Netgear WGR614 Wireless Router: Intermittant loss of connectivity using 802.11g

I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.

I have a Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router 54 Mbps/2.4 GHz that I
bought in early 2004. At the time, I only had 802.11b cards in our laptops,
and everything worked fine.

Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PC wireless card to my wife's new Dell
PC. From time to time, she would tell me "the Internet's been off all day".
When I looked, every other machine could connect except for hers. Looking at
her PC, the card is getting a strong signal, but no communication is taking
place.

I thought the problem might be related to the Windows XP SP2 upgrade that
I'd performed recently, but I've looked through the knowledge base articles,
and none of the reported problems seem to apply to me.

Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PCMCIA card to my wife's laptop. Now we
have two 'G' wireless devices in the house, and sure enough, she's getting
the same behavior with her laptop now.

When a communication problem occurs:

- The router seems to be operating fine (all wired and 802.11b wireless
clients are fine).
- One 802.11g client will typically be fine while the other can't
communicate
- The affected 802.11g client shows excellent signal strength, but "little
or no connectivity". Web requests, ping, DHCP (through release and renew)
all time out.
- Trying to "repair" the connection on the affected client generally doesn't
work (DHCP time out)
- Powering down the router and powering it back up doesn't seem to do
anything
- Unplugging every other wireless device in the house (cordless phone)
doesn't seem to make any difference
- The problem occurs intermittently. Things can work for days on end, then
one system will refuse to communicate. Once affected, the system doesn't
seem to recover by itself.

Here are some additional details:

- I was using 128-bit WEP. I've tried dropping to 64-bit WEP with no
apparent difference in behavior.
- I have an access list set up by Mac address.
- I updated the firmware in the wireless router to the latest version - no
difference.
- There appear to be many versions of this router (WGR614, WGR614v2 -
WGR614v5). I have the original version with the "v#" suffix.

Does anyone have experience with the WGR614, or just have some suggestions
as to how I can troubleshoot this?

Thanks very much in advance.

-Scott




Scott Smith

If your running SP2 on XP disable the inbuilt firewall on the laptop, as a
suggestion to start with
"Scott Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:v30Ad.35545$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>
> I have a Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router 54 Mbps/2.4 GHz that I
> bought in early 2004. At the time, I only had 802.11b cards in our
> laptops, and everything worked fine.
>
> Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PC wireless card to my wife's new Dell
> PC. From time to time, she would tell me "the Internet's been off all
> day". When I looked, every other machine could connect except for hers.
> Looking at her PC, the card is getting a strong signal, but no
> communication is taking place.
>
> I thought the problem might be related to the Windows XP SP2 upgrade that
> I'd performed recently, but I've looked through the knowledge base
> articles, and none of the reported problems seem to apply to me.
>
> Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PCMCIA card to my wife's laptop. Now we
> have two 'G' wireless devices in the house, and sure enough, she's getting
> the same behavior with her laptop now.
>
> When a communication problem occurs:
>
> - The router seems to be operating fine (all wired and 802.11b wireless
> clients are fine).
> - One 802.11g client will typically be fine while the other can't
> communicate
> - The affected 802.11g client shows excellent signal strength, but "little
> or no connectivity". Web requests, ping, DHCP (through release and renew)
> all time out.
> - Trying to "repair" the connection on the affected client generally
> doesn't work (DHCP time out)
> - Powering down the router and powering it back up doesn't seem to do
> anything
> - Unplugging every other wireless device in the house (cordless phone)
> doesn't seem to make any difference
> - The problem occurs intermittently. Things can work for days on end, then
> one system will refuse to communicate. Once affected, the system doesn't
> seem to recover by itself.
>
> Here are some additional details:
>
> - I was using 128-bit WEP. I've tried dropping to 64-bit WEP with no
> apparent difference in behavior.
> - I have an access list set up by Mac address.
> - I updated the firmware in the wireless router to the latest version - no
> difference.
> - There appear to be many versions of this router (WGR614, WGR614v2 -
> WGR614v5). I have the original version with the "v#" suffix.
>
> Does anyone have experience with the WGR614, or just have some suggestions
> as to how I can troubleshoot this?
>
> Thanks very much in advance.
>
> -Scott
>

Windows Firewall is turned OFF on both machines.

