I need your help computer peeps (wireless internet issues)

[MattNCSU]

So we've had wireless for about 6 weeks now and up till now its been 'ok'. The only issue being that whenever I lose signal I have to restart for internet to work at all. Same goes for one of roommates.

Well last night my fawking wireless connection was going crazy. My status window would pop up every few seconds or so and say wireless connection lost or wireless connection signal low. And this would went on all night long till i finally pulled the card and went back to a lan line. So I know know for sure its not the cable internet service itself.

My roommate used the router/card combo all summer long at home and said he never had any issues with it. So he thinks its just interference or just the fact that there are 4 or 5 available networks around us and its fawking up ours.

Any suggestions on how to solve this?

My OS is Windows XP (professional), this is the D Link router/card combo

 

[Sinister Angel]

Very well could be the surrounding networks. If you got networks all hanging around on the same channel, that's gonna cause problems. I'd use netstumbler to find out what channels are being used, and choose one that isn't, or... if you wanna get a bit illegal, but have some fun, buy one of these...

http://www.cu1.com/241wboosamfo.html

 

[MattNCSU]

thanks man,
yea I'm pretty sure its to due with the other networks. But I have no clue if that router has the option to use other channels. My roommate mentioned that but said he had no clue how to switch em.

 

[Sinister Angel]

It'll generally be in the config screen under wireless options.

 

[02s10]

Also, don't forget that it runs on the 2.4ghz freq with that in mmind most cordless phones run on that freq and also channel 6 which is the default channel for wireless. The best way to check which channel you are using is plug directly into the router with your cable and open ie and in the address box type 192.168.1.1 and a user name and password screen should come up. For user name use admin and for pass use admin. get in and take a look around at the programming and also setup some security so others can not use your wireless access for their internet.....

 

[JoeNashville]

Win XP SP2 has a lot of improved code specifically for small scale wireless networks. Have you upgraded to SP2 yet? That may fix some of your problems. I've had nothing but rock solid performance since I went SP2 and my connection has been up for weeks.

 

[Sinister Angel]

I have heard otherwise regarding SP2 being a good thing...

 

[JoeNashville]

...probably from a network admin. SP2 breaks poorly designed programs or hastily constructed networks. For wireless it's great.

 

[slow_rider]

I had to uninstall sp2 cause I started getting EC timeout errors :shrug: and my computer would freeze every 20-30 min :mj:

I h ad the same issue with my wireless. Once I changed my channel it was fine. I also cahnges the DHCP addresses that were served. then I made sure that my pc was setup to use my wireless as the prefered network.