Hi, I'm having ongoing issues with WinXP SP2 dropping my home WLAN connections. Depending on the client NIC, it can happen anywhere from a few times a day to every few minutes, and only under WinXP. I've left the Orinoco card attached, running under Linux, for days without issue.
I've got 4 different client NICs: Sony Vaio laptop with built-in Centrino PRO/Wireless 2200BG NIC, Microsoft MN-720 802.11g PC Card, D-Link DWL-650+
11b PC Card, and Lucent Orinoco Gold 11b PC Card. And I recently upgraded my AP from a Linksys WAP11 v1.1 to a Motorola WR850G.With the old WAP11, the Centrino and D-Link NICs would occasionally drop the connection and then immediately recover it. The Orinoco seemed to be better and wouldn't drop it; I didn't have the MN-720 at the time so that was not tested with the WAP11.
Now that I have the WR850G, I get a high rate of disconnects. The Centrino NIC is ridiculous, dropping the connection (and immediately recovering) about every 2-5 minutes. Things get progressively better with the D-Link and Orinoco, and the Microsoft adapter is the best, probably because it has a Broadcom chipset in it which is most compatible with the Broadcom chip in the WR850G. The MN-720 will only drop the connection 1-2 times per day.
I'm mostly interested in solving the Centrino issues, as that laptop is my main machine. In pursuit of a solution for it, I downloaded two updated drivers from Intel's site (an 8.x and a 9.x), and none helped. I've left it with driver v9.0.1.9 for now.
Other interesting facts:
- I've tried disabling WZC after establishing a connection, but this seems to have no effect for me.
- The profile for my home network is properly setup, with the proper WEP and authentication settings. And yes, 802.1x is disabled.
- If you leave up the Wireless Network Connection status window, you will see the speed progressively drop from 54mbps to 2 or 1mbps before it disconnects, even though signal strength is high!
- We have 5.8Ghz phones in the house (although I can't say what my neighbors have).
- I do live in a high-density area, and there are about 10 or so other wireless networks nearby. However, I'm careful to select channels to minimize interference. I try to re-scan my house every couple of months.
There are so many factors that can go into why wireless connections drop that I realize it is hard to diagnose. But surely someone else has encountered these issues. And there has to be a fix, or I don't think M$ will be doing themselves any favors by leaving this situation alone.
TIA, Jonathan