Wireless connection drops during file transfers

Hi,

I just added a second laptop to my home network. When copying files from
my old laptop, also wireless, that about 80% of the time the wireless
connection on both computers drops out, removing both of them from the
network and cancelling the transfer. They reconnect automatically
usually within a minute, but by then I have to restart the file copying.

Meanwhile, the desktop PC connected via Ethernet to the same router,
doesn't experience any connection loss.

Am I overloading the wireless connection or something? Not all of the
files I'm transferring are big, and some transfers that fail one minute
as the network craps out will work a minute later.

I'm running XP Pro sp2 on all machines and have a Belkin LAN/WLAN router
connected to a cable modem. I use MAC filtering, WPA-PSK TKIP security,
and have DHCP turned off.

The two notebooks have different wireless cards, but since they both
give up simultaneously, I assume the problem is in the overall set-up or
with the router.

Thanks.

Byron wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I just added a second laptop to my home network. When copying files from
> my old laptop, also wireless, that about 80% of the time the wireless
> connection on both computers drops out, removing both of them from the
> network and cancelling the transfer. They reconnect automatically
> usually within a minute, but by then I have to restart the file copying.
>
> Meanwhile, the desktop PC connected via Ethernet to the same router,
> doesn't experience any connection loss.
>
> Am I overloading the wireless connection or something? Not all of the
> files I'm transferring are big, and some transfers that fail one minute
> as the network craps out will work a minute later.
>
> I'm running XP Pro sp2 on all machines and have a Belkin LAN/WLAN router
> connected to a cable modem. I use MAC filtering, WPA-PSK TKIP security,
> and have DHCP turned off.
>
> The two notebooks have different wireless cards, but since they both
> give up simultaneously, I assume the problem is in the overall set-up or
> with the router.
>

It could be signal interference. It was bad on the ME O/S when it dropped
the signal and the machine rebooted itself right in the middle of anything
it was doing when a car, truck or motorcycle drove by that put out heavy
frequencies. I cleared that problem by going to Win 2k.

When I converted the machines to XP pro, the problem became Wireless Zero
Configuration Service on XP that made the machines seekout other networks
in my area and tried to connect to them dropping the connection. I disabled
WZCS and I have not had any connection dropping problems anymore.

Duane

In article <bYZwe.105404$_o.31215@attbi_s71>, (E-Mail Removed) says...

>
> When I converted the machines to XP pro, the problem became Wireless Zero
> Configuration Service on XP that made the machines seekout other networks
> in my area and tried to connect to them dropping the connection. I disabled
> WZCS and I have not had any connection dropping problems anymore.
>

Thanks Duane. I'll try disabling that. I assume I'll have to re-enable
it if I go out and try to connect to a hotspot?

In article <(E-Mail Removed) ups.com>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> In article <bYZwe.105404$_o.31215@attbi_s71>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
>
> >
> > When I converted the machines to XP pro, the problem became Wireless Zero
> > Configuration Service on XP that made the machines seekout other networks
> > in my area and tried to connect to them dropping the connection. I disabled
> > WZCS and I have not had any connection dropping problems anymore.
> >
>
> Thanks Duane. I'll try disabling that. I assume I'll have to re-enable
> it if I go out and try to connect to a hotspot?
>


Apparently I need Wireless Zero running to have any connection at all,
so that didn't work.

In news:(E-Mail Removed) sgroups.com Byron
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> I'm running XP Pro sp2 on all machines and have a Belkin LAN/WLAN router
> connected to a cable modem. I use MAC filtering, WPA-PSK TKIP security,
> and have DHCP turned off.

I'm using an Actiontec GT701 DSL router/AP with WPA, on a 6Mb/sec
circuit.

My "real" machine is connected to the ethernet port and I use my laptop
via WiFi.

If I'm driving the line hard with multiple simultaneous connections from
the desktop machine, the WiFi link to the laptop will drop, even if I'm
not using the network from it at alll.

Watching the network with Ethereal, I can see that the router starts
missing the periodic WPA handshaking and then the connection drops. Once
the router is less busy, the connection stabilizes.

