Wireless Trouble

[AngelofHarlem01]

I've been having some wireless trouble for the past week. My adapter hasn't been picking up the signal from the other computer. So anyway my dad was messing around with it today, don't know exactly what he did, but for some reason whenever he plugged it in, it was recognizing the other computer as a Mac instead of a PC.

Not sure if he was able to figure that out or not but we plugged the adapter back in a few minutes ago and are now picking up a sporadic signal. Basically it goes from excellent to piss poor to nothing at all.

It's so strange because it was working great up till a week ago and then one night the signal just flat lined and hasn't been steady since

Any thoughts as to what could be going on?

 

[ntalwar]

Try a different Wireless Channel on the router setup pages.

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

Will do. I'm pretty sure it's something with the other computer that's causing the problem.

I was looking at something on the Network Properties and under the 'LAN or High Speed' section it has 'Local Area Connection' and it says network cable unplugged, PCI adapter. Should that be like that?

 

[ntalwar]

That would only be a problem if you can't use wifi on the computer (i.e. no wifi card, etc.). I get the same message on my notebook (which uses wifi), but it's not a problem.

Also try to check the firewall settings, and try to ping the other box.

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

Ok. I went to a different wireless channel today and it's pretty much the same as it was before. Although earlier in the day it was working really well and had really good speed. At the moment though it's gone back down to 5.5 Mbps lol. Not expecting it to stay connected for much longer.

As for the firewall, i have it enabled, shouldn't it be?

Wonder what caused it to all of a sudden stop working. The night I noticed the signal had gone out, my brother said that something had crashed on the other computer and it was rebooting or needed rebooting. It's weird

 

[Liesje]

Can you borrow another laptop or have a friend stop by? If the other comp cannot connect, there's either a configuration or hardware problem with whatever's sending the signal. If it works, there's a problem with your computer.

My aunt and uncle's signal drops in and out. If I plug straight into the router with an ethernet line (bypass the wireless network), it works fine. I'm pretty sure either the wireless part of the router is bad or their computer is too far from the signal.

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

Yeah, originally the signal was too far from my laptop so we bought a different Lynksys adapter that had a longer range to it and it worked great for a few weeks. I was walking around the house with it yesterday though, trying to see if I could pick up a connection on it anywhere and it didn't even pick up the signal when I was in a room directly across from the other computer. It's kind of like it only works when it wants to.

 

[Liesje]

I would plug directly into the cable/DSL modem with an ethernet connection and make sure you are actually getting service. Last night my wireless was connecting to the network, but there was no traffic, it was dead and no pages would load. I fiddled with it for a while until I connected through the modem only to realize that we weren't even getting service from Comcast for whatever reason.

 

[ntalwar]

Good point, and I would say to test the internet speed, both wired and wireless, from both computers from a site like:

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Try it when the wifi speed is both good and bad.

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

Ok, I'll give it a try. It's getting so frusterating

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

Sorry I never responded back, lost track of things. Basically, the situation is still the same. Will probably just end up getting another router or adapter and see if that works. It's kind of funny, my dad has started to place it in weird parts of the house to try to get the connection to stay; right now it's hanging off of some art in the hallway. Not working either Wonder if this is a big problem with Linksys in general or just a case of bad luck. Thank you guys for all your input and help with this!

 

[Liesje]

I use a D-Link and mine's being a real bitch at the moment. I was home sick today and my connection dropped a dozen times, even though I'm sitting five feet from the router and have a brand new laptop. If doing a repair doesn't work, usually just unplugging the modem and the router to cycle power works. It was a cheap router to being with, so I think it's on it's way out. The problem seems to be the Internet connection over the wireless network. If I connect with an ethernet cord, it works fine. If I unplug the modem, I can still connect to the wireless network just fine. It's the actual Comcast service that it's not connecting with real well. Luckily, there's about 20 other wireless networks available here so I can switch to someone else's when I get pissed.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I fiddled with it for a while until I connected through the modem only to realize that we weren't even getting service from Comcast for whatever reason.

i was having this same problem last week

thankfully, we got it all sorted out but comcast frustrates me to no end. i want to change isps but my mom can't decide who she wants to change to.

 

[Liesje]

I hate them too, but DSL is too slow, we don't want to pay for a landline (DSL), and Comcast has a monopoly for cable TV here, so either way we have to have Comcast cable. Currently, we get digital cable with On Demand and Internet for $66/mo so it's not worth it to get just cable for $49 plus DSL for $45 ($25 for the landline and $19 for the DSL).

 

[ramblin rose]

I got sick of Comcast. I would lose my internet probably 5 to 10 times a day and finally got fed up.

Went with Verizon FIOS and it's the best service I've ever had. Have not lost internet once in more than 6 months and I get 1mb download 200-300 kps upload and I actually get those speeds.

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

We were finally able to establish a great connection with the Linksys adapter by placing it up really high near the ceiling and it's been working great for the past month. This morning though, there was one red light on for the 'link' and one blue for the 'connection'. How do I get the red light back to blue lol? My signal strength is still excellent but I can't connect to the internet without both lights, obviously.

edit: i don't know what i did but they're both back to blue now lol..

 

[Liesje]

I think the link light refers to the router receiving service and the signal light is the router's having it's network up/down. You can actually plug in a wireless router, setup a network, connect a bunch of computers with great signal strength, and have no Internet service connected to the router. If the link light is what's going up or down, it sounds like either your modem is bad (if you have one), your wiring between the modem and the router is bad, or whatever service you're getting is just not working right. You should be able to call your ISP and verify that they can communicate with your modem.

 

[AngelofHarlem01]

Thanks Lies you always have great advice!

We restarted the modem and now it's back up and running

 

[Liesje]

No prob, it's only out of experience I know these things My connection keeps going up and down and I think it's just Comcast being shitty right now b/c other people with their own networks are having the same problems.