For a long time now I've been a staunch advocate of wired hardware, guaranteeing a solid and nigh-infallible link between one piece of equipment to another. Last week my friend's family were having a clearout and palmed one of their routers off on me, the wireless Belkin 54g. I figured I'd give it a go, just to see if wireless had any advantages.
The problem is thus: When I hook up the router to my (Orange) DSL line, the internet status light blinks off and on intermittently, indicating a faltering connection that never lasts longer than a few seconds before losing itself again. The standard modem that came when I upgraded from dialup to broadband works just fine, as evidenced by this post, which indicates that the fault does not lay within my DSL line.
I'm using a Ralink RT2500 wireless network card (also supplied by my friend, whom had it in tandem with the router before), and when I check in both the card's and the router's config programs, each suggests that they are quite happily communicating with each other (the router's network light also stays solid, indicating a steady connection).
The only issue is that blinking internet light on the router, indicating that it has the problem; a poor connection to my otherwise functional DSL line.
I'll add just one more bit thing I've discovered, and that is related to DNS. I'll be honest, I basically know nothing about DNS (I'm a hardware person more than software), but I do know this of my computer:
- When networking with a friend we encountered a minor hiccup, and my computer could not clear the DNS cache
- When using Windows Live Messenger's connection test feature, it also has trouble finding information on the DNS
- An internet search revealed that other users had problems with their DNS
I may be completely wrong, but it seems to me that logically there's a chance my affliction may be related to the DNS, whatever exactly that is and does.
I'm hoping someone on CH will be able to help, either from experience or just from a knowledge of this area. I've had a poke about the site's search and FAQ, but the only relevant pages didn't touch exactly upon my problem. I'll just do a quick shortlist of the most relevant info:
- Ralink RT2500 wireless LAN card
- Belkin 54g Wireless router
- Windows XP S2
- Norton Antivirus 2003 Professional Edition (subscribed, latest definitions installed)
