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[Hat]

I thought I'd throw this out there, see if anyone can help me with a problem I'm having. I have my desktop computer hooked up to the internet via a wireless card, and it has a habit of dropping out. Restarting tends to solve the problem temporarily, as does unplugging and plugging the wireless router back in but its only a matter of time until it drops out again and its bugging the shit out of me.

I know its not a weak signal from the router because one of my housemate's uses her laptop on the other side of the house without any problems through a closed door, and I'm only a few metres away from the router. I know its not the actual antenna on the wireless card because I switched it over with the antenna on another computer and it still works fine but mine keeps dropping out.

Did I get a dodgy card?  Am I missing something blatently obvious? I've tried using the software that came with my card and the default windows wireless software and it still insists on dropping out whenever it feels like it.

Can anyone shed some light on this issue?

[Hat]

Its a Netgear WG311 v3 802.11g wireless adapter. I can't find any specific information on this model repeatedly failing, but a google for it mostly just turned up sites selling them.

[Kana]

I'd go with what Tommy said since it seems to be a common problem with that card.  However, if all that fails you might want to try changing your wireless channel and seeing if that has any effect.  My router/modem or my card recently started doing the same thing.  My laptop wouldn't lose connection, but my desktop would.  I was trying to avoid common channels since I live in an apartment complex and theres at least 7 other wifi's in my range.  I changed from channel 1 to 6 and haven't had the problem since - I know that some of the older phone models with lower hertz (I think in the 1.8 range) are known to disrupt wifi modem/routers.

[Will]

I had a problem with my wireless router disconnecting every 30 or so hours a while ago. After trying everything else I could think of, I updated the firmware, and that seems to have fixed it. Check out the website for the manufacturer, they may have updates you can install. It might help.

[dennis]

in order to try to narrow the problem down try hooking up with twisted pair. if it works fine, then you can safely rule out the firewall.

make sure that your wireless settings aren't set up to glom onto the strongest wireless signal in the area and that it is locked to your own network.

structural items like doors and walls typically won't interfere with your signals unless they're made of metal or dense materials like stone or brick. If you've got an extension cord for the antenna, try moving it someplace completely different.

also, if you're running firewall software on your machine, it might be the cause of your problems. try turning off your software firewalls (windows firewall and whatever else). if your router has its own firewall, you don't need a software firewall.

Another thing it might be is someone spoofing (intentionally or not) your ip address for the purposes of getting access. Make sure your router is secured properly. MAC address filtering at the minimum, WEP/WPA if you care about packet sniffing. To check, just figure out what subnet your DHCP (assuming you're using it) assigns to and pick a random number in that rage. I.e. if your subnet is 192.168.1.x, and dhcp assigns from .2 to .100, try .153.

Anyway, if you're using a desktop, you'll get better, faster, and more consistent performance just using twisted pair.

[MlKE]

If you're using a desktop, and it's only a few meters away from your router, why not use an ethernet cable? You'll get somewhat faster down and up speeds, and the only time it'll go out is when your provider is fucking around with service (usually at like 3am) or someone on the street cuts a wire on accident.