I have a customer with 6 desktops in a "Wireless Office Network" using Bellsouth's Netopia wireless router which appears to be dropping the connection.
I looked in the log and noticed the router resetting or rebooting at 2 A.M. in the morning and the computers not reconnecting to the network.
I even rebooted the router and re-did some of the config parameters on-site and noticed then that the computers did not reconnect. They said "CONNECTED" and even had a valid IP address and signal strength saids GOOD but no connection...got the "page cannot be displayed" screen.
In most cases for an extended period, I would check the computer's config and the IP address which I manually hardcoded in would come up as "0.0.0.0" after a couple of hours. I would either have to disconnect from the wireless network, or reboot the computers.
I even hardcoded the IP address into all the machines, bypassing the DHCP server and the same deal.
The computers run 24/7 are really never rebooted unless necessary.
All of the computers are doing the same thing and they are all running Windows XP HOME. There are at least 8 different wireless signals from other different routers or offices present in the vicinity (in the list of available wireless networks).
In one instance I notice the wireless cards in a couple of the computers actually DISABLING themselves and I would have to either successfully re-enable them or reboot the computers.
I was told that the computers would drop the wireless connection continuously at 15 to 20 minute intervals during the day but of course I'm not there to verify that.
I did notice that there was no password on the router and did put one in
- thinking someone could be hacking it and rebooting the wireless.
A server computer with a hardcoded ip address with a hardwired connection also located there does not appear to have any disconnection issues.
I hardcoded the ip address in order to eliminate the router's DHCP server as the culprit.
I find it hard though that all the computers would be doing the same thing and then not reconnecting when I am on site changing the router information after rebooting all of the computer just minutes earlier.
This points to a bad router even though bellsouth denies it but I just want a second opinion.
Any help would be appreciated.....