broadband cable wireless network

[beer batter]

I have a linksys G router running my wireless network with a motorola cable modem behind it. We had 2 PC's running wireless, with another PC direct connected running a LAN connection to the router. This 3 PC network configuration seemed to run pretty well for a couple years. We then added another wireless PC for the kids, and things went bad.

Seems one of the wireless PC's loses it's connection every so often (approx. 20 minutes). It will come back online after a few minutes, but will continue to lose the connection periodically.

I direct connected one of the PC's to the router so that it is no longer wireless (now running LAN) and that seems to have fixed the issue. In this working configuration we were running 2 LAN connections along with 2 wireless connections, whereas the failing configuration had a single LAN with 3 wireless.

Any thoughts on what the issue was? My guess is that there was some sort of competition between wireless PC's, but don't know much about how to figure anything beyond that.

Thanks for any help.

[Jim Almquist]

I am by no means a expert ( but I did stay at a Holiday Inn) but I would have thought that they would have ran slower during big downloads or games but should not have cut out. Was the last computer that you wired up also the last one that was wireless and you just turned off the wireless and plugged it it ? Maybe upnorth or Sanmannd can tell you for sure but it doesn't sound right.

[Whoaru99]

I'm guessing something in the wireless configuration of the last computer added isn't quite right.

I don't know all the settings off the top of my head, but compare one of those that was working fine wirelessly to the one that was dropping out.

Make sure they're all the same for stuff like WPA vs WPA2, TKIP vs AES vs TKIP/AES, etc. That is assuming you have the system secured on the wireless side. Also, I would set the wireless mode to a fixed system such as "G" only if all the computers are capable of that instead of a mixed mode.

Check the mfg HSOforum to see if there is newer firmware for the router and update it if so.

[theoilman]

Are you running Windows? XP? Vista? or a combination?

I've seen a problem with Vista and router IP address assignments - sometimes requiring a reboot of the router and all computers to be a "fix." Though I don't understand any of the why or what is going on.

[mnflyfisherman]

If one of your PC's is hooked to the wireless network with a USB wireless network adapter, some of these have power requirements that aren't met by some USB ports. If you are using one of the USB wireless items, try plugging it into a powered USB hub if you have one. Also, perhaps if you're using a wireless USB network adapter, it's possible that the particular PC it's plugged into might be old enough to have the older USB plugs that I don't think put out as much power.

--Matt

[beer batter]

The last computer connected to the wireless was NOT the one that was bounced out and moved to a LAN connection. The last computer put to wireless seems to run just fine, so at least the kids are happy. The other 2 computers have both had issues of being bounced off the wireless connection until I moved one of them to a LAN configuration and that seems to have (at least temporarily) solved the issue.

All wireless computers on the network are running XP, we have no Vista in our network. No USB adapters either, the wireless adapters are PCI cards, although I'm not positive about my wife's laptop wireless adapter.

The router is running with all default configuration, never changed anything, so I don't know if it's all G or mixed mode.

Are there configuration changes to the router depending on the makeup of network the router is supporting?

[upnorth]

This is kinda grasping at straws, but check the config on your wireless router and make sure you aren't limiting the amount of wireless connections. Not sure if it is an option that device but our wireless system I can limit the number of devices connecting to an access point.

[Central Bassman]

I am by no means a expert ( but I did stay at a Holiday Inn)

LOL that is funny!!!

[thorski]

I have a linksys G router running my wireless network with a motorola cable modem behind it. We had 2 PC's running wireless, with another PC direct connected running a LAN connection to the router. This 3 PC network configuration seemed to run pretty well for a couple years. We then added another wireless PC for the kids, and things went bad.

Seems one of the wireless PC's loses it's connection every so often (approx. 20 minutes). It will come back online after a few minutes, but will continue to lose the connection periodically.

I direct connected one of the PC's to the router so that it is no longer wireless (now running LAN) and that seems to have fixed the issue. In this working configuration we were running 2 LAN connections along with 2 wireless connections, whereas the failing configuration had a single LAN with 3 wireless.

Any thoughts on what the issue was? My guess is that there was some sort of competition between wireless PC's, but don't know much about how to figure anything beyond that.

Thanks for any help.

We are having the exact same problem. My wife does office work from home, so this is a problem we need to fix ASAP. My wife called our internet providers "tech help/support" line, then sat on hold for 20 minutes. When someone finally answered, they responded that my wife needed to talk to the "advanced modem/router tech department" but they had just closed at 10:00pm for the evening and my wife would have to call back tomorrow! This was at 10:01pm! Wow! Was my wife mad!

[SimilarIsland]

I've seen it where your "competiion" is a neighbor with his router on the same channel.

[beer batter]

Thorski, let me know if you figure anything out on your end. Both my wife and I work from home occasionally through the week (like right now), and it is a problem for her with her laptop (which is not a USB adapter I confirmed).

Comcast support is worthless in this case. Been there, done that - thanks for nothing. I don't think the problem is on their end though. I suspect it's some PC configuration not working properly with the router, but I'm a bit over my head at this point. I don't know how to do any configuration with the router what so-ever.

[Whoaru99]

Your cable company isn't going to help you troubleshoot your router/home network.

They'll tell you plug one computer directly into the cable modem and confirm that their modem and service is OK. That's where their obligation ends. Unless, perhaps, they set you up with the router and wireless configuration.

You need to go into the wireless adapter properties and the router settings to confirm the settings match, and that there are enough IP addresses allocated by DHCP (usually not a problem if the router is at default settings).

If all else fails, RTFMs.

[thorski]

Thorski, let me know if you figure anything out on your end. Both my wife and I work from home occasionally through the week (like right now), and it is a problem for her with her laptop (which is not a USB adapter I confirmed).

Comcast support is worthless in this case. Been there, done that - thanks for nothing. I don't think the problem is on their end though. I suspect it's some PC configuration not working properly with the router, but I'm a bit over my head at this point. I don't know how to do any configuration with the router what so-ever.

Beer Batter- We were gone all weekend so we didn't get a chance to figure out what was going on until yesterday. A computer wizard that works with my wife seems to think that it is some sort of computer virus/bug. He is going to be looking at our computers this week. He said that with a wireless system like we have, if one computer gets it, they all get it. Therefore, all of our computers will need to be looked at and cleaned before we can set the system back up. If we don't get all of them cleaned at the same time, one computer can re-infect the whole system and you would have to start over.