Wireless Networking Question

[AUII_Forte]

Hey Guys,

I am having a problem with our wireless network. Hopefully someone will be able to help me out!

Here's what we have:

Compaq Desktop AMD Athlon 1.83Ghz Belkin 802.11g Wireless card and 10/100 LAN Card Win XP

Acer Desktop Intel Celeron 1.2Ghz 10/100 Lan Card Win XP

Compaq Laptop Intel Celeron M 1.5Ghz Inbuilt 802.11g wireless card Win XP

What's Happening:

We are running a wired LAN between the two desktops and a wireless LAN between the two Compaq PC's and a bridge between the networks as well as a shared ADSL connection on the Compaq desktop.

When the wireless network is connected everything works fine, but the network randomly drops out. Sometimes it's possible to reconnect by clicking "repair" in network properties on the laptop, but 90% of the time I have to disable the connection on the desktop pc and then re-enable it to get the network to come back online. When ever the laptop is started up I have to go through this procedure, it won't just connect automatically and stay connected. I'm pretty sure it's a settings problem on the desktop pc, but I have been through every setting possible and nothing appears to be incorrect. The computers are no more than 10m apart and the properties are saying that the signal strength is excellent, so it's not a signal problem. It's got me tearing my hair out, I just can't figure it out! Any ideas????

[Captain Stubing]

That's interesting, AUII_Forte, I've had the same sort of problem with my D-Link ADSL modem. If you keep active on the net (it's set up as a 'network' place) there's no problem. I was assuming there's a sleep option that's being activated after there's no activity for so long. The only way to fix my internet connection is to disable, then enable the connection.
I've had no luck finding any setting to change, either. Is it a Win XP Network problem?

[AUII_Forte]

Sounds similar, but the wireless connection will just drop out all of the sudden even if the connection is active. There is no set time between dropouts either, sometimes it'll be fine for a few hours, other times I'm pushing it to get 2 minutes. I don't have any problems with the ADSL or wired 10/100 connections, it's only the wireless. It's certainly got me buggered!

[the_scotsman]

Just a side note, PROBABLY not the issue here, but you may find if you have a cordless phone, and its in use, it may interfere with your wireless and cause connection problems.
Its hard to pinpoint what the exact problem that you are having is though...

[AUII_Forte]

Nah don't have a cordless phone at all, the PC's are less than 10m apart and in full line of sight. I don't really think there is anything else around that could be interfering with the signal.

[Captain Stubing]

Well, I've got a cordless phone hooked up on the same plug, but there still seems to be time-out issues, even when the phone hasn't been in use. I can't pin-point how long it is, sometimes it's just reading a long webpage, othertimes longer, so I think I may have the same random time problem.

[Captain Stubing]

Is it a signal problem, or XP timing-out the wireless network?

[Perana]

When i had my laptop i had the same problem.
I fixed it by updating the drivers and software.

[JAJH]

You might wanna assign each laptop and PC there own IP address eg: PC1 - 192.168.0.1, PC2 - 192.168.0.2, Laptop 1 - 192.168.0.3, etc