Frequent Router disconnection

[MBuzzy]

My wife's computer is having a problem. She had no problems like this before I renamed my Router's SSID. It had happened before at my Parent's house on the same brand and type of router. Basically, her computer disconnects from the internet about every 2-5 minutes.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[jks9199]

Have you updated the router firmware? Is her computer properly registered with whatever firewall's and security you're using?

I know that somehow, my wife's laptop will occasionally cause mine to have a fit and I need to repair the connection, via Windows utilities. I kind of suspect it's in part because she just insists on using AOHELL... despite having high speed access via cable.

 

[MBuzzy]

No, I haven't. I was kind of putting off updating firmware, since everytime that I try to make any changes to the router, her computer seems to crash. I'm worried that if I install new firmware, I won't be able to go back and undo the installation.

I'm currently on live chat with a non english speaking tech support person who is running a checklist. Badly. It is kind of funny when they ask the exact same questions as the automated help system. The one that doesn't work.

 

[MBuzzy]

I would just like to add that talking to a linksys customer service person through the chat is kind of like talking to a 3 year old who can barely read, barely write, has a 12 second memory, and knows less about computers than I do....which is difficult.

So far I've told him my operating system 4 times. Had to restate the problem 3 times and it took 8 minutes to get a yes or no answer. I love outsourcing.

 

[wushu2004]

Maybe there is an IP conflict. I can still be connected to my router (wired or wireless) but nothing on the internet works. One time a message saying that there was an internal IP conflict on the network. So I went into my network adapter's properties, and set the IP address to the highest one my router was configured to allow...

Hope that made sense.

 

[Andrew Green]

How is the connection strength? Is there a pattern to it in relation to other devices (ex, everytime someone using a cordless phone gets between the router and the PC it dies), is it the same amount of time everytime? Are there any other devices using the router?

 

[Sukerkin]

I would just like to add that talking to a linksys customer service person through the chat is kind of like talking to a 3 year old who can barely read, barely write, has a 12 second memory, and knows less about computers than I do....which is difficult.

So far I've told him my operating system 4 times. Had to restate the problem 3 times and it took 8 minutes to get a yes or no answer. I love outsourcing.

I so empathise with that. I once had to phone the 'helpless' line for NTL when a friend of my missus had broadband fitted. Two hours of me on the phone to a lass in India as she time and again went through the 'checklist' they have which is an exact reprint of the manual :grr:.

At each step I was telling her, "No, it's not the software that's the problem - I fixed your glitched installer . No, it isn't anything wrong with the PC, I've checked it out and everything is updated to the latest stable drivers. No, we haven't got the cables mixed up and yes I powered everything up in the right order. What is the problem is that the cable modem is faulty."

In the end I had to get heated, tell her what I do for a living and insist that they had an engineer come around and replace the unit. She still prevaricated but in the end agreed. Can anyone guess where the problem lay? :lol:.

 

[MBuzzy]

How is the connection strength? Is there a pattern to it in relation to other devices (ex, everytime someone using a cordless phone gets between the router and the PC it dies), is it the same amount of time everytime? Are there any other devices using the router?

Nope, everything worked fine before I changed the SSID last night. We both have full signal strength. Her computer just drops the connection every few minutes. It varies.....sometimes it is 2, sometimes up to 14 (that was our max last night. ).
Yep, our Vonage phone uses it and the TiVo uses it. I just had to switch the order that the Vonage router and Linksys router were connected. It now goes from Cable modem to Linksys router, to Vonage (as a device hard wired into the router). The TiVo is also a device off of the router. Then our two computers are connected wirelessly.

 

[Sukerkin]

If you changed the SSID and the problem showed up, what happens if you default the modem again? If the problem goes away then the likely problem is either that the firmware needs updating (it's usually very quick and painless) or that someone in the area is using the same SSID. Another alternative is that you have a channel clash so try changing that a few times and see if things clear up.

The best alternative of course is to buy a Netgear wireless router rather than the flaky Linksys offerings :lol:.

EDIT: Did a quick net search and found this which covers a lot of the usual suspects type of ground:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080529090943AA1Tvw1

 

[Kacey]

If you changed the SSID and the problem showed up, what happens if you default the modem again? If the problem goes away then the likely problem is either that the firmware needs updating (it's usually very quick and painless) or that someone in the area is using the same SSID. Another alternative is that you have a channel clash so try changing that a few times and see if things clear up.

The best alternative of course is to buy a Netgear wireless router rather than the flaky Linksys offerings :lol:.

EDIT: Did a quick net search and found this which covers a lot of the usual suspects type of ground:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080529090943AA1Tvw1

I dunno about that; I've been using the same Linksys router for 4 or 5 years now, and I've never had any trouble with it.

