Wireless Network connection

[kwtortoise]

Hey there. I have a Toshiba laptop hooked up to a wireless network to two other computers, and two printers, just in the house. It had worked just fine until two days ago. Now, it disconnects me, and asks to reconnect again, but still shows a time log of being connected the whole time. I have made no changes to my computer that would interfere, and this is annoying and confusing. Has anyone had this happen to them, or have advise? I am not moving the computer, yet the signal strength varies at times.

Thanks

[kwtortoise]

Still having the problems. Anyone have any suggestions?

[gmbastos]

Your signal may be suffering the effects of interference.

How long the disconnection lasts?

Signal strenght have average periods interrupted with peaks (which coincide with network outages)?

The log is from your laptop?

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/...ad.php?t=31677

Does any of these apply?

[kwtortoise]

The diconnections happen sporatically, from every 2 minutes up to 20, and will not come back until I hit connect. It reads "wireless connection unavailable", and then "one or more wireless networks are available" and then "signal strength good." I read the post, thank you for responding. There was not a problem until very recently, and it had worked fine for three months. I am using a laptop, and the wireless receiver is in a room 50 feet away, but has 3 walls. The hardware seems in order, and I still can't find an explanation... (it disconnected me three times in the process of writing this) =(

[gmbastos]

You are welcome.

Are you lneilson neighbor?

It really seems to be interference, most likely from some cordless phone.

As you have 3 walls in the path, your system is more vulnerable to interference than lneilson one.

It could help if you find one way to reduce/bypass at least one wall from your network topology: your signal may have enough power at the moments the interference source is inactive, but fall below required signal to distortion (noise and interference) ratio threshold when the EMI source activates.

WLAN uses spread spectrum techniques, which make it hard to interfere with, but, as happens with all in life, there is a point it will not withstand anymore.

But the game is not lost.

WLAN devices have the ability to use only a part of resources (it is somewhat a resource reservation intended to allow room for userbase growth and/or solving neighbors conflicts in peace).

Keep any cordless phone (not the 900 MHz band ones) you possess turned off. If you can involve your neighborhood in your tests, it will help a lot.

And believe: if there is anyone using WLAN in your neighborhood, he may be suffering the same problems as you and will be happy in knowing how to solve them. But just one of you should change wireless devices configuration, OK?

Refer to your device documentation on how to do band/spread spectrum code/hop pattern changes or exclusions.

But remind: keep complete written record of what your configuration currently is, even if it is not performing perfectly by now.

I suggest you to hire a professional technician to do the job for you, anyway.

By the way do you use WEP, don't you?

[kwtortoise]

Problem still happening. Even when the laptop is a couple of feet from the receiver it happens. We don't have any cordless phones, in fact we only have a fax line. (use cell phones) Nothing has changed recently in our house, electronics, etc. I don't know what WEP is. The network is just in the house, and we use Roadrunner cable from Time Warner.

[kwtortoise]

Another update: my connectiion, when it works, does not recognize an IP address or any internet protocols. I have tried setting up a network bridge, but it does not help. Thanks.

[renegade600]

Try uninstalling the network and then reinstalling it from scratch.

[gmbastos]

What operating system do you use? And its version?

There is under Windows 2000 Professional a function that allows connection duration limiting (under Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management). If it was set to a small amount of time, disconnection will occur everytime connection time period is surpassed (mostly when you work on the most complex matters).

Unfortunately at my brother's home I do not have a Windows 2000 boot to check information and give further details on this hypothesis.

Renegade's recommendation would solve this, as with network card installed protocols problems, without much effort.

What do you mean for does not recognize any internet protocol? Do you mean: HTTP, FTP, POP, SMTP, etc?

Did you check the loopback operation (ping localhost)? The firewall settings? Subnetwork masks? And DHCP/fixed IP settings (and if the IP addresses effectively belong to the subnetwork they should)? Gateway? Intrusion detection? And viruses? Trojans?

Probably, there is another WLAN near yours too.

Diging deeper on the interference possibility, the probable interference source may be external (and your WLAN may be found external by wireless passers-by as well): three months are more than enough to deploy a spread spectrum link or hot spot. Is there in your city any WLAN internet access provider under expansion? An ISP link can interfere with your WLAN even if it is relatively far from your devices (and not in perfect line of sight).

ISM bands permit-free operation model make unviable to guarantee interference-free links, so the one with more (transmission) power wins (up to a maximum lmit).

Using a spectrum analyser, it is plain simple to verify interferences and track its sources, but one costs too much (the simpler model costs more than most local manufactured cars here in my country). Besides that, there is no way to enforce the interference source owner to fix its system (in ISM bands). So we might check it indirectly, if it is to be checked at all.

By the way, what are your WLAN devices? Are its manuals available on the web for download?

WEP stands for 'wired equivalent privacy' , it is a simple criptographic feature in order to help prevent unauthorized people from being able to access your local network. It should be described in your access point documentation.