Limited or No wireless connection

Periodically? Is it at regular intervals, which is the definition of periodic? Or is it at random intervals for random lengths of time? It sounds to me like an RF interference problem. Possibly another wireless system, microwave oven, or other source of 2.4GHz trash. If you could provide a better description of the timing, I can try to guess the source by the pattern.

Nope. That's not the problem. If you don't have connectivity, DHCP renewal will fail. Unless you turn on all three computers at the same time, there's no way that all three leases will require renewal at the same time. Also, the default lease time is one day so you should not be experiencing problems "periodically" if caused by DHCP issues. Methinks not.

Models of Linksys cards and D-Link card?

Try changing the RF channel in the WRT54G in case it's interference. You're choices are 1, 6, and 11.

How do you know that? That sounds quite unlikely because the router will only offer an address in response to a client requesting it and it's unlikely that they all do so at the same time. If you want to kill your theory, then assign a longer lease and I suspect you will still suffer the same problem.

What is more likely happening is some interference that is causing all clients to lose their RF connection, then what happens is that they re- associate and then you see a request for an IP address which is normal.

David.

Because a little box pops up and says I am unable to acquire a DHCP address??

Irregular intervals. No 2.4 phones. There are other networks that occasionally show up, all weak signals. Channel is NOT set to default, I believe I have it set at 6. Linksys cards are WMP54G, I don't remember the D-link card, (and at the moment don't want to open the case.) I don't think it is the cards since it affects both brands the same way. I don't even think it is the router per se, since this happened with my old router as well. (Fried a circuit on the old one somehow, one day it just didn't light up) Router plugged into Surge protector, as is other items, only router went bad.

I asked for more descriptive, not less. Approximate interval and duration in minutes. Does it coincide with meal times? Coincide with 15 minute commercial breaks? Are you near a cafeteria full of microwave ovens? Any TIVO boxes with wireless? Any 2.4GHz security cameras? Any 2.4Ghz cordless mice?

It doesn't have to be yours. I could be your neighbors. Is your wireless router perhaps sitting in a window with a good view of the neighborhood?

90% of the wireless access points are delivered configured for channel

1. Please try channel 1 or 11. If in UK, try 14.

OK. Good card. Comes in 4 different models. Check the power save settings on both cards. Some cards don't recover very gracefully when the computah goes into hibrination, sleep mode, power save, or wireless card power save (all these are different).

Assumption, the mother of all screwups.

Good clue. That's another reason why I suspect RF interference. If both the old and new routers were mostly working, then interference will affect them both equally.

I spend the better part of a day troubleshooting an erratic disconnect problem. Eventually, I discovered that the wireless router was rebooting. A little investigation uncovered a defective power strip that was very intermittant. Check your power please.

Which program is generating that error message? That's not the common error message delivered by Windoze XP SP2 Wireless Zero Config. However, that's just a curiousity item. There are only 2 things I know that can prematurely require a premature DHCP renewal without rebooting the computer. Interference won't do it.

1. The router reboots.
2. The wireless client radio or computah goes to sleep.

The WRT54G has the uptime on the status page. You can see if there have been any uncheduled reboots by monitoring the uptime.

Temporarily disable *ALL* the power save features in the wireless client computah and see if that magically fixes the problem.

I had a wrt54g (new) dropping wireless clients frequently and irregularily. I reinstalled the firmware and did a hard reset of the router. After that all was well.

Ian

Off line about 36 hours now, straight. Doesn't coincide with mealtimes, nearest microwave is downstairs in Kitchen, but doesn't seem to be related to MW usage. Commercials are boring, but not part of the problem. No cafeteria, no TIVO, no cameras, all phones are 5.4 Ghz. I do have a wireless mouse: Logitech MX700 now replaced with MX1000.

Can't answer re:Neighbors, only that we've never been able to eavesdrop on their conversations, one wireless network, occasionally picked up could be neighbor. Signal weak, and encrypted (not that means much in this setting that I know of.) Router is on streetside, but I've no choice in this matter. Channel is set to 9 Power save on all cards turned off How do I determine the "uptime" I can't find a setting/log for this? As far as I can tell neither router nor modem are spontaneously rebooting. Error message reads (paraphrasing) Windows could not repair your internet connection because it could not complete the following action. Windows could not renew the IP address. Please contact your system administrator(that me, and I haven't kept anyone off as far as I can tell.)

had a similar problem, was due to other wireless access points nearby sharing same channel, fixed by changing the channel via the admin setup page, e.g. at 192.168.1.1 or 2.1 etc

apparently there is some kind of bug related to the protocol grabbing one of the undesired access points instead of your preferred access point

there seem to be numerous network bugs in XP connectivity software in general as well

I have a feeling I'm reading this wrong. Does this mean that it fails to connect every time you've tried it over the last 36 hours? Or does it mean that you've been experiencing random connection failures over the last 36 hours with occasionally successful connections?

