Intermittent Wireless

2 Sep 2006 1:19 AM

Ian Finlayson

I've recently built a new machine which includes a Linksys WMP54G. For about
two weeks it was fine but today it's been getting disconnected from my
wireless network and having to reconnect. The regularity varies from several
hours between incidents to several times in a minute.

I've watched other machines on the wireless network and when my one loses
it's connection they manage to keep theirs so I would assume there is a
problem with the computer itself.

I've tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the drivers for the network
adaptor and it had no effect.

Some extra information which may be useful, I'm connecting to a Linksys
router which is running DHCP and this computer is set to automatically obtain
an IP address. When the connection isn't going down everything works fine and
there seems to be no common event around each disconnection.

2 Sep 2006 6:30 AM

ato_zee

On 2-Sep-2006, =?Utf-8?B?SWFuIEZpbmxheXNvbg==?=
<IanFinlay***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I've recently built a new machine which includes a Linksys WMP54G. For about
> two weeks it was fine but today it's been getting disconnected from my
> wireless network and having to reconnect.

Some source of interference?

Try static addresses, DHCP seems to be a one attempt system, it
it fails it waits, and waits, until you do a repair or reboot.
I'm using a wireless USB adapter and USB switch to cover
two machines, with static addresses it switches between the two
with no problems. It doesn't work with Zero Config, just hangs.

2 Sep 2006 8:20 AM

Ian Finlayson

Show quote Hide quote

"ato_***@hotmail.com" wrote:

>
> On 2-Sep-2006, =?Utf-8?B?SWFuIEZpbmxheXNvbg==?=
> <IanFinlay***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > I've recently built a new machine which includes a Linksys WMP54G. For about
> > two weeks it was fine but today it's been getting disconnected from my
> > wireless network and having to reconnect.
>
> Some source of interference?
>
> Try static addresses, DHCP seems to be a one attempt system, it
> it fails it waits, and waits, until you do a repair or reboot.
> I'm using a wireless USB adapter and USB switch to cover
> two machines, with static addresses it switches between the two
> with no problems. It doesn't work with Zero Config, just hangs.
>

I can't see what would be causing the interference, the new machine is in
the same place as the old one was and that was problem free. The only thing I
can see as changing is there's now two machines, both using wireless, next to
each other but I've tried manually disconnecting one from the network and the
problem still remains.

As for the DHCP I'll give it a try but it doesn't seem likely. I can obtain
an IP with every machine on the network and when the connection does go down
it always manages to reconnect and obtain the same IP.

2 Sep 2006 9:06 PM

Lem

Ian Finlayson wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

>
> "ato_***@hotmail.com" wrote:
>
>
>>On 2-Sep-2006, =?Utf-8?B?SWFuIEZpbmxheXNvbg==?=
>><IanFinlay***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I've recently built a new machine which includes a Linksys WMP54G. For about
>>>two weeks it was fine but today it's been getting disconnected from my
>>>wireless network and having to reconnect.
>>
>>Some source of interference?
>>
>>Try static addresses, DHCP seems to be a one attempt system, it
>>it fails it waits, and waits, until you do a repair or reboot.
>>I'm using a wireless USB adapter and USB switch to cover
>>two machines, with static addresses it switches between the two
>>with no problems. It doesn't work with Zero Config, just hangs.
>>
>
>
> I can't see what would be causing the interference, the new machine is in
> the same place as the old one was and that was problem free. The only thing I
> can see as changing is there's now two machines, both using wireless, next to
> each other but I've tried manually disconnecting one from the network and the
> problem still remains.
>
> As for the DHCP I'll give it a try but it doesn't seem likely. I can obtain
> an IP with every machine on the network and when the connection does go down
> it always manages to reconnect and obtain the same IP.

Disconnects several times a minute is too often to be something simple
like a power-save mode kicking in, and there are supposed to be
mechanisms in the 802.11 protocol to prevent mutual interference from
"two [802.11g units] next to each other." Just in case, you might try
turning off the old one and see if the new one still drops frequently.

On the other hand, there are a lot of other sources of interference in
the 2.4GHz band: microwave ovens, cordless phones, and Bluetooth
devices, to name a few. You don't happen to have one of the "pre-N"
wireless devices do you? Or maybe there's one nearby. Those are known to
cause problems.

Try moving the new computer a little bit. Unless it's in exactly the
same location and orientation as the old one, you can't draw any
conclusions about interference or lack thereof. The wavelength of
2.4GHz (used for 802.11G) is less than 5 inches -- it doesn't take much
of a move to change what the antenna sees. And even if you exactly
duplicated the location and orientation, the new card undoubtedly has
different antenna characteristics and different sensitivity to
intereference.

You can try looking in EventViewer (Start > Run > eventvwr) and see if
there's anything going on. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to tell you,
other than you may have a flakey card.

2 Sep 2006 10:24 PM

Ian Finlayson

Show quote Hide quote

"Lem" wrote:

> Ian Finlayson wrote:
>
> >
> > "ato_***@hotmail.com" wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On 2-Sep-2006, =?Utf-8?B?SWFuIEZpbmxheXNvbg==?=
> >><IanFinlay***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>I've recently built a new machine which includes a Linksys WMP54G. For about
> >>>two weeks it was fine but today it's been getting disconnected from my
> >>>wireless network and having to reconnect.
> >>
> >>Some source of interference?
> >>
> >>Try static addresses, DHCP seems to be a one attempt system, it
> >>it fails it waits, and waits, until you do a repair or reboot.
> >>I'm using a wireless USB adapter and USB switch to cover
> >>two machines, with static addresses it switches between the two
> >>with no problems. It doesn't work with Zero Config, just hangs.
> >>
> >
> >
> > I can't see what would be causing the interference, the new machine is in
> > the same place as the old one was and that was problem free. The only thing I
> > can see as changing is there's now two machines, both using wireless, next to
> > each other but I've tried manually disconnecting one from the network and the
> > problem still remains.
> >
> > As for the DHCP I'll give it a try but it doesn't seem likely. I can obtain
> > an IP with every machine on the network and when the connection does go down
> > it always manages to reconnect and obtain the same IP.
>
> Disconnects several times a minute is too often to be something simple
> like a power-save mode kicking in, and there are supposed to be
> mechanisms in the 802.11 protocol to prevent mutual interference from
> "two [802.11g units] next to each other." Just in case, you might try
> turning off the old one and see if the new one still drops frequently.
>
> On the other hand, there are a lot of other sources of interference in
> the 2.4GHz band: microwave ovens, cordless phones, and Bluetooth
> devices, to name a few. You don't happen to have one of the "pre-N"
> wireless devices do you? Or maybe there's one nearby. Those are known to
> cause problems.
>
> Try moving the new computer a little bit. Unless it's in exactly the
> same location and orientation as the old one, you can't draw any
> conclusions about interference or lack thereof. The wavelength of
> 2.4GHz (used for 802.11G) is less than 5 inches -- it doesn't take much
> of a move to change what the antenna sees. And even if you exactly
> duplicated the location and orientation, the new card undoubtedly has
> different antenna characteristics and different sensitivity to
> intereference.
>
> You can try looking in EventViewer (Start > Run > eventvwr) and see if
> there's anything going on. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to tell you,
> other than you may have a flakey card.
>

Thanks for the help. I tried turning off the DHCP and gave it a static IP
and there hasn't been a problem so far.

Obviously because of the lack of a rhythm to the disconnection it's
impossible to say the problem has gone completely. If it comes back I'll try
moving it around. I went from a USB adaptor to a PCI card so the antenna has
moved almost a metre so there may be a possiblity that it could be the
problem.