Also, a typo below. It should read: I have the original version WITHOUT the
"v#" suffix.


"Scott Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:v30Ad.35545$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>
> I have a Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router 54 Mbps/2.4 GHz that I

(snip)

> -Scott

Scott Smith wrote:
> I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>
> I have a Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router 54 Mbps/2.4 GHz
> that I bought in early 2004. At the time, I only had 802.11b cards in
> our laptops, and everything worked fine.
>
> Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PC wireless card to my wife's new
> Dell PC. From time to time, she would tell me "the Internet's been
> off all day". When I looked, every other machine could connect except
> for hers. Looking at her PC, the card is getting a strong signal, but
> no communication is taking place.
>

You didn't mention the revision of the WGR614 (v4? earlier?) or the PC card
that you got (WG511 maybe?) but I've run into a similar problem as you
described when trying to run my WG511 and WGR614v5 in WPA-PSK mode. It
seems that after a bit of time, the security keying gets out of sync or
something. Anyhow, I had to fall back to 128 bit WEP for the time being.
It may take another firmware update before they get this part to work
correctly.

Aside from that, make sure your PC cards are running in "WiFi spec" or
"Auto(b+g)" mode. If, by any chance, it's locked into "b-only" or "g-only"
it could be having issues on a router that wants to handle both.

Thanks for your help. In answer to your first question, I have the original
WGR614v1, updated to the latest (non-beta) firmware upgrade.

The PCMCIA card I recently bought is the Netgear WG511T Super G 108 Mbp

WPA-PSK isn't supported in the router firmware I have (I think it's
supported in the next firmware version, which is in beta now). Anyway, since
I still have one 802.11b device, I'm stuck using WEP for now.

Here are my wireless router settings:

Name (SSID): OurFamilyName
Region: United States
Channel: 2 (any reason to pick a specific channel?)
Mode: g and b
Enable Packet Burst Mode: Checked
-----
Enable Wireless Access Point: Checked
Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID): Checked
-----
Wireless card access list (set up with all mac addresses of wireless cards)
-----
Security Encryption (WEP)
Authentication Type: Automatic (other choices are Open System and Shared
Key)
Encryption Strength: 64 bit


-Scott



"TV Slug" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:SI0Ad.13425$152.8010@trndny01...
> Scott Smith wrote:
>> I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>>

(snip)

>>
>
> You didn't mention the revision of the WGR614 (v4? earlier?) or the PC
> card
> that you got (WG511 maybe?) but I've run into a similar problem as you
> described when trying to run my WG511 and WGR614v5 in WPA-PSK mode. It
> seems that after a bit of time, the security keying gets out of sync or
> something. Anyhow, I had to fall back to 128 bit WEP for the time being.
> It may take another firmware update before they get this part to work
> correctly.
>
> Aside from that, make sure your PC cards are running in "WiFi spec" or
> "Auto(b+g)" mode. If, by any chance, it's locked into "b-only" or
> "g-only"
> it could be having issues on a router that wants to handle both.

Scott Smith wrote:
> Thanks for your help. In answer to your first question, I have the original
> WGR614v1, updated to the latest (non-beta) firmware upgrade.
>
> The PCMCIA card I recently bought is the Netgear WG511T Super G 108 Mbp
>
> WPA-PSK isn't supported in the router firmware I have (I think it's
> supported in the next firmware version, which is in beta now). Anyway, since
> I still have one 802.11b device, I'm stuck using WEP for now.
>
> Here are my wireless router settings:
>
> Name (SSID): OurFamilyName
> Region: United States
> Channel: 2 (any reason to pick a specific channel?)
> Mode: g and b
> Enable Packet Burst Mode: Checked
> -----
> Enable Wireless Access Point: Checked
> Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID): Checked
> -----
> Wireless card access list (set up with all mac addresses of wireless cards)
> -----
> Security Encryption (WEP)
> Authentication Type: Automatic (other choices are Open System and Shared
> Key)
> Encryption Strength: 64 bit
>
>
> -Scott
>
>
>
> "TV Slug" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:SI0Ad.13425$152.8010@trndny01...
>
>>Scott Smith wrote:
>>
>>>I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>>>
>
>
> (snip)
>
>
>>You didn't mention the revision of the WGR614 (v4? earlier?) or the PC
>>card
>>that you got (WG511 maybe?) but I've run into a similar problem as you
>>described when trying to run my WG511 and WGR614v5 in WPA-PSK mode. It
>>seems that after a bit of time, the security keying gets out of sync or
>>something. Anyhow, I had to fall back to 128 bit WEP for the time being.
>>It may take another firmware update before they get this part to work
>>correctly.
>>
>>Aside from that, make sure your PC cards are running in "WiFi spec" or
>>"Auto(b+g)" mode. If, by any chance, it's locked into "b-only" or
>>"g-only"
>>it could be having issues on a router that wants to handle both.
>
>
>
FYI: At one of my locations, I use the WGR614v1 wireless router. I
upgraded to the beta firmware many months ago because I was eager to
have WPA encryption. Using it in conjunction with my WG511T notebook
card, I have yet to have any problems with WPA-PSK enabled. It's
amazing that the latest firmware for the WGR614v1 has been in beta form
since April. I guess it was easier for Netgear to develop 5 different
versions of the WGR614. Anyway, take care.

