Re: Limited or No wireless connection

On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 22:01:34 -0700, "Feverish"
<feverish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Off line about 36 hours now, straight.

I have a feeling I'm reading this wrong. Does this mean that it fails
to connect every time you've tried it over the last 36 hours? Or does
it mean that you've been experiencing random connection failures over
the last 36 hours with occasionally successful connections?

>Doesn't coincide with mealtimes,
>nearest microwave is downstairs in Kitchen, but doesn't seem to be related
>to MW usage. Commercials are boring, but not part of the problem. No
>cafeteria, no TIVO, no cameras, all phones are 5.4 Ghz.

Ok, that eliminates most local sources of interference. Please note
that some models of 5.2GHz cordless phones use 2.4GHz on one
direction. I vaguely recall that it's the handsets that transmit
2.4Ghz and receive on 5.2GHz but may have it backwards. Also, some
cordless phone bases transmit continuously, even when the handset is
in the on hook position. Pull the plug on the base and see if that's
the problem.

>I do have a wireless
>mouse: Logitech MX700 now replaced with MX1000.

I couldn't determine what frequency it's running on, but it probably
is not 2.4Ghz.

>Can't answer re:Neighbors, only that we've never been able to eavesdrop on
>their conversations, one wireless network, occasionally picked up could be
>neighbor. Signal weak, and encrypted (not that means much in this setting
>that I know of.)

If they're not broadcasting their SSID, you won't see any nearby wi-fi
access points.

>Router is on streetside, but I've no choice in this matter.
>Channel is set to 9

Channel 9 is roughly half way between channel 6 and 11. The wi-fi
signal is approximately 5 channels (25MHz) wide. If there are nearby
access points running on channels 6 or 11, you will get interference
from both. I suggest you stay with the recommended 1, 6, and 11 or 14
in the UK.

>Power save on all cards turned off

What about power save, hibernate, and standby on the computer?

>How do I determine the "uptime" I can't find a setting/log for this?

I'm using a WRT54G but with Sveasoft Alchemy firmware. My "status"
page shows the uptime. However, I guess you're using the official
Linksys firmware, which might not have this feature.

>As far as I can tell neither router nor modem are spontaneously rebooting.

Rebooting the modem would not cause a premature DHCP renewal. Only
the router can sometimes (not always) do that. Usually, it's the
client that asks for a new DHCP address. The reason I'm emphasizing
the possibility is that your symptoms of not getting a new DHCP
address after a connection drop do not make sense unless either the
client initiates the DHCP request, or the server (router) reboots.

>Error message reads (paraphrasing) Windows could not repair your internet
>connection because it could not complete the following action. Windows could
>not renew the IP address. Please contact your system administrator

That's the message you get when you select "Repair" from the right
click menu on the Windoze XP SP2 Wireless Zero Config icon. Is that
what you're doing? Repair does *NOT* mean re-connect. The correct
procedure is to "Show Available Networks", select your wireless SSID,
and hit "connect". Both Connect and Repair will attempt to renew the
DHCP address which apparently is failing for some reason.

What else are you doing that you're not disclosing? From your
descriptions, I'm having difficulties guessing what you're doing, and
what's happening.

>(that me,
>and I haven't kept anyone off as far as I can tell.)

Could you explain what you mean by "drop off the network" as in your
original question? If it means loss of internet connectivity, are you
*SURE* that it's not a problem at the ISP, and that you're trying to
fix it with the WZX Repair feature? More specifically, does the
"limited or no connection error" happen *AFTER* you do something with
Windoze?

"Here's the problem: all three periodically drop off the
network with the limited or no connection error. From time
to time they will just as suddenly re-connect, and work fine."

Let's pretend that there's nothing wrong with the wireless and that my
guess as to decoding the symptoms and actions are correct. Next time
you have a good connection followed by all computers "dropping off the
network", try this experiment. Do NOT do the Repair thing:
Start -> Run -> cmd <enter>
ipconfig
Does it show a proper IP address? If yes, you don't need a new one.
If 169.254.xxx.xxx, then something caused the clients to demand a new
IP address. This would be rather weird and uncommon. My guess is
still a power save timeout at the client.

Next, see if you can talk to the router with:
ping 192.168.1.1
If you get proper responses, your wireless connection is intact and
functional.

Next try to ping the other computers on your LAN. They should be
192.168.1.100 and up. Get the IP addresses with ipconfig in advance
so you're ready to try this. If you have a firewall in place, it may
prevent ping from working.

Next, try to ping something on the internet. The obvious starting
place would be the gateway IP at your ISP to see if the cable modem or
Cox is down. However, that might change periodically. Grab the IP
address of the gateway from the WRT54G status page. Also ping some
common web sites such as www.yahoo.com. If that doesn't work, try
pinging them by IP address (you'll have to get the IP address when
it's working and write it down in advance). If that fails, go yell at
Cox support.

The idea is to isolate what part of your connection puzzle is failing.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
.

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