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Author Topic: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.  (Read 13557 times)

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bf514

    Topic Starter


    Greenhorn

    Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
    « on: August 18, 2010, 10:54:03 PM »
    I have a Latitude D810 running Windows XP. My wifi connection will cut out and reconnect anywhere from a few times a minute to about five minutes.  Most of the time it connects back in a few seconds, but sometimes requires me to reboot to get it to show back up.   My provider is ATT UVerse and the Dell uses Intel 2200bg and its client.

    The problem began about a week ago when everyone in my house lost internet and television.  We had the router reset and everything went back to normal for the television, but not the inernet.  It became sluggish and inconsistent.  That's also when my computer started having this disconnect issue.

    I called ATT and the guy told me it looked like my connection had a bridge and he would send someone to fix it.  The on-site guy told me that my internet was too fast because I'm 2000ft from their box.  He said he was going to slow down our connection and that would fix everything  ::).  Sounded pretty fishy, but I went with it.

    Believe it or not, this fixed nothing.  At this point I'm beginning to think my computer must be the problem.  The internet is slow for everyone, but I'm the only one disconnecting like mad. 

    I've updated my Intel drivers, run a Microsoft Security Essentials full scan (found a couple "exploits" that it deleted, but had no affect on my problem), then ran it again in Safe Mode.  No help. 

    Can a wireless card die?  Is the ATT problem we had just a timing coincidence?  Maybe there's a virus my scanner didn't find?  Any help would be appreciated.

    grandpa_simpson

    • Guest
    Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
    « Reply #1 on: August 19, 2010, 10:14:52 AM »
    What's the make/model of the router ? 


    You say other people in the house have a slow connection, and yours disconnects frequently ?  If this is the case,  your router may need a firmware update.  Not hard to do.


    Either that, or every person in the house is having software problems, the former seems more likely but we'll see what we can do here.

    bf514

      Topic Starter


      Greenhorn

      Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
      « Reply #2 on: August 19, 2010, 10:50:43 AM »
      It's a 3800HGV-B 2-Wire.

      The other computers are a newer HP and a home built desktop (not my machines so I'm not very familiar with them, sorry) and I pulled out an old Inspiron 600m we hadn't used in a while.  All these do connect just fine, but do go through bad lag times and slow speed more often than we're used to.

      Strangely, I'm the closest to the router and have the most problems!

      grandpa_simpson

      • Guest
      Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
      « Reply #3 on: August 19, 2010, 11:40:33 AM »
      I've been all over the 2Wire site and cannot find firmware downloads anywhere.  According to the user manual for your router, upgrading the firmware requires logging into the router (of course) then specifying a location in Windows where the firmware file is stored, and the update manager will will take care of the rest.

      Look on page 67 of the manual here:
      http://www.scribd.com/doc/3849281/3800HGVB-Uverse-Router-Userguide



      Contact 2Wire support for info. on how to download the latest firmware file..

      http://www.2wire.com/?p=97

      bf514

        Topic Starter


        Greenhorn

        Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
        « Reply #4 on: August 19, 2010, 03:36:30 PM »
        I'll do some reading.

        grandpa_simpson

        • Guest
        Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
        « Reply #5 on: August 19, 2010, 05:35:03 PM »
        You don't have to read the entire manual, just contact 2Wire support and see if they've got a firmware update available for your router...give them the make and model.  If they do, then check out page 67 on the manual for instructions on how to install the firmware update..

        bf514

          Topic Starter


          Greenhorn

          Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
          « Reply #6 on: August 20, 2010, 04:58:05 PM »
          2Wire Support told me that they don't really do firmware updates and that usually whatever the router comes with is what is gets.  He also said that my router is ATT exclusive, so they'd be the best people to call.  So now we know why the 2Wire website doesn't have firmware downloads - there aren't any.

          Something else I might point out is the errors that I get when I'm disconnected or can't connect.  It's "Authentication failed due to incorrect security password (key)" or "Network is out of range."  I'm usually less than ten feet away from the router in the same room or just a few feet away from it in the next room.

          I'm about to call ATT and see if I can get a better explanation from them than "Your internet is too fast.  We'll slow it down."

          Any other ideas?  Thanks for your help so far, Abe.

          grandpa_simpson

          • Guest
          Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
          « Reply #7 on: August 20, 2010, 05:31:51 PM »
          When you say other systems in your house are "slow" and it's not only your computer that is having a problem I'm inclined to think that your ISP service is buggy or the router is having issues.

          Too bad the modem is built into the router, we could remove the router and connect directly to the modem which would isolate the problem to either the ISP or the router.


          Doesn't seem like we have many options at this point.  I guess we can try a different approach.  It is possible that the other systems in the hosue are experiencing software problems so we could start with 1 computer and try making it work, and move on to the next one, and so on..