Scott Smith wrote:
> Thanks for your help. In answer to your first question, I have the
> original WGR614v1, updated to the latest (non-beta) firmware upgrade.
>
> The PCMCIA card I recently bought is the Netgear WG511T Super G 108
> Mbp
>
> WPA-PSK isn't supported in the router firmware I have (I think it's
> supported in the next firmware version, which is in beta now).
> Anyway, since I still have one 802.11b device, I'm stuck using WEP
> for now.
>
> Here are my wireless router settings:
>
> Name (SSID): OurFamilyName
> Region: United States
> Channel: 2 (any reason to pick a specific channel?)
> Mode: g and b
> Enable Packet Burst Mode: Checked
> -----
> Enable Wireless Access Point: Checked
> Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID): Checked
> -----
> Wireless card access list (set up with all mac addresses of wireless
> cards) -----
> Security Encryption (WEP)
> Authentication Type: Automatic (other choices are Open System and
> Shared Key)
> Encryption Strength: 64 bit
>
>
> -Scott

OK. First, I can't comment much on the WG511T because I don't have that
particular card, but if there's any way to tell it to turn off any of it's
advanced features (beyond the basic "g" capabilities) that would possibly be
a start. Are you using the Netgear utility that runs in the taskbar? Or
are you letting Windows XP run the show? Neither of these methods may even
give you access to the features, possibly.

As far as the router settings go, the only one that stands out with any kind
of flag is the Packet Burst setting. This *may* be an issue in the mixed
b/g environment. You can try and disable it to see if connectivity
improves, or if it hurts your throughput too much.

It is good that you use the MAC filtering. We do the same here. Once
everything is up and working (or even before) you probably should turn off
the SSID broadcast, though. Just one more step of security.

Then if you've tried all these as a final test you could try hard connecting
the dell laptop rather than wirelessly, if thats fine then contact Dell
under warranty explain all the tersts you have done and they should swap out
the systemboard and or the wireless card
"Scott Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:v30Ad.35545$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>
> I have a Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router 54 Mbps/2.4 GHz that I
> bought in early 2004. At the time, I only had 802.11b cards in our
> laptops, and everything worked fine.
>
> Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PC wireless card to my wife's new Dell
> PC. From time to time, she would tell me "the Internet's been off all
> day". When I looked, every other machine could connect except for hers.
> Looking at her PC, the card is getting a strong signal, but no
> communication is taking place.
>
> I thought the problem might be related to the Windows XP SP2 upgrade that
> I'd performed recently, but I've looked through the knowledge base
> articles, and none of the reported problems seem to apply to me.
>
> Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PCMCIA card to my wife's laptop. Now we
> have two 'G' wireless devices in the house, and sure enough, she's getting
> the same behavior with her laptop now.
>
> When a communication problem occurs:
>
> - The router seems to be operating fine (all wired and 802.11b wireless
> clients are fine).
> - One 802.11g client will typically be fine while the other can't
> communicate
> - The affected 802.11g client shows excellent signal strength, but "little
> or no connectivity". Web requests, ping, DHCP (through release and renew)
> all time out.
> - Trying to "repair" the connection on the affected client generally
> doesn't work (DHCP time out)
> - Powering down the router and powering it back up doesn't seem to do
> anything
> - Unplugging every other wireless device in the house (cordless phone)
> doesn't seem to make any difference
> - The problem occurs intermittently. Things can work for days on end, then
> one system will refuse to communicate. Once affected, the system doesn't
> seem to recover by itself.
>
> Here are some additional details:
>
> - I was using 128-bit WEP. I've tried dropping to 64-bit WEP with no
> apparent difference in behavior.
> - I have an access list set up by Mac address.
> - I updated the firmware in the wireless router to the latest version - no
> difference.
> - There appear to be many versions of this router (WGR614, WGR614v2 -
> WGR614v5). I have the original version with the "v#" suffix.
>
> Does anyone have experience with the WGR614, or just have some suggestions
> as to how I can troubleshoot this?
>
> Thanks very much in advance.
>
> -Scott
>

