Loose connection to router every 10 min and cannot get back on

[toner75]

My Linksys BEFW11BS4 version 2.5 802.11b router broke down (btw, it was a great router), and I went and get a new Linksys WRT54G 802.11g router. The WRT54G is very buggy. If I set it to B-only mode, I can't connect (with a 802.11b PCMCIA client) even though my computer detects the router. I see that a lot of people are having this connection problem.

When I get connected under Mix-mode, it seems fine at first, but within 10 minutes, i would suddenly loose the connection, and CANNOT get back on until i reset the router and reboot the computer!!!

I returned the Linksys WRT54G which uses the Broadcom chipset, and exchanged for a Asus WL-500g router which uses the PrismGT chipset. The Asus is very powerful in terms of functions. I heard it has bugs in uPnP, but i haven't test it out yet.

With the Asus router, the problem persist!!!! I still suddenly loose connection to the router, even if I put the router right next to my computer. I see that the signals suddenly goes down very quickly, sometimes it bounces back up, sometimes it doesn't and i loose connection. Once I get disconnected, I can't get back on until I reset the router and reboot the computer. This happens with both of my Linksys 802.11b client and the SMC 802.11g client.

Can someone please help??

[toner75]

After 2 weeks of frastration and tested 2 different 802.11g routers, I think I have fixed the above mentioned problems. I will need more time to really test it out.

There are 2 things I did which fixed the problem. I came to the conclusion that the problems might be partly caused by interferance from other near-bywireless routers or wireless phones.

1) This behavior may occur if the Wireless Zero Configuration service is enabled on your computer. Some wireless network adapters are not fully compatible with Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration. By default, the Wireless Zero Configuration is enabled in Windows XP.

(I don't know why, but I had no problem with my old Linksys 802.11b router and client before, it's the same computer)

RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior, do both of the following:
Disable the Wireless Zero Configuration service on your computer. To do so:
Click Start, click Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
Double-click the Wireless Zero Configuration service. On the General tab, click Stop. In the Startup type list, click Disabled, and then click OK.

The Wireless Zero Configuration is now disabled and does not reload when you restart your computer.

Install the latest driver for your wireless network adapter. Install the WLAN utilities that came with your 802.11b/g clients. You will need it to connect to the router, since WinXP won't automatically connect for u.

Well, this did not completely fix the problem, but it certainly improved. My computers now were able to instantly connect to the router as soon as WinXP loads. (Before, it takes forever to detect the router, and even if it detects the router, a lot of the times it won't let me connect.) The signal is now more stable. But I still get disconnected within 10min.


2) So, I tried setting the router to use a fixed (instead of Auto) channel (from 1 to 11). I tried a few channels, and still no good. And then I tried a channel which fixed the connection lost problem. Since then I haven't been having connection lost to the router.

I hope this will help some of you that are having similar problem with the wireless routers. It nearly drove me crazy 'cos spent so much money buying a wireless router and clients that only functions as a wired router. I have no idea why the user manuals or the vendor website did not mention the above troubleshooting. It would made our lives a lot easier.

[toner75]

After testing for a few days, my Desktop with the SMC 802.11g PCI client STILL gets disconnected from my router!!! It won't disconnect IF the router and the SMC client is very close together (with 100% signal strength). When I put the router about 10feet away behind 2 walls, I only get 40% signal strength, and then it would disconnect VERY often. Then I read a post by kunt in the Hardware forum and went to read his webpage about the Asus router. http://www.barbara.no/art.php?artikkelid=1016

It shows that the SMC client doesn't go too well with routers other than SMC router. I tried it, it's true. Then I retuned the SMC client and exchanged for a Buffalo WLI-PCI-G54 client.

After hooking up the Buffalo client, I used the WinXP Wireless Zero Configuration to get on the router. The first time didn't work cos i didn't get the setting right. The client detected the router but couldn't log on. This is because I used WEP and I didn't select the "Network Authentication (shared Mode)" option. After selecting that option, I got connected instantly. And the signal strength was 100%!!! I only got 40% with the SMC client at the same location. It worked with the WZC, so I didn't bother to use the Buffalo Client manager software that came with it.

The Buffalo client has an external antenna which helped a little, i guess. And the SMC client wasn't too compatable with the Asus router also. I was surprised since SMC uses the PrismGT chipset which is same as the Asus router, and the Buffalo uses the Broadcom chipset.

Anyways, I just wanted to share my experience (frastration) with others so it might make it easier for them.

I heard from the store that Asus will come out with a new firmware for the WL-500g router in a week or so. The store owner has a beta version of the new firmware and said it fixed a few things. I am really looking forward to the new firmware.

[cszeto]

http://forums.practicallynetworked.com/showthread.php?threadid=2047