Networks Wireless network drops constantly

It seems to be getting worse and worse, my desktop machine with a Linksys wireless PCI card drops all the time.

I'm using Windows XP Pro's wireless management stuff that's built in. (the Linksys software won't even connect to the network, which is comprised of a linksys router, all wireless G)

My laptop, sitting right next to my desktop, running linux stays on the wireless network just fine, and my wife's OSX and XP Home-based laptops both connect to the network fine with no outage.

It seems the desktop is the only one with the problem, and it's pretty random. All I have to do is right-click and say "repair", but that doesn't help if I try to remote in and the network is down.... Any ideas?

(unfortunately switching OSes isn't an option as I have a cannon lIDE scanner and Epson photo printer with CD printing capabilities, which don't work well under *nix just yet)

 

Is the desktop using SP2? If not, it seemed to help wireless stability an amazing amount, and I'd suggest you get it.

Also, see if there are any other 2.4ghz devices operating in the area. Such as most cordless phones... my laptop used to drop signal every time we got a phone call, until we finally shelled out a small fortune for 5.8ghz phones.

Otherwise, I'd just try fiddling with the antenna a bit.

 

If authentication's on turn it off, sometimes that can cause problems.

 

i too have recently had my desktop (although i use a Belkin Pre-N wireless router and a Belkin Pre-N desktop card) constantly drop its wireless connection and i cannot explain why....it has actually stopped connecting at all. it picks up the network but say there is no signal what so ever although i know there is a perfect signal since its had a perfect signal from where it is before.....

 

Have you tried using a different version of the LinkSys software?

I was having exactly the same problem with my Shuttle WiFi kit (using Windows' built-in WiFi management). As soon as I installed the Shuttle software the problem stopped (and hasn't occurred since).

 

Yeah, I meant an updated version.

The one that came on my driver CD was useless, but the most up-to-date version worked ok.

 

I'll give that a try, I haven't tried the software since I purchased it.

Since my linux laptop works fine right next to the desktop, I'm assuming it isn't interference by other devices, but I'll install new firmware/drivers/software and then wiggle the antenna for a while and see what I can do.

 

Typical. We have all this great technology that 20 years ago would've seemed impossible. Yet we still need to 'wiggle' things to get them to work properly.

Hopefully, the software should fix your problems.

 

Software update just disabled all wireless connectivity altogether, I had to roll back the driver to get it to work. (Maybe I grabbed the wrong driver?)

Is there a way to tell what wifi card I have without opening the case and manually inspecting it? (I just know it's a B/G wifi PCI card from linksys that I bought at wal mart)

antenna wiggling isn't working either. I think I'll just pay the $25 for a new cable connection in my office and put my modem and router in here and hardwire the PC. (It'll be better since I finally got my ATI AIW 9800 working anyway )

It's just shocking how dfficult it is to get my linksys wifi card to stay connected to my linksys router.

 

If you're still in Linux, an 'lspci' should do the trick, otherwise you'll be wanting the Device Manager in Windows, then check the details tab of the card in question, and get the hardware ID, and look them up on the web.

Could there be other wireless networks interfering? I was having horrible troubles when building my OpenBSD wireless access point, with dropped packets; turned out someone down the road had their wireless on the same channel, so I switched mine over and has been fine since.

 

what is the version of your linksys router? (it tells you on the bottom of the unit).
Unfotuntaly Linksys isnt what it used to be and they have had a lot of....bad products recently.
An example of this is the WAG54g ADSL modem and router. It very badly designed and overheats very easily resulting in wireless connectivity dropouts.

Also there are some Tips that you can do in order to get a stable connection.
1) upgrate to the latest firmware for your router, these generally have fixes for the wirless software etc, and may bring addedd features (QoS...)

2) Bung the router in the highest place possible away from any large metalic opbjects. Its a shorter distance for wireless signals to go through the floor than it is to go through a couple of walls.

3) Try to only use channels 1, 6 or 11 (11 being prefered). The reason for this is that channels 1 to 3 and 3 to 6 overlap each other and cause interferance (noise) that the router unable to understand. Dropped packets occure and at worst (in a Busy radio environment) no signal can be found. This is the reason why microwaves and certain wireless phones drop your connection speed as they create noise that blanks out the wireless signal. (think large room with only one person talking and lots of ppl shouting)

4) if you have a network with all G cards then set the router to only talk to G cards. Sounds simple but in a mixed mode (B and G cards) environment throughput is decreased due to the router having to change protocal. Its also worth a note that youll get better range with B cards than G.

5) Adjusting the "RTS Threshold" can help alleviate Packet loss. If one of the Wireless computers can obtain an IP address but can not ping, then set the "RTS Threshold" to 2304

6) Adjusting the "Beacon Interval" can help association problems. If there is a wireless adapter that is able to see the access point, but is unable to get locked, try adjusting the "Beacon Interval" to 50

7) Adjusting the "Fragmentation Threshold" can help association problems. If there is a wireless adapter that is able to see the access point, but is unable to get locked, try adjusting the "Fragmentation Threshold" to 2304

8) Try WEP security instead of WPA as signal strength seems to be reduced in WPA. however WEP is less secure.