Wireless issues - keeps disconnecting and reconnecting

[VintagePunk]

This is seriously annoying, and I don't know how to fix it. It's like I'm back in the days of dial-up.

My wireless at home will work fine for weeks and weeks. No problems, no disconnections. But then suddenly, it will start disconnecting and reconnecting constantly, like, every few minutes or so. I can tell, because there's this icon that pops up in my toolbar (that's what the thing on the bottom right of the screen is, right?) that tells me it's disconnected or reconnected. Sometimes these icons pop up and I think the disconnection - reconnection is happening so fast that if it weren't for the icons, I wouldn't even know it's happening. Other times though, I can tell, it slows my internet down considerably, and I have to wait ages for a page to load, or, I have to stop a page that's attempting to load, and restart it again.

I unplug my router for 10 seconds, and sometimes that helps it get back to normal for maybe 5 minutes, but then it starts all over again. The thing is, I know that if I wait it out, in a few days it'll stop doing it and things will go back to normal, but then in another month or so it'll start again for a few days.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[Galeongirl]

When it happens again, try restarting it? As in, unplug it, get the electricity off it, turn down the modem as well, and wait a minute or two. Then plug the modem back in, turn it on, wait for it to finish loading. Then turn on the router again, and restart the pc.

 

[VintagePunk]

When it happens again, try restarting it? As in, unplug it, get the electricity off it, turn down the modem as well, and wait a minute or two. Then plug the modem back in, turn it on, wait for it to finish loading. Then turn on the router again, and restart the pc.

I did that, unplugged both of them, left the modem off for 10 minutes, powered that back up, and then plugged the router back in, and it didn't seem to make a difference. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Galeongirl]

Hm that's odd then. Is there a standard time this happens? Like, every first week of the month on a certain day and time or is it completely random?

 

[VintagePunk]

As far as I can tell, it's random - but I don't know, I've never really noted the times it happens, I just know that it's annoying as hell.

This time, it started Saturday night (at least it let me get through the presale on Saturday morning) and it's been doing it ever since. Even yesterday when I was trying unsuccessfully in the general sale. What a time for this shit to start happening. My computer equipment should know that ticket buying time is sacred.

 

[Liesje]

Is anyone else on this wireless network? If so, are they having problems?

I guess I would start by making sure the modem and router are still configured properly. Shut off both for at least 10 seconds and power them back on. I would delete the wireless connection, actually remove the card itself in Device Manager and reinstall it, then reconfigure the connection on the computer. If none of that works, I'd suspect a hardware issue, buy a cheap USB card and see if that works.

 

[VintagePunk]

My daughter uses it when she's home, and she doesn't have issues with the rapid disconnect - reconnect that I do, but at times the connection will go out and stay out for both of us, in which case unplugging the router briefly solves it for both of us.

Thanks for the suggestions, that gives me a place to start. I didn't configure anything on my own. When I first got the computer, the computer detected the network and automatically connected to it on its own, whereas with her computer, she did have to configure the connection.

When you say to get a cheap usb card, you mean a wireless card for my laptop, right? They have usb ones that you plug into a usb slot outside of the computer?

Oddly, just since I started this thread, it seems to be working a bit better.

eta - nope, still happening.

 

[Liesje]

Yep, you can get a USB wireless adapter, it looks like a flash drive but it's a wireless card. I have one at work and see them on newegg for $20-$30 or so. I use it whenever someone complains of something like you describe. It narrows down whether it is the computer's hardware, or possibly some problem/corruption with the operating system or TCP/IP (but in our case we know the network itself is working and stable - in your case it could possibly be an issue with the router if others experience the same problems).

 

[VintagePunk]

Okay, I'll try that, thanks.

 

[Galeongirl]

If that doesn't work, this is sounding scarily familiar to me. We had this problem, our old router would randomly disconnect and not let me on for a while, either it restored itself in an hour or I'd disconnect it all and reconnect the router and it worked. I called the cable company, had email contact with the router company(good service!) and neither could help me.

I talked to a friend who works at a computer shop, and all he asked me was the brand name. Turns out a lot of Sitecom routers had that problem after a few years. It just died.

We got a new one now. From a good brand.

 

[TedUK]

We have this problem in the office - spent a lot of money on a high-end wireless router, only to not be able to stay connected.

Old or unshielded electrical equipment can interfere with a wireless signal, so it might be worth checking what else is plugged in or working while the disruption is happening.

We had to re-wire the office suite in the end. Turns out some of the electrical equipment in the centre for disabled people downstairs was interfering with the wireless signal! We had no disruption either before 9am or after 6pm, or at weekends. It only happened while the Centre was open.

Teddy