite, fiber, or two tin
cans and a string.

C:\>ping www.stockhouse.com
Pinging stockhouse.com [199.175.179.210] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 66.119.164.254: Destination net unreachable.
Reply from 66.119.164.254: Destination net unreachable.
Request timed out.
Reply from 66.119.164.254: Destination net unreachable.
Ping statistics for 199.175.179.210:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

So much for Stockhouse.com. Find another web site that takes forever
and try ping and tracert as John suggested. It will tell you where
the bottleneck is located.

It might also be local on your machine. Walk over to your unspecified
router and look at the lights. Is the WAN light flashing all the
time? If so, then you have some traffic being generated that is
slowing things down. It could be anything from a Windoze update being
downloaded, to an evil hacker that has hijacked your system and is
using it as a spambot.

>I thought perhaps it was my wireless card, but when I am out I can
>hook up at any coffee shop providing wireless.

It might be your wireless card. If that's what you suspect, plug an
ethernet cable between your unspecified computah and the unspecified
router, and see if that fixes the problem. If that works, then
troubleshoot the wireless.

>I have reset my router several times as well as power cycled.

If you reset it, then you probably don't have any wireless security.
It might be your neighbors 13 year old wiz-kid and his wireless
exploit robot.

>Any idea's before I go crazy?

No. My ideas usually work best after you've gone insane.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558