problem with a wireless connection

csarina

My friend has a lap top connected to BT with a wireless connection.

Last week for some unknown reasons the lap top started dropping the connection and despite being reset has continued to do so, it will connect for a short while and then drop..... very frustrating for all of us, any suggestions please.....................

fatnbald

Does the same happen if the PC is hard wired to the connection?
Does the PC work OK on an alternative wireless connection?
Has the base unit been moved or another wireless device added nearby (DECT Phones can sometimes affect wireless as they work on a similar frequency)?

csarina

She phoned BT last week and someone talked her through using the earthanet cable, have not tried using a wired connection or an alternative wireless connection, I am wondering if its the actual lap top thats the problem........the base unit is where it always has been and the phone has not caused a problem before its been working fine since she had it installed in July.

I am 20 minutes drive away........ so try to solve things when I go to see her cannot afford to go too often with fuel the price it is.........

wayne

hi,does your friend use a different firewall to the normal xp one?i was running zone alarm firewall and had no end of problems with not connecting to the internet,even when it was hard wired.uninstalled zone alarm just to see what would happen and lo and behold connected to the internet straight away and have had no problems for well over a week now.dont understand why xp firewall allows this but zone alarm wouldn,t though.

gaming_guy

wayne wrote:

hi,does your friend use a different firewall to the normal xp one?i was running zone alarm firewall and had no end of problems with not connecting to the internet,even when it was hard wired.uninstalled zone alarm just to see what would happen and lo and behold connected to the internet straight away and have had no problems for well over a week now.dont understand why xp firewall allows this but zone alarm wouldn,t though.

i have zonealarm 6, and my connection works fine.

after i installed my wifi adapter and rebooted, ZA picked up the router straight away and let me connect to the network

albertross_2

This assumes it is a wireless issue, and not the router dropping the connection to the internet .. which can only be tested by using a wired ethernet connection or going into the router config page.. Does a repair work, if you right click on the wireless icon?


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=3761136&postcount=2

Is it encrypted, have you tried changing channels? Did it start on Tuesday?

Browntoa

is she using the BT Home Hub for connection...I'm running a thread elsewhere on the forum about intermittent connections to the thing and what i've been trying to cure it

csarina

Yes she is using BT home hub.......I have tried to repair thr connection, it asked for the pass word which we put in it connected and then an hour later dropped the connection...........The chap from BT checked everything from their end and it worked using the earthenet cable then it dropped again, can you get an extention lead for the usb we could may be use it hard wired, she uses it on the litchen table which is quite a way from the hub, thats why we elected to use wireless.....she also has a printer which is used on a desk in a bedroom...again another reason for using the wrieless connection to print, or even an extention for the earthanet cable it would have to be at least 12 feet long..........if not longer as she lives in a bungalow and uses it in bed as well.

albertross_2

The ethernet cable is hard wired.. you can get long ones. In fact, another user one here has just bought a long one, that they might swap if you can't sort out the wireless..

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=329868

Try this to see if it makes any difference

right click on your wireless network icon, view available wireless networks, change advanced settings, wireless networks, highlight your ssid, properties, connection. Make sure "connect when this network is in range" is ticked. Click OK, advanced, make sure Access point (Infrastrucure) networks only is selected, and automatically connect to non-preferred networks is unticked

HoofeHearted

I read on another forum that, at this time of the year, wireless problems can occur due to interference from Christmas Tree lights.

Browntoa

I turned off the inbuilt firewall and Web Browsing Interception ( from the advanced section of the HUB) and then changed the channel it was using from automatic to manual , instructions for changing the channel below

Log into the Hub -> Advanced -> Continue to Advanced -> Switch to Another User -> Log in as admin (user name is admin, password is also admin) -> Home Network -> Interfaces -> WLAN: BTHomeHub-XXXX (XXXX will be the number that the HUB displays ) -> Configure -> change Channel Selection to Manual -> select a channel from the dropdown -> Apply

I then let Windows manage the wireless connection by right clicking on the icon for my wireless adapter...at the moment it's been fine for a few days