          Let's start with your laptop, restart the laptop in tap the F8 key until you see "Advanced boot options"..  Select "Safe Mode with Networking"  When it boots up, try connecting to your access point and see if it works...     If not, we'll have to try selecting a different wireless channel in your router is to use for wi-fi ( you may be getting interference from other access points)

          bf514

            Topic Starter


            Greenhorn

            Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
            « Reply #8 on: August 20, 2010, 06:48:33 PM »
            A new tech from ATT confirmed that my line was jacked up.  It was also confirmed that my internet had been reduced from the 6mb/s connection that I'm paying for (though billing never heard about it, so I was paying the high speed price for the low speed service). 

            The other computers in the house are now running from 5.7 to 6.2 mb/s as opposed to the 1.5 to 2.1 that we've been experiencing.  The people I talked to today couldn't imagine why the guy slowed my internet down when I complained of slow, glitchy connections, so they ran some tests and apparently fixed a good number of things that were wrong.  Fantastic.

            Except that my Latitude still has the same problem as before.  It's just disconnecting from fast internet every couple minutes instead of painfully slow internet.

            Am I mistaken in thinking that Safe Mode doesn't work for wireless internet connections?  I was under the impression that you could only use a direct connection with Safe Mode's networking.  I can see if I've got a cord around here to try the internet in Safe Mode.

            grandpa_simpson

            • Guest
            Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
            « Reply #9 on: August 20, 2010, 07:15:25 PM »


            Am I mistaken in thinking that Safe Mode doesn't work for wireless internet connections? 

            Yes.  If you boot into "safe mode with networking", wi-fi works just as well as cables...

            bf514

              Topic Starter


              Greenhorn

              Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
              « Reply #10 on: August 20, 2010, 07:52:11 PM »
              My wifi makes no attempt to connect in Safe Mode with networking.  There's no icons for it in the tray, no browsers will find the internet, and the Intel Pro client shows it as disabled with the option to enable grayed out.  The FN/F2 button has no effect and while it doesn't show up as disabled in the Device Manager, enabling/disabling it has no effect.  Either way, it's not even attempting wifi in Safe Mode.

              However, I have an old 3ft piece of cat-5 and it works great (with no apparent interruptions so far) in both Safe Mode with networking and normal Windows.  This would lead me to believe I'm having problems with the wifi on the laptop's end.  The whole ATT service thing was a problem, but apparently just a decoy to distract from the real problem.

              Can wireless cards get old and just start cutting out like this?

              grandpa_simpson

              • Guest
              Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
              « Reply #11 on: August 20, 2010, 08:11:56 PM »
              My wifi makes no attempt to connect in Safe Mode with networking.  There's no icons for it in the tray, no browsers will find the internet, and the Intel Pro client shows it as disabled with the option to enable grayed out. 


              Look in Control Panel.   Wifi DOES works in Safe Mode.  It just doesn't work the same way as in normal mode.  It varys depending on the make/model of the laptop

              Quote
              This would lead me to believe I'm having problems with the wifi on the laptop's end. 

              I could have told you that a long time ago.    The only thing a cable is good for is connecting to the router to reconfigure it, if you are unable to do so in wi-fi, or, determining that you have a working Internet connection.  The other computers are able to connect to the Internet so the Internet IS working..


              At any rate, it's not that important to see if wifi work in safe mode with networking, it only serves as a basic referrence as to what the problem could be.  If it works in Safe Mode then it means that you have a software problem.

              Connect with a cable and try updating the driver for the wifi adapter.  If that doesn't work, download and run winsockFIX from the following link, run it and restart, see if that works..

              http://majorgeeks.com/WinSock_XP_Fix_d4372.html

              Do this in normal mode


              edit: try using a different wireless channel/s in the router, if neither of these things work.  Try different channels... Either 1, 6, or 11




              rthompson80819



                Specialist

                Thanked: 94
              • Experience: Experienced
              • OS: Windows 7
              Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
              « Reply #12 on: August 20, 2010, 09:30:16 PM »
                The on-site guy told me that my internet was too fast because I'm 2000ft from their box. 

              As I'm sure you have figured out, that guy didn't have a clue what he was talking about.  There's no such thing as too fast.  That guy was just too lazy to trouble shoot the real problem.

              grandpa_simpson

              • Guest
              Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
              « Reply #13 on: August 20, 2010, 09:44:17 PM »
              heh heh

              I hate waiting for my Internet service to get up and running when the ISP has some issue, especially after I move.  I don't like being disconnected for more than a few days.  I use the Internet for a variety of things.  I'll go to the local library and get online if I have to.

              bf514

                Topic Starter


                Greenhorn

                Re: Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting.
                « Reply #14 on: August 21, 2010, 12:18:06 AM »
                Alright, the drivers were already current as that was one of the first things I did when I tried to fix it myself.  The Winsock Fix was also ineffective.

                BUT changing to channel 6 has kept me connected for a few straight hours now.  Thanks!

                And yeah, rthompson, I figured that out pretty quickly.