losing internet on one computer

[Jo-Anne]

Using WinXP on two computers on a wireless network in my home. In the
last few days, I've been losing my internet connection on one of the two
computers, and it's happening more and more frequently. Sometimes the
icon itself disappears, sometimes not. The only way to get the
connection back (I think) is to reboot.

The other computer is working fine, as is my iPad.

Any idea of why this is happening and what I can do about it?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

 

[philo]

Using WinXP on two computers on a wireless network in my home. In the
last few days, I've been losing my internet connection on one of the two
computers, and it's happening more and more frequently. Sometimes the
icon itself disappears, sometimes not. The only way to get the
connection back (I think) is to reboot.

The other computer is working fine, as is my iPad.

Any idea of why this is happening and what I can do about it?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

Is the one that loses the connection farther away from the wireless router?

It could be the orientation of the antenna.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Is the one that loses the connection farther away from the wireless router?

It could be the orientation of the antenna.

It's in the same place that it's been for three years--and it's just a
few feet away from the router. The computer that's working fine is
probably 30 or 40 feet from the router.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Is the router light for that cable on?
Unplug, count to 10 and replug the cable
Did that fix it?

You didn't say what you are running but in XP hit
start/settings/network connections and look at your network (LAN).
Is it connected?
Right click on it and click repair
Did that complete?
try the internet again.

This can be a bad network card.

I've been wondering if there's a network card that could be going bad.
I've been using this WinXP computer in this spot near the router for
three years, with only a wifi connection, no cable. Until this past
week, it was working fine. Then the internet connection was lost
occasionally--and in the last day much more frequently. It's been
working OK since last night, but the internet connection disappeared
several times during the day yesterday and the computer had to be
rebooted to get it back.

When it happens again, I'll check the network connections.

Thank you.

Jo-Anne

 

[Paul]

I've been wondering if there's a network card that could be going bad.
I've been using this WinXP computer in this spot near the router for
three years, with only a wifi connection, no cable. Until this past
week, it was working fine. Then the internet connection was lost
occasionally--and in the last day much more frequently. It's been
working OK since last night, but the internet connection disappeared
several times during the day yesterday and the computer had to be
rebooted to get it back.

When it happens again, I'll check the network connections.

Thank you.

Jo-Anne

I have an idea. It's Christmas time. Perhaps you received a
new electronics item of some sort ? Something which either
emits in the 2.4GHz band, or something which is actually
a Wifi device. Perhaps a new microwave oven (with leaky door),
a cordless phone for old fashioned copper telephony, some
other kind of wireless device.

Another possibility, is you got a new appliance with metal
body, added to the premises, and it is reflecting the
Wifi signal.

It's probably not interference from a neighbor running
a high power router, because all your Wifi could be
affected in that case.

*******

Some of the single chip Wifi solutions, they "burn out"
and the radio portion of the chip is no longer able to
produce full output. But that usually happens in a period
less than three years. If it's been OK for three years,
chances are the problem is elsewhere. A "good" Wifi design
uses several chips inside a metal can, with each chip type
being selected to do the best job for the function. When
everything is jammed into one chip, they try to do a radio
circuit at 2.4GHz or 5GHz, in CMOS logic gate transistors.
One of the symptoms can be, that people who review the
Wifi product, some say it sucks and some say it is OK<
implying a wide range of RF signal levels out of the
box (they're shipping even the units with weak output).
And then these go downhill in another three to six months
of usage.

If you have a USB3 card added to an older computer,
or just purchased a USB3 peripheral for a new computer
(one with built-in USB3), note that an Intel study shows
the actual USB3 cable and peripheral can put out RF noise.
It is sufficient to stop a Bluetooth wireless keyboard
dongle from working properly. Part of the testing for that
is to re-route the cable and re-locate the peripheral, away
from the RF antenna on any other devices. Or stop using
USB3 entirely, and plug into a USB2 port instead.
You might suspect Intels motivation for releasing such
a report, but we can hope that it leads to better
designed USB3 disk enclosures. Ones with shielding.

Paul

 

[philo]

It's in the same place that it's been for three years--and it's just a
few feet away from the router. The computer that's working fine is
probably 30 or 40 feet from the router.

Jo-Anne

Since it's just a few feet from the router, I would not even bother to
use WIFI...I'd just plug it in using a CAT-5 cable and be done with it.

 

[micky]

Since it's just a few feet from the router, I would not even bother to
use WIFI...I'd just plug it in using a CAT-5 cable and be done with it.

Isn't that going to be faster too?

I made one mediocre comparison between a cable and a USB wifi receiver
and it didn't run as fast on wifi, though maybe the USB receiver was
failing or overheating.

 

[philo]

Isn't that going to be faster too?

