Poor wireless connectivity

[punky]

I'm having intermittent wireless LAN problems and i'm hoping someone could shed some light on it.

First of all, it is a Netgear MR814 802.11b wireless router. I'm trying to use my dad's HP laptop with built-in wireless modem ("Intel(R) PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter" apparently).

Here's the thing: In the mornings, it is fine. It maintains signal fine and it never drops. In the afternoon, it starts to lose the connection intermittently. Like only a few times, say once every 20-30 mins. The signal strength is always "Very Good" or "Excellent" even when it drops, and once it drops, it comes back within about 5 seconds.

Now come evening time, it is practically unusable. It keeps dropping like every minute or two. It normally comes back after a few seconds though. Bizarrely, I don't know wether Windows is lagged, but sometimes the Internet works even though the icon is in the taskbar, although mostly it doesn't.

Anyways, does anyone know why the wireless LAN is so affected by the time of day? It is so predictable that I can tell the time if day by how long I can stay connected on the lappy. I have a desktop using a Netgear wireless modem, and it doesn't seem to have the same problem. Now when I was setting it up (last year, this isn't a recent problem), there was another wireless network that came up in the available networks. Has anyone known networks interferring with each other which could "knock me off"? I'm guessing there is nothing wrong with the built in modem as it works perfectly in the mornings, just not in the afternoon or evenings. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanx in advance.

[Neil]

Have you secured it properly?

Sounds to me like someone's coming home, logging on, & helping themselves to your bandwidth.....

[punky]

Well, only the laptop seems to be susciptible, but I have secured it by only allowing certain MAC addresses.

[SOSAGES]

if ur running xp its know to drop connections and be flakey over wireless ..

sp2 kinda fixes it...

[punky]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

if ur running xp its know to drop connections and be flakey over wireless ..

sp2 kinda fixes it...

Thanx for the tip mate. It is XP Home SP1. I'll think about putting SP2 on it. I don't really want to if I can help it, given the mixed reactions about it.

[SOSAGES]

oh also what security u using? did u see if there are new drivers/firmware for the devices?

[punky]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

oh also what security u using? did u see if there are new drivers/firmware for the devices?

I'm restricting access to the modem by MAC address. I've had a look for new drivers (http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...?ProductID=944) but weirdly, it only has Linux drivers, nothing for Windows. maybe it is already supported by all Windows platforms. I managed to find a HP driver on another site. Not much more recent, only a couple of months, but i'll see if it makes any difference later.

I thought the technology was fine as it is fine in the morning, but i'm trying to work out what can be causing it to drop.

[ZrByte]

I have the same problem over a similar adapter, not sure wich model mine is but it is an Intel Mini-PCI and its wireless G enabled.
Mine isnt based on the time of day though, Mine just enjoys maintaining a connection until you need to use it (Well it seems that way sometimes )
Sometimes it drops the connection, but according to the Icon in the taskbar it is connected fine, then a couple of minutes later it will finally realise and drop the connection accordingly.
I use the intel utility though so I wouldnt have thought XP could interferre like that?
Problem Dissapears If I use my PCMCIA card, though my machine has a tendancy to crash if I use the PCMCIA while the Mini-PCI is installed (Drivers or not) so it means opening the laptop up to take out the mini-PCI.

EDIT: Just realised the card is on my desk infront of me, mines an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Mini-PCI

Try changing the wireless channel you are using. Many things can intefere - including other wireless installations, some phones, microwaves etc etc.

[SOSAGES]

u using the latest router version? they release updates for them a lot as they always go wrong -

also have a secure access list is all good but to go with that do u connect using :

no security?
WEP?
WPA?

[punky]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

I have the same problem over a similar adapter, not sure wich model mine is but it is an Intel Mini-PCI and its wireless G enabled.
Mine isnt based on the time of day though, Mine just enjoys maintaining a connection until you need to use it (Well it seems that way sometimes )
Sometimes it drops the connection, but according to the Icon in the taskbar it is connected fine, then a couple of minutes later it will finally realise and drop the connection accordingly.
I use the intel utility though so I wouldnt have thought XP could interferre like that?
Problem Dissapears If I use my PCMCIA card, though my machine has a tendancy to crash if I use the PCMCIA while the Mini-PCI is installed (Drivers or not) so it means opening the laptop up to take out the mini-PCI.

