Recently, for whatever reason, my Linksys wireless router has been farting out on me. I'll be connected fine, then the little pop-up in the bottom right corner saying "wireless connection unavailable" will pop up, the as SOON as that goes away, another one saying "multiple wireless connections available" will pop up. Every time it does this, the connection is lost and I have to reestablish it before proceeding. There's another wireless network in my apartment building that I can connect to (guess it's a neighbors or something), but I don't want to. I have it set up so they can't connect to mine...I don't want to connect to theirs...unless I'm outside...I'll borrow it for a few min if I'm in the parking lot or something. Could this other WLAN be interfering with mine? How can I make my 'puter stay connected to MY WLAN until I tell it to connect to the other one?
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Wireless on the fritz.
- Thread starter Rmp5s
- Start date
which wireless software program are you using to establish your link? ... linksys or Windows?
If you use Windows as your wireless connection program ... right-click your wireless network connection>>select change advanced settings>>open wireless networks tab>>add>>unselect "the key is provided for me automatically">>manually enter in your wireless information (ssid & wep key).
By doing this, you ensure that every time you're within range of your wireless network, your laptop will automatically connect to it first ... without any further configuration.
Another key thing you might consider is using MAC address filtering ... which basically tells your wireless router that only pc's with specifically entered MAC addresses are to be accepted by the router as authorized pc's. Even if someone knows your SSID and WEP, they won't be able to connect because their MAC address isnt listed in the router.
These steps may or may not resolve your problem of random disconnects, but it certainly won't hurt. It certainly will give your pc direction as to which wireless router it should be connecting to.
You also might try changing the channel on your router to a different channel ... at least different from the one your neighbor's router is using. You can use a program such as NetStumbler to find out information about your neighbor's router ... mainly the channel its running on.
One last thing ... you mentioned that you've done all you can to keep others from using your router ... that's good. Consider disabling broadcasting of your SSID. And the mac filtering will help you in this as well. If you're not sure how this is done ... let me know and Ill lend a hand. Good luck.
If you use Windows as your wireless connection program ... right-click your wireless network connection>>select change advanced settings>>open wireless networks tab>>add>>unselect "the key is provided for me automatically">>manually enter in your wireless information (ssid & wep key).
By doing this, you ensure that every time you're within range of your wireless network, your laptop will automatically connect to it first ... without any further configuration.
Another key thing you might consider is using MAC address filtering ... which basically tells your wireless router that only pc's with specifically entered MAC addresses are to be accepted by the router as authorized pc's. Even if someone knows your SSID and WEP, they won't be able to connect because their MAC address isnt listed in the router.
These steps may or may not resolve your problem of random disconnects, but it certainly won't hurt. It certainly will give your pc direction as to which wireless router it should be connecting to.
You also might try changing the channel on your router to a different channel ... at least different from the one your neighbor's router is using. You can use a program such as NetStumbler to find out information about your neighbor's router ... mainly the channel its running on.
One last thing ... you mentioned that you've done all you can to keep others from using your router ... that's good. Consider disabling broadcasting of your SSID. And the mac filtering will help you in this as well. If you're not sure how this is done ... let me know and Ill lend a hand. Good luck.
CrossCech said:which wireless software program are you using to establish your link? ... linksys or Windows?
Windows, I guess.
CrossCech said:If you use Windows as your wireless connection program ... right-click your wireless network connection>>select change advanced settings>>open wireless networks tab>>add>>unselect "the key is provided for me automatically">>manually enter in your wireless information (ssid & wep key).
Mine's already like that and has been like that.
CrossCech said:By doing this, you ensure that every time you're within range of your wireless network, your laptop will automatically connect to it first ... without any further configuration.
Another key thing you might consider is using MAC address filtering ... which basically tells your wireless router that only pc's with specifically entered MAC addresses are to be accepted by the router as authorized pc's. Even if someone knows your SSID and WEP, they won't be able to connect because their MAC address isnt listed in the router.
Done, done and done. Even though my puter and router has the WEP and all that stuff, it can still connect to the other network...just no one else can connect to mine. It used to work great. NOW...OUT OF THE BLUE...it decides to go spastic on me and disconnect and reconnect all the time and I don't know why. I don't know if the other wlan in the building started interfering with mine or if someone moved their microwave and it's distorting my signal (if that's even possible) or what. I already changed the channel on the router twice and it didn't help either. One more thing I'm going to try is moving my router to another place in the apt. Another thing I tried to do was log onto their router, assign a WEP key to it and not put that WEP key on my puter so my computer CAN'T log onto their router at all...they won't be able to, either, but oh well...they'll figure it out...this way, if it is their wlan that is messing mine up, the problem will be eliminated. They changed their password so I can't get into thier modem's setup screen.
You mention NetStumbler, which I'm DEFINATELY going to look into getting...is there any other cool software out there I should know about?
checked for firmware updates?
how long have you had this router?
perhaps your wireless card on your pc is going bad.
I agree with you that no one is stealing your bandwidth. It could be that your signal is being affected by cordless phones, cell phone signals.
But after reading your initial post again ... I get to thinking that maybe the wireless card in your pc isn't keeping up anymore ... is it 802.11b or g?
how long have you had this router?
perhaps your wireless card on your pc is going bad.
I agree with you that no one is stealing your bandwidth. It could be that your signal is being affected by cordless phones, cell phone signals.
But after reading your initial post again ... I get to thinking that maybe the wireless card in your pc isn't keeping up anymore ... is it 802.11b or g?
CrossCech said:checked for firmware updates?
how long have you had this router?
perhaps your wireless card on your pc is going bad.
I agree with you that no one is stealing your bandwidth. It could be that your signal is being affected by cordless phones, cell phone signals.
But after reading your initial post again ... I get to thinking that maybe the wireless card in your pc isn't keeping up anymore ... is it 802.11b or g?
It better not be my card, dammit. I haven't even had this comp a year.
Only had the router 4 months or so.
I don't remember if it's b or g...where can I find out.
to find out if its b or g ... what's the brand and model # of the router? Google it. Might even be on the router itself with something like "Wireless G" or the like.
Are you noticing your signal strength weakening/dropping happening at certain times of the day?
Are you noticing your signal strength weakening/dropping happening at certain times of the day?
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