Really slow and spotty wireless <UPDATED!!!>

BurntOrangeOrder

BurntOrangeOrder

100+ Posts
I'm completely lost on this one. About one week ago my wireless connection went out on me. I checked with my roomates to see how there's was, and it was fine on their end. I tried to see if my provider could help out, but their customer service sucks and I have to always get the account info from the roomate who has it. All I could do was troubleshoot from my computer, and the best I could get was that my antennae was having a really hard time connecting. It would notice the network, but it said little or no connection. I tried everything.

Then just now, a miracle happened. It started working again out of the blue. I don't think I will ever turn off my computer now. It's incredible.

The problem is that I still don't what happened, and I don't know how to fix it? I never had a problem for almost a month, and then nothing for almost a week. I'll be out of this place at the end of the month, and I hate wireless, so I won't need anything major. Is there some trick or way to boost my signal? Is that the problem? I made a cell call right by my computer right when it suddenly popped up as functioning. Would that have anything to do with it? Could my roomate(s) have been blocking me in anyway (long story; short story - I'm out of this saniterium)?

Anything?

<UPDATED. SEE POST BELOW!!!>
 
I spoke too soon last night. It went out as I was posting this. I'm surprised it went through actually.

Help.
confused.gif
 
Just a few questions:

What is the make and model of your wireless gear (e.g. network card, router/access point)?
What OS are you running?
What OS are they running?
Is it a laptop? Can you test from other spots?
How far are you from the router/access point?
What obstacles are between you and the access point?
Can anyone jump on your network or have keys been configured?

I am under the assumption that you are using WiFi (802.11a/b/g), so correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I have a sneaky suspicion that your system is switching between wide open networks and you are seeing the ugly consequences. Either that, or there is too much between your path to the access point that it is wreaking havoc on your connection. I know that 25' doesn't seem very far, but depending upon the construction materials of the walls and other devices which may interfere with the RFs in use, you may be experiencing signal-to-noise ratio issues.

If you're curious about the other wifi networks in your area, check out Netstumbler. It's a nice and easy way to check signal strengths, and being in NY, you may actually find a find a more reliable access point to use. (I'd also turn on the firewall in XPsp2 if you decide to use other wide open access points, or for that matter, if you continue to use a wide open access point based out of your residence.)

You could always run an ethernet cable to the access point and eliminate the wifi problem altogether, or take a look at the external antennas on the market for boosting the signal strength for either the access point or your network adapter.
 
It's working fine now. I don't know why, but it is. I think the main connection wasn't working all that well recently, as my soon-to-be-ex-roomates revealed last night. Earthlink blows, and I don't like wireless.

You may have a point. Some weird network showed up on my local connections last night. It was secured, so it made no difference, but I'd never seen it before, only my apartment(local) connection.

I just don't trust wireless. I'll gladly go back to DSL/Cable at the end of the month. I could run a wire to the connection and attach a splitter, but that would involve me interacting with my soon-to-be-ex-roomate more than either of us care too.
 
<bump>

OK, here's the update. Last week it started working again perfectly, but only after the whole network/server went down. Once it went back up apparently, and I turned my computer back on, bingo, it works fine.

All's good for the next week, as I do not turn off my computer.

Then yesterday my computer is running really slow, so decide to restart it. Lo and behold, the connection doesn't work anymore. Then I have a revelation, and I decide to restore my computer to a few days ago, and viola, it works perfectly again.

Now this morning I did something stupid, I accidently shut down my computer instead of logging off (force of habit from work). I immediately realized my error, and turned it back on, only to find as I had feared that the wireless connection that had worked only 2 minutes ago no longer could connect. I tried restoring it again, but perhaps I made the mistake of restoring it to the 'restore' I performed yesterday. I hope (fingers crossed) that it will work again if I restore it as I did yesterday (I could possibly restore it to today's settings. I didn't bother checking that restore point).

What is the systemic problem with my system, and what can I do to stop it from happening every time I have to restart or shut-down? I don't know why it wouldn't, but if it doesn't work after I restore to a previous date when I get home, then what?

I hate wireless almost as much as I hate arkansuck.
mad.gif
 
What web browser are you using? This may sound weird, but I began having problems with my wireless setup when I switched to Firefox. I would get similar symptoms, and if I reinstalled the wirelss card driver, it would work for a while, and then go out again. Switching back to IE has eliminated the problem for me.
 
some ppl have had success with spotty wireless connections by using the wireless utility software that came with your card to configure your settings and turning off the Microsoft Wireless Zero Configuration service.

To do this goto the command prompt and type
net stop wzcsvc

to turn it back on in case you need to replace 'stop' with 'start'

also make sure you have not checked the "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" checkbox as documented here.
 
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