Fixer wrote:
> Then if you've tried all these as a final test you could try hard connecting
> the dell laptop rather than wirelessly, if thats fine then contact Dell
> under warranty explain all the tersts you have done and they should swap out
> the systemboard and or the wireless card
> "Scott Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:v30Ad.35545$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>I've been going crazy trying to figure this one out.
>>
>>I have a Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router 54 Mbps/2.4 GHz that I
>>bought in early 2004. At the time, I only had 802.11b cards in our
>>laptops, and everything worked fine.
>>
>>Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PC wireless card to my wife's new Dell
>>PC. From time to time, she would tell me "the Internet's been off all
>>day". When I looked, every other machine could connect except for hers.
>>Looking at her PC, the card is getting a strong signal, but no
>>communication is taking place.
>>
>>I thought the problem might be related to the Windows XP SP2 upgrade that
>>I'd performed recently, but I've looked through the knowledge base
>>articles, and none of the reported problems seem to apply to me.
>>
>>Recently I added a Netgear 802.11g PCMCIA card to my wife's laptop. Now we
>>have two 'G' wireless devices in the house, and sure enough, she's getting
>>the same behavior with her laptop now.
>>
>>When a communication problem occurs:
>>
>>- The router seems to be operating fine (all wired and 802.11b wireless
>>clients are fine).
>>- One 802.11g client will typically be fine while the other can't
>>communicate
>>- The affected 802.11g client shows excellent signal strength, but "little
>>or no connectivity". Web requests, ping, DHCP (through release and renew)
>>all time out.
>>- Trying to "repair" the connection on the affected client generally
>>doesn't work (DHCP time out)
>>- Powering down the router and powering it back up doesn't seem to do
>>anything
>>- Unplugging every other wireless device in the house (cordless phone)
>>doesn't seem to make any difference
>>- The problem occurs intermittently. Things can work for days on end, then
>>one system will refuse to communicate. Once affected, the system doesn't
>>seem to recover by itself.
>>
>>Here are some additional details:
>>
>>- I was using 128-bit WEP. I've tried dropping to 64-bit WEP with no
>>apparent difference in behavior.
>>- I have an access list set up by Mac address.
>>- I updated the firmware in the wireless router to the latest version - no
>>difference.
>>- There appear to be many versions of this router (WGR614, WGR614v2 -
>>WGR614v5). I have the original version with the "v#" suffix.
>>
>>Does anyone have experience with the WGR614, or just have some suggestions
>>as to how I can troubleshoot this?
>>
>>Thanks very much in advance.
>>
>>-Scott
>>
>
>
>
By any chance are you using Zone Alarm? If so, make sure it recognizes
new networks when the computer boots up. I may be looking for the name
you hve entered, and the computer is loging into "new network".

Fixer,

Thanks for the response. I did finally hard connect her desktop PC, and the
problem went away, as expected. I doubt the client machine is the problem,
since it's happening on both her laptop and her desktop.


"Fixer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cqrkoj$h1f$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Then if you've tried all these as a final test you could try hard
> connecting the dell laptop rather than wirelessly, if thats fine then
> contact Dell under warranty explain all the tersts you have done and they
> should swap out the systemboard and or the wireless card

> "Scott Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> message news:v30Ad.35545$(E-Mail Removed)...
(snip)