I made one mediocre comparison between a cable and a USB wifi receiver
and it didn't run as fast on wifi, though maybe the USB receiver was
failing or overheating.

It will not necessarily be faster but any machine I can connect directly
to my router...I do. Don't really use the wireless for anything but the
laptop.

 

[Andy]

It will not necessarily be faster but any machine I can connect directly
to my router...I do. Don't really use the wireless for anything but the
laptop.

I agree with the recommendation to use a ethernet cable and bypass wifi.

In my experience the speed is a little faster.

Andy

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Jo-Anne wrote: []

What is this icon that is disappearing? I presume one in the system
tray.

The other computer is working fine, as is my iPad.

Any idea of why this is happening and what I can do about it?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne



Is the one that loses the connection farther away from the
wireless router?

It could be the orientation of the antenna.

It's in the same place that it's been for three years--and it's just a
few feet away from the router. The computer that's working fine is
probably 30 or 40 feet from the router.

Jo-Anne

[]
I've been wondering if there's a network card that could be going
bad. I've been using this WinXP computer in this spot near the router
for three years, with only a wifi connection, no cable. Until this
past week, it was working fine. Then the internet connection was lost
occasionally--and in the last day much more frequently. It's been
working OK since last night, but the internet connection disappeared
several times during the day yesterday and the computer had to be
rebooted to get it back.
When it happens again, I'll check the network connections.
Thank you.
Jo-Anne

I have an idea. It's Christmas time. Perhaps you received a
new electronics item of some sort ? Something which either
emits in the 2.4GHz band, or something which is actually
a Wifi device. Perhaps a new microwave oven (with leaky door),
a cordless phone for old fashioned copper telephony, some
other kind of wireless device.

Another possibility, is you got a new appliance with metal
body, added to the premises, and it is reflecting the
Wifi signal.

It's probably not interference from a neighbor running
a high power router, because all your Wifi could be
affected in that case.

That was _my_ first thought, but you're right, it would probably have
affected the rest of the wifi. Still, new neighbour's router (or
security camera, or ...) _could_ be positioned in such a way to just
affect the one device.
[]
I'd be inclined to agree with the others who've suggested using a cable
instead, but it'd be good to get to the bottom of this. A "who's using
what channel" utility would be good: IM (limited) E the free "Wifi
Analyser" on an Android smartphone (or, I presume, tablet) is the nicest
such, and also has the advantage that it's easy to move around to check
what is strongest where (apparently you won't get anything similar on an
Apple 'phone that hasn't been rooted because Apple block such hardware
access); for XP computers, NirSoft's WirelessNetView's excellent, though
not as instantly understandable as the Android one.

If you do find a new strong signal, just changing the channel your
router works on may fix things; although they can be set to AUTO and I
think are supposed to pick the best channel when they are, IME they
rarely do a good job, and AFAIK never change once they've chosen. In UK,
nearly everything seems to be on channels 1, 6 or 11, apparently
because those channels are far enough apart not to interfere with each
other; however, selecting one in between may still be of benefit
(switching ours here to 3 seems to have done so; no-one else in range is
using 3).

 

[Jo-Anne]

Using WinXP on two computers on a wireless network in my home. In the
last few days, I've been losing my internet connection on one of the two
computers, and it's happening more and more frequently. Sometimes the
icon itself disappears, sometimes not. The only way to get the
connection back (I think) is to reboot.

The other computer is working fine, as is my iPad.

Any idea of why this is happening and what I can do about it?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

Thank you, everyone! I've filed your posts for reference and am ready to
use a cable if needed. However, everything has been working OK for the
last two or three days.

When I said my other computer and my iPad on the same network had
internet service when this computer didn't, I should have added that the
internet radio I listen to on the second computer was "burping" a lot
and the internet on it and the iPad was very slow at times. A friend who
is a programmer suggested that the different computers could be reacting
differently to something external happening with the internet. Two other
friends said that there were major slowdowns of the internet around
Christmas.

I'm hoping this was a temporary glitch.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

 

[philo]

Thank you, everyone! I've filed your posts for reference and am ready to
use a cable if needed. However, everything has been working OK for the
last two or three days.

When I said my other computer and my iPad on the same network had
internet service when this computer didn't, I should have added that the
internet radio I listen to on the second computer was "burping" a lot
and the internet on it and the iPad was very slow at times. A friend who
is a programmer suggested that the different computers could be reacting
differently to something external happening with the internet. Two other
friends said that there were major slowdowns of the internet around
Christmas.

I'm hoping this was a temporary glitch.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

No, the Internet did not experience "major slowdowns" around Christmas
and the one who suggested external interference due to Christmas
decorations was "Paul" on the above thread.