Wireless stops, has to be reset again & again

[tharpdevenport]

I apologize if this is the wrong subforum.


My friend has a computer and a laptop. He has a wireless sender in the house to get internet signal for his lapto; the computer is out in another part of the house. The router is plugged into the wireless and a cable going from the wireless to the computer gives the computer it's internet.


Things have been relatively fine up until about a week ago. Suddenly the the laptop (and a Kindle) can't connect to the internet. I have to manually unplug the wirelss and the cables from it, wait, plug it back in, then plug the cables back in and the laptop then can access the internet. But for some unknown reason (i'm not an expert here), it just suddenly stops whenever I feels like it any time of hte day they go back on, it may or may not get on.

Sometimess, though rarer, he'll loose internet on the main computer, even though it only goes threw the wireless from the router.

No new software or hardware, except adwcleaner (something BleepingComputer.com recommends to it's forum users) since he stupidly clicked on some crap and I had to fix the computer.


Maybe a power outtage screwed thigns up, maybe the new neighbor has something disrupting hte signal or is stealing internet -- who knows, certainly not me. What is going on here? How can I fix this?

 

[Mossiac]

Being that the issue is across multiple devices, multiple operating systems and multiple ways of connection, I would say that the router is up the crapper.
So with this in mind I would recommend getting hold of another router and testing it out. If things are good then buy a new router.

Mossiac

 

[jmacavali]

Agreed, sounds like the router is bad.

 

[dude_56013]

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and say that it does sound like the router is taking a dump on you. I know from experience. I've gone through two routers that all resulted in having to be power cycled almost daily at the end of their lives. Sadly, they only lived for 12 months to begin with...

 

[BK_123]

What brand is the router?

 

[tharpdevenport]

The router says Arris. But the indicator lights don't stop, so there is no indication the connect has stopped. And if I unplugg the internet cable fro mthe back of the computer and plug it back in, I get internet again until the next time it stops suddenly.

 

[tharpdevenport]

No, sorry, the modem is Arris. The router is a Cisco; all lights on.

 

[Celegorm]

All the lights being on don't really mean it's running OK, just that it's got a solid connection. It does not guarantee that anything is being sent/sent properly across that connection. Having to force a disconnect/reconnect like that indicates something within the router isn't working as it should since it's an issue on all devices.

The way I see this is you can do 1 of 2 things to debug this and correct it. First, you can simply get a new router that has wireless built in so he doesn't need to use an extra device for that as you've described. I happen to prefer Asus routers as they're pretty powerful and dependable for the money.

Second you could set your current router back to factory default setting and then update the firmware to the latest revision and see how that goes. If the router is truly on it its way out, this might only give temporary relief from the problem.

 

[MMM]

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and say that it does sound like the router is taking a dump on you. I know from experience. I've gone through two routers that all resulted in having to be power cycled almost daily at the end of their lives. Sadly, they only lived for 12 months to begin with...

Why would they have to be powered cycled daily, do you mean switching on & off? just leave them switched on.
For a Router to die after 12 months means you have a serious problem somewhere.
I have a router that is early 10 years old & going strong.

---------- Post added at 07:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 PM ----------

The router says Arris. But the indicator lights don't stop, so there is no indication the connect has stopped. And if I unplugg the internet cable fro mthe back of the computer and plug it back in, I get internet again until the next time it stops suddenly.

Might pay to go to your routers manufacturers website & see if they have a firmware update available & apply it.
This I have done twice when I have experienced problems with mine in which firmware updates have fixed it.

Cheers.