1. Home
  2. Wireless Networking
  3. Intermittent wireless problems

Intermittent wireless problems

I have a Dell Inspiron 1150 and a Netgear DG834G wireless router. The router is in one room and I generally work in an adjacent room a few metres away. Most of the time everything works fine but, occasionally, the wireless signal strength will drop a little, sometimes drop a lot, and sometimes drop away altogether. If I take the laptop back into the same room as the router then a few moments later the link strength will be restored and all will be fine - this always works. I have had this intermittent problem since I set up the router about 18 months ago.

I can't think of anything obvious that coincides with the signal dropping - for example it's not using the cordless phone, or turning on the dishwasher. I live in a detached house so I can't really blame the neighbours. It seems to be unpredictable.

I have upgraded the router firmware, and am thinking about upgrading the network adaptor. Any ideas?

Reply to
Graeme.freeman
Loading thread data ...

If the laptop is in a fixed location (not moving) when it does its fade, it's probably interference.

That's the normal pattern for recovering from a signal loss. It's not obvious from your description if walking to the room with the DG834G is required for the laptop to reconnect. Will the laptop eventually reconnect by itself if left in the adjacent room?

Without proper test equipment, interference is difficult to find and identify. Such interference doesn't need to be local and can be coming from outside the immediate area. Municipal wireless is a growing source of such interference. It may also be fairly local and only appear when a delivery truck reflects the signal. The interference can also be at the DG834G router, or at the laptop side.

Suggestions:

  1. Try different radio channels and see if it helps. 1, 6, and 11 in the US.

  1. If the router or the laptop is in front of a window, move them so that no interference directly through the window.

  2. Conduct a substitution test and try running with a borrowed laptop or a different borrowed router. It's remotely possible that there may be something defective with the hardware or firmware.

  1. Intel 2200BG cards seem to have a problem with slowing down and never recovering.
    formatting link
    'm not sure your Dell Inspiron 1150 has one of these.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Hi, Tried different channel? Or any appliance like A/C coming on/off? Tried orientation of router antenna like tilt up/down; vertical/horizontal, etc.? Try to locate router high up.(I leave my router on top of my desk top case with cable modem) Good luck, Tony

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Thanks for the advice, but so far no luck...

I've tried a different channel, fiddling with the antenna, raising the router and even moving the router to another part of the house. I've tried switching off the cordless phone as well. All make no difference. I still have the same problem... reception will always be fine when I am in the same room as the router, but in another part of the house reception will sometimes be fine but will sometimes vary and sometimes drop away completely for a period.

I live in an area of low-density housing in a rural village so I really doubt it's my neighbours or the authorities. We've only just got electricity round here ;-)

I will try upgrading my device driver (i've got a different problem here,

formatting link
.If this makes no difference i guess it's got to be a h/w fault?

Thanks for your input. G

Reply to
Graeme.freeman

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.