I'm guessing that the Actiontec doesn't have enough horsepower to keep so
many balls in the air at once; maybe your Belkin has the same problem.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN (E-Mail Removed)

Byron wrote:

> In article <(E-Mail Removed) ups.com>,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
>> In article <bYZwe.105404$_o.31215@attbi_s71>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
>>
>> >
>> > When I converted the machines to XP pro, the problem became Wireless
>> > Zero Configuration Service on XP that made the machines seekout other
>> > networks in my area and tried to connect to them dropping the
>> > connection. I disabled WZCS and I have not had any connection dropping
>> > problems anymore.
>> >
>>
>> Thanks Duane. I'll try disabling that. I assume I'll have to re-enable
>> it if I go out and try to connect to a hotspot?
>>
>
>
> Apparently I need Wireless Zero running to have any connection at all,
> so that didn't work.

That is not true. I certainly don't need it on any of my machines. In
addition to that, I downloaded the card's driver from its site and
installed the driver and configured the card using the O/S's Device Manager
and discontinued using the card's utility to do anything not even to show
signal strength. That can be shown on the NIC's LAN Properties screen
selecting *Show network connection* and mousing over the Network Connection
Icon in the job trey net to the clock.

Doing the above made the wireless connection on XP solid as a rock and I
have not looked back.

Duane

In article <qr_we.105070$x96.45938@attbi_s72>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
> Byron wrote:
> >
> > Apparently I need Wireless Zero running to have any connection at all,
> > so that didn't work.
>
> That is not true. I certainly don't need it on any of my machines. Inp the Wireless Zero
> addition to that, I downloaded the card's driver from its site and
> installed the driver and configured the card using the O/S's Device Manager
> and discontinued using the card's utility to do anything not even to show
> signal strength. That can be shown on the NIC's LAN Properties screen
> selecting *Show network connection* and mousing over the Network Connection
> Icon in the job trey net to the clock.
>
> Doing the above made the wireless connection on XP solid as a rock and I
> have not looked back.
>
> Duane
>

When I disable or stop the Wireless Zero service, my local network
continues to function, but if I try it access the Internet, my two
wireless machines lose service.

Obviously, something in my configuration is off. I don't have any manuf.
config tools installed. I was using Windows to manage the wireless
connections.

Byron wrote:

> In article <qr_we.105070$x96.45938@attbi_s72>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
>> Byron wrote:
>> >
>> > Apparently I need Wireless Zero running to have any connection at all,
>> > so that didn't work.
>>
>> That is not true. I certainly don't need it on any of my machines. Inp
>> the Wireless Zero addition to that, I downloaded the card's driver from
>> its site and installed the driver and configured the card using the O/S's
>> Device Manager and discontinued using the card's utility to do anything
>> not even to show signal strength. That can be shown on the NIC's LAN
>> Properties screen selecting *Show network connection* and mousing over
>> the Network Connection Icon in the job trey net to the clock.
>>
>> Doing the above made the wireless connection on XP solid as a rock and I
>> have not looked back.
>>
>> Duane
>>
>
> When I disable or stop the Wireless Zero service, my local network
> continues to function, but if I try it access the Internet, my two
> wireless machines lose service.

You booted the machines when you did that right? I am not saying that would
be a need. What IP does the machine have after doing the reboot and using
IPconfig /all?

Duane

> You booted the machines when you did that right? I am not saying that would
> be a need. What IP does the machine have after doing the reboot and using
> IPconfig /all?


No, but I can give that a try tonight. Each machine has an assigned
local IP, FWIW.

Byron <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed) sgroups.com:

>
>> You booted the machines when you did that right? I am not saying that
>> would be a need. What IP does the machine have after doing the reboot
>> and using IPconfig /all?
>
>
> No, but I can give that a try tonight. Each machine has an assigned
> local IP, FWIW.
>

Well, you need to see if a machine is getting a 169 IP from the DHCP server
on the router, which would indicate that the O/S timed out and cannot get
an IP from the DHCP server that would allow the machine to access the
Internet. That would be a sign of mis-configuration somewhere.

If by assigned local IP (a static) IP you have assigned, it may hide the
picture you need to see. Whatever IP solution you're using, if you try to
access the router's Admin Screens when trying to access the Internet when
the machine cannot do it, the machines cannot access the router too or can
it?

Duane