Wireless woahs
 

Heres the poop,


I have a SMC Barricade 80211.b router, and 2 Adaptec USB adaptors.

I computer is less than 15' away from the router, the other is about 35' and through 2 walls.


The one thats close keeps loosing the signal. It works fine (at 100% signal source, of corse) for a while, then, a second later, it drops. Gone. Nada. SO I go into the config utility, and do a search for available connection. There's none.

I checked for interferance, but there is none in my condo, possibly others. All I have is a microwave, that I rarely use, no other 2.4 Ghz devices.

The thing that pisses me off, is the one thats further away, works without a hitch.

And yes, I tried switching channels (all 11) and switching the adaptors between computers.

I cant win....

do you have wep on? I'd start over from the beginning. Kill the drivers get it working without wep.

I've had trouble with USB adapters, mainly where they could see other networks aside from your own. Even when you specify the AP.

Like I said turn off all your mac filters and get everything working then turn on wep and mac filtering. My bros netgear did the same thing no connection until I disabled wep.

No wep, just MAC filtering. But it was doing this before I turned on the filtering.

has it ever worked? Check for firmware and driver updates. Last time this happened to me I returned that shiznit, went with wireless bridges instead, never looked back.

if its closed to shared walls its possible thats someone elses equipment is interferring, its also possible thats its just a dead zone, or other structural interference.

Theres so many variables with wireless its hard to tell whats going, using something setup to do wardriving with signal strengths might help map out the area and locate a dead zone

If you are in an apartment, cordless phones may be to blame. I recently got a new phone, and it apparently interferes with my wireless setup whenever I use it. If someone is on the phone (just the cordless phone) I lose my wireless connection. It comes back when we hang up the phone.

Also the signal strength is very variable in my apartment as well. Wiring, a transformer outside my window, and a fuse box between my computer and the router all seem to have an effect on the link quality of my laptop.

Strange things can also cause very local interference that could kill your connection to one computer but leave another connection along. Check any power cables, transformers, lights, cd-rom drives, and tv's that are near the computer that keeps crapping out on your. They may be causing the problem (think about all those warnings about using ordinary electronics on airplanes).

Good luck,
Greg

Ok, the following cause interferance in 2.4 Gig; wireless phones, Microwaves, Large Motors(example: Elevator Motors) Other wireless internet routers.

Try going into your AP and turn down the tranmit speed to 5.5 or 2.

and bodies of water, can cause interference.

I don't suppose ... there's a bathroom in between or somethin?

Is it possible to move the access point? Then you could try and locate exactly where you are losing the signal.

Wireless stuff is pretty wacky. We sell the stuff in our computer store, and have had a lot of complaints. two concrete walls block the signal altogether, while sometimes even a wooden floor blocks it.

As Diergray said: try moving the access point - that might solve your problem a bit. :)

I would have to say maybe its not a clear signal path from your desktop to the wifi, make sure a tv or your computer are not in between.

Also at 15', is that in the same room? If so maybe you should think about running a direct cable, true this does not solve the problem, but does keep from both computers being wireless and gives you an option for secure site login. Wep is very far from perfect and its great you have MAC filter on, but unless needed (like the computer behind 2 walls) you may want to think about a hardline.

just my 2 cents.

WIFI rules!

Yeah, its LIne-of-sight, but I just dont want to remove the moulding again (we just remodeled) running a cat5 cable is easy in all.... but I really dont want to.

It really makes no sence, this one being scetchy, but the other is rock solid. This always (when connected) has 100% signal, the other always has between 60-80%. Go figure.

Ah well. Thanks for all your input guys, I have an E-mail into both SMC and Adaptec, we'll see what they have to say.

Just a thought: might the other non-optimal card simply be defective???

I tried switching them. Same issue.

if when you switch them the card that's working starts messing up, then you MUST have interference of some sort between the access point and the card. One idea, try relocating the access point - maybe just shift it over a foot. Sometimes that can do the trick.

If you've tried everything and are still having problems you can pick up a wifi extender and place it between the access point and the wifi nic. That'll increase the effective range of your card.

another option would be an orinoco card. They have excellent range - they're the choice of war drivers so they must be good enough for in the house!

What operating system is that computer using? Is is Winxp? If so turn off the wireless sub system in windows and just us the drivers that came with the card to connect.

I had the same problem on both a W2K and WXP machine. The prob was software based, in that you have to make sure that 1) you're using a broadcasting local IP for your router - which you are because the 2nd comp works, and 2) the 1st comp is looking for the AP properly.

The problem with ensuring that you're accessing the AP properly is that there are a lot of options...WiFi is not user-friendly on Windows. I don't quite remember what I did, but I do remember that I spent a good deal of time ensuring that the driver was installed properly, that the driver was manually assigned an IP addy, etc. etc.

Good luck.