The last time I had to call customer service on a computer, I asked for someone on my own continent... much to my shock, I was transferred to a guy in Cleveland who fixed, in 5 minutes, what the idiot in India couldn't fix in 2 hours. So you might try that - sometimes it works.

 

[Sukerkin]

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-154613.html

http://www.ocforums.com/archive/index.php/t-238391.html

http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2007/01/26/netgear-vs-linksys/

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=685749

Hmmm ... seems to be a mixed bag of opinions on this one ...

...

... I was just feebly joshing, Kacey . I think perhaps I would've been clearer on that if I'd used as the smiley rather than :lol:.

Very good point about requesting a customer service person from your own country - I never would've thought of that.

 

[MJS]

My wife's computer is having a problem. She had no problems like this before I renamed my Router's SSID. It had happened before at my Parent's house on the same brand and type of router. Basically, her computer disconnects from the internet about every 2-5 minutes.

Anyone have any ideas?

I was having similar issues and yes, its frustrating. Mine was caused by some interuption with the signals, so we installed a filter. If you have an alarm system, that would be something that could cause issues.

Of course it could also be a bad router, modem, etc.

Actually now that you mention it, it may have something to do with you making those changes.

 

[Shicomm]

I guess it involves a problem when working wireless ?
Maybe it's worth a try to see if the problem remains when it's wired.

Witch model linksys is in use ?
I'm familiar with vague linksys issues but that's only with certain models.

 

[MBuzzy]

Its a WRT300N, wiring in directly solves the problem, so the issue is only when we're connecting wirelessly.

 

[Andrew Green]

What happens when you change your wireless settings? New SSID, change enryption method, channel, etc.

 

[MBuzzy]

Well, first off, anytime that I change any settings, it crashes the computer - blue screen. then we have to disconnect the router, change the settings back, and restart the computer. Sometimes, it works, sometimes it crashes again as soon as I try to reconnect to the internet.

 

[MBuzzy]

Fun new note. Somehow, in all of this, it has affected the settings on my Vonage internet phone. Everytime I pick up the phone, it drops the wireless connection. I'm on the phone with Vonage customer service....and get this....he speaks ENGLISH!!! AND doesn't treat me like a five year old - like, actually acknowledges what I'm telling him and responds like a normal human, not like a robot reading a checklist.

Although, he just got stumped and went up to the third level of tech support. First level spoke something other than english, could barely understand her, she tried two checklist items, and transferred me.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Last June I was offline for a month while Verizon screwed around with the wires in my area. Spent alot of time getting the go-around with their phone support. They kept insisting it was my router...even after I took the laptop and their modem outside and plugged in direct. After weeks of BS, I finally found a tech who had a clue, who took the 3 hours needed to go through every possible router setting to find a fix. Mind you, each insistance that it was my router came with an offer to sell me a new one....

That router's been running rock fn solid for a year now....the one their said was fried last year.




Couple things you could try:
- Reinstall or update the driver for the wireless on the laptop.
- Delete then Create a new connection.

Bout all I can think of before coffee.

 

[MBuzzy]

Last June I was offline for a month while Verizon screwed around with the wires in my area. Spent alot of time getting the go-around with their phone support. They kept insisting it was my router...even after I took the laptop and their modem outside and plugged in direct. After weeks of BS, I finally found a tech who had a clue, who took the 3 hours needed to go through every possible router setting to find a fix. Mind you, each insistance that it was my router came with an offer to sell me a new one....

That router's been running rock fn solid for a year now....the one their said was fried last year.




Couple things you could try:
- Reinstall or update the driver for the wireless on the laptop.
- Delete then Create a new connection.

Bout all I can think of before coffee.

Was it Paul? Once I got through the robot first level tech assist, the second guy I got was awesome. I was on the line for an hour trying to work it. The best part is that it was a conversation, we both had ideas, he helped me implement and answer the questions I had. He actually listed to what I said (sounds like I'm dating him).

We think that the Vonage problem is based on them both working on 2.4Ghz, but can't check that without a hard wire phone, so I'm going to try to find one and call them back. But I got a direct line # is second level tech assist.

 

[Shicomm]

The infamous N series.... ; even the G models had the vague issues.
I've tested at various customers with the GL models , as for now those are the only models that don't have any issues on any connection ( noth dsl and cable )
Linux based seems to do the trick for linksys

Are there loads of other wlan networks around your location ?
Then EOP ( ethernet over power ) might help you out.
It comes at a cost but it works at any site where wlan is a pain in the *** and it's FAST...