Ok, that eliminates most local sources of interference. Please note that some models of 5.2GHz cordless phones use 2.4GHz on one direction. I vaguely recall that it's the handsets that transmit

2.4Ghz and receive on 5.2GHz but may have it backwards. Also, some cordless phone bases transmit continuously, even when the handset is in the on hook position. Pull the plug on the base and see if that's the problem.

I couldn't determine what frequency it's running on, but it probably is not 2.4Ghz.

If they're not broadcasting their SSID, you won't see any nearby wi-fi access points.

Channel 9 is roughly half way between channel 6 and 11. The wi-fi signal is approximately 5 channels (25MHz) wide. If there are nearby access points running on channels 6 or 11, you will get interference from both. I suggest you stay with the recommended 1, 6, and 11 or 14 in the UK.

What about power save, hibernate, and standby on the computer?

I'm using a WRT54G but with Sveasoft Alchemy firmware. My "status" page shows the uptime. However, I guess you're using the official Linksys firmware, which might not have this feature.

Rebooting the modem would not cause a premature DHCP renewal. Only the router can sometimes (not always) do that. Usually, it's the client that asks for a new DHCP address. The reason I'm emphasizing the possibility is that your symptoms of not getting a new DHCP address after a connection drop do not make sense unless either the client initiates the DHCP request, or the server (router) reboots.

That's the message you get when you select "Repair" from the right click menu on the Windoze XP SP2 Wireless Zero Config icon. Is that what you're doing? Repair does *NOT* mean re-connect. The correct procedure is to "Show Available Networks", select your wireless SSID, and hit "connect". Both Connect and Repair will attempt to renew the DHCP address which apparently is failing for some reason.

What else are you doing that you're not disclosing? From your descriptions, I'm having difficulties guessing what you're doing, and what's happening.

Could you explain what you mean by "drop off the network" as in your original question? If it means loss of internet connectivity, are you

*SURE* that it's not a problem at the ISP, and that you're trying to fix it with the WZX Repair feature? More specifically, does the "limited or no connection error" happen *AFTER* you do something with Windoze?

"Here's the problem: all three periodically drop off the network with the limited or no connection error. From time to time they will just as suddenly re-connect, and work fine."

Let's pretend that there's nothing wrong with the wireless and that my guess as to decoding the symptoms and actions are correct. Next time you have a good connection followed by all computers "dropping off the network", try this experiment. Do NOT do the Repair thing: Start -> Run -> cmd ipconfig Does it show a proper IP address? If yes, you don't need a new one. If 169.254.xxx.xxx, then something caused the clients to demand a new IP address. This would be rather weird and uncommon. My guess is still a power save timeout at the client.

Next, see if you can talk to the router with: ping 192.168.1.1 If you get proper responses, your wireless connection is intact and functional.

Next try to ping the other computers on your LAN. They should be

192.168.1.100 and up. Get the IP addresses with ipconfig in advance so you're ready to try this. If you have a firewall in place, it may prevent ping from working.

Next, try to ping something on the internet. The obvious starting place would be the gateway IP at your ISP to see if the cable modem or Cox is down. However, that might change periodically. Grab the IP address of the gateway from the WRT54G status page. Also ping some common web sites such as

If that doesn't work, try pinging them by IP address (you'll have to get the IP address when it's working and write it down in advance). If that fails, go yell at Cox support.

The idea is to isolate what part of your connection puzzle is failing.

I just had that same exact error message, using free WiFi while staying at the LaQuinta in Sacramento. It was a router issue. Access was spotty, come and go, then nothing. Disconnecting and trying to "repair" wouldnt fix it. When it was connected, it had good signal strength.

I was wondering if there was a set number of conection limit hit, and it would drop.

Off line means No connection via wireless only. I cant hit the Connect button ( unless I disconnect first) since I'm connected but don't have a DHCP address. I have to repair or disconnect/ reconnect (which is what repair seems to do anyway,) One computer was online for about 15 minutes after a "repair" but then dropped off. Another computer was offline then suddenly was online for a while before dropping off. No problem with ISP since wired computers online 24/7. I do see neighbors wireless connections("Phoenix-house", "Dorsey" but no bars and we can't connect via their routers.) Pinged two of the wireless computers, one timed out and no data received, one sent back data packet, but is still "offline."

Will change to Channel 14 (but I'm US)

Oops no Channel 14, trying channel 11

Red herring.