EDIT: Just realised the card is on my desk infront of me, mines an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Mini-PCI

Ahhh, sounds like it is a problem with Intel wireless adaptors then. Argh. From what you said, it sounds exactly like the problems i've been having. I don't really want to have to take this out adaptor out . I have a spare USB wireless adaptor though, so I might try that in. It works alright on the other desktop.

SOSAGES: I've updating the driver, but it has made it really, really bad. Now it acts like it does at night, but during the day. Although having said that, I has been up for about 10 mins now since I entered the forum, so hoping that it was just a glitch. I tried to rollback the driver, and it said it did, but the driver date didn't change. I hit rollback again but it said no drivers were backed up. I might try a system restore if i starts playing up, but seems alright atm. I don't think I have any authentication as I didn't get time to do it before. I just told my dad if he does anything sensitive like online banking or shopping, to use the PC wired into the router. It's on my list to do though.

Pem: Cheers for that. I did think about that. I seem to remember having trouble getting them to work on most of the others, but i'll try and play with it. anyway.

Thanx for the tips though guys, I appreciate it

[dilli-theclaw]

Can I add that I was having MAJOR problems with my belkin wireless adaptor initially.

It was due to the fact that both windows AND the belkin software were trying to run the connection.

Once I just used the windowsXP drivers it was ok.

Maybe this is something else for you consider?

[punky]

Originally Posted by dilligaf1701

Can I add that I was having MAJOR problems with my belkin wireless adaptor initially.

It was due to the fact that both windows AND the belkin software were trying to run the connection.

Once I just used the windowsXP drivers it was ok.

Maybe this is something else for you consider?

Ahh cheers for that. I can only really see one set of drivers in the device manager though. I might try wiping off all the drivers for it, and let XP install its own. I want to use that as a last resort though.

[SMHarman]

Is the house near others?
Does it happen at specific times of day or is it a general degredation, e.g.lunch, dinner movie time.
Could well be a neighbours microwave (or yours) or some other radiation. Any DECT phones near the base?

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by punky

Ahhh, sounds like it is a problem with Intel wireless adaptors then. Argh. From what you said, it sounds exactly like the problems i've been having. I don't really want to have to take this out adaptor out . I have a spare USB wireless adaptor though, so I might try that in. It works alright on the other desktop.

SOSAGES: I've updating the driver, but it has made it really, really bad. Now it acts like it does at night, but during the day. Although having said that, I has been up for about 10 mins now since I entered the forum, so hoping that it was just a glitch. I tried to rollback the driver, and it said it did, but the driver date didn't change. I hit rollback again but it said no drivers were backed up. I might try a system restore if i starts playing up, but seems alright atm. I don't think I have any authentication as I didn't get time to do it before. I just told my dad if he does anything sensitive like online banking or shopping, to use the PC wired into the router. It's on my list to do though.

Pem: Cheers for that. I did think about that. I seem to remember having trouble getting them to work on most of the others, but i'll try and play with it. anyway.

Thanx for the tips though guys, I appreciate it

It might not just be intel mini-PCI that do it, I had and 802.11b adapter in previously and that would do the same (That one wasnt intel). I think it may be an issue with WinXP and Mini-PCI or WinXP and certain configurations with Mini-PCI.

Originally Posted by dilligaf1701

Can I add that I was having MAJOR problems with my belkin wireless adaptor initially.

It was due to the fact that both windows AND the belkin software were trying to run the connection.

Once I just used the windowsXP drivers it was ok.

Maybe this is something else for you consider?

Ive tried just using the windows software, and just using the Intel software and it still does the same so its not that either

Originally Posted by Pem

Try changing the wireless channel you are using. Many things can intefere - including other wireless installations, some phones, microwaves etc etc.

Tried that, every single channel is the same, was pretty sure it wasnt this anyway since my Network currently runs fine on the channel im using, its just this one card in particular.