Fuck Monitors--Wireless, wireless, all the way home.

Hakkekage

It's happened sparsely before, but now it's getting a bit annoying. I'll just be going on my merry way and all of a sudden my screen will go black. If I turn it off, turn it back on, then wiggle the mouse I can get a few seconds of life before it blacks out again. Rebooting usually fixes the problem, but not immediately; it'll be black during startup and a little while after too, but now it's back on its feet again.

What could be causing this? Note that I am technically retarded.

Specs: Hanns-G U171; I'm not really sure what other information is necessary. Graphics card, just in case: NVIDIA GeForce 6200.

Move on to the next post, please. This is like an Extra Credit problem. +1 point.

Hakkekage

Okay, it always seems like I'll finally decide to get around posting about some longterm problem that is a minor annoyance and have something seriously annoying happen right after.

Yesterday I broke my old Wireless card, which was a piece of crap so no biggie. I went and bought a new Dynex card. I thought "hey, spiffy new product, maybe my troubles will be over!"

Totally wrong. I know my router is already a crappy piece of shit (Belkin 54g, it always drops the stupid signal), but I figured with a stronger new adapter, I could just be sneaky sneaky and connect to the neighbor's linksys. Wrong again. For some reason this device is worse than my old D-link. It only connects for 7 minutes tops, and the little "Packets sent and received" thing never goes up to the millions like my old adapter did, which I took to be a good sign.

Plus, when it disconnects (My old router did this too), it still says it's connected, but the Packets numbers are stagnant and I still get no internet.

How the hell do I get a damn wireless that actually stays online and doesn't poop out whenever it feels like it, and as an added bonus, actually reconnects automatically if it ever does?The fact that it doesn't actually disconnect, but halts in its tracks, is also very annoying.

I'd made a thread a long time about about this but I was shut down by my family when it came to messing with the modem/router set up, so I never bought a new router. With this new issue, though, I'm not even sure a new router will help. I feel like some serious mojo is just messing up this network beyond my control.

Hakkekage

Okay, so...I really would appreciate some questions at least, to help prompt me into giving the relevant information to you more learned types, but here is the new network adapter I have, just for specs:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=TISYNMM3DS43FKC4D3OVAFY?skuId=8545041&type=product&id=1188560188353

And my router, which is at least 5 years old...

http://shopper.cnet.com/routers/belkin-54g-wireless-cable/4014-3319_9-20912424.html?tag=pdtl-img

Really, I will shower you with praise if you post in this thread. Even if it's just a "You are an idiot, never touch a computer again."

Thomamelas

Standard wireless questions:

Do you own a portable phone?
Do you own a microwave?
Is there some compelling reason to not use Cat5?
Are your walls concrete?

Hakkekage

Like a cell phone, or a cordless phone? Both. None are near my desktop but there is one near the modem/router setup on account of having Optimum Voice as well.

Microwave? Yes, but it's way in the other part of the house of the whole shebang.

Compelling reason: Convenience, drilling holes in attics is a task I don't have time for, getting a long enough cable, and I have so many damn wires around already. I once entertained the idea but it felt so...medieval.

And since I am not medieval, no concrete walls.

deke55555

When you look for local wireless networks, how many are there?

Try perhaps changing the channel on yours: if someone else is on the same channel, you could have some of the issues you are describing.

Hakkekage

5 networks.

How do I change channels?

deke55555

It depends on the kind of wireless access point you have, the same configuration place that you would use to change the password and stuff. (Check the manual)

You want one of either channel 1, 6 or 11, whichever works best.


Also, with 5 other nearby networks there's a really good chance it's interference.

Hakkekage

Yeah, that router is so old I've lost the manual. I've been looking online for channel-changing tips (here specifically) and although it says to leave the password blank and hit submit, I keep getting "LOGIN ERROR!!"

I'm going to see if I can hunt for the manual, but I doubt we've ever set a password or have a clue as to what it is.

deke55555

I would at this point just reset the access point to factory settings, and give it a shiny new password and WPA-PSK key.

<preach>
Especially with all of those other networks around, not changing the default password and using WPA is like asking someone to leech your bandwidth.
</preach>


Oh, and on your monitor: Check to make sure you have the most recent drivers for your video card, that all cables including the power cable are solidly seated, and that the monitors refresh rate and resolution are set to supported values.

Hakkekage

deke55555 wrote: »

I would at this point just reset the access point to factory settings, and give it a shiny new password and WPA-PSK key.

You're going to have to slow it down there buddy. I have the technological finesse of a baby chimpanzee.

Does this mean I should uninstall, then reinstall my router?

Thomamelas

Hakkekage wrote: »

deke55555 wrote: »

I would at this point just reset the access point to factory settings, and give it a shiny new password and WPA-PSK key.

You're going to have to slow it down there buddy. I have the technological finesse of a baby chimpanzee.

Does this mean I should uninstall, then reinstall my router?

There should be a little button marked reset. Hold it down and it will restore it to factory defaults. Note that if your router is authenticating you to your ISP, you'll need to enter that information again.

Hakkekage

Pressed reset, the router blinked, turned off, roared, devoured a lost soul, did whatever it needed to. Nothing else happened. I cam back to my computer and then tried the belkin router site and I still get a login error.

How do I know that information? Is it the information laid out on the front of the belkin page? How do I reset a password?

Sorry if this is painstakingly stupid for you, but I am deathly afraid of fucking something up.

VThornheart

Did your Internet Service Provider set up your router by any chance?

If that's the case, I'm betting that you might not actually HAVE the settings that you need to set your router with. Do you have that information?

If not, a call to your ISP to help you out with this issue might be in order.

Gihgehls

You seem to be online, that is good. If you think you fucked something up, you can always hit the reset button again and get back to square one.

Hakkekage

I think I'm going to have to call Optimum Online. I know a family friend set up the thing five years ago but optonline has had its fair way with it. Maybe they'll even switch the channels for me...but I do hope they tell me the damn password at least.

Thanks for the help, I will call them tomorrow. I think it's the channels.

deke55555

No problem. If they aren't helpful, toss the model number of the router up here and I'll see if my army of ninjas can find a copy of the manual.

Hakkekage

alright so I contacted OptOnline, and he told me the tech support number and extension for belkin, and he helped me through resetting my router and messing with the options.

I don't think it's the channels anymore. I went through the whole list (I was on 11, at least 3 other routers use 11, so I've settled on 5 now...), and using thedailyshow.com as my test site, tried to watch videos. My connection is still pooping out.

Is it the router at all? I find this really weird to process. Whenever traffic/activity or whatever the term is seems to increase, I stop getting a connection. I usually fix it by taking out the adapter and putting it back in. This would indicate a problem with the adapter, right? But this one is brand new, and my old network adapter did the same thing.

So what's up? This is getting really annoying. I don't think downloading torrents overnight is going to be an option anymore, and that sucks.

deke55555

The first thing to realize is that the US wireless channels for networks are 1, 6 and 11. So if you use any others, they're more likely to get interference from various random things.

The second thing I would want to try is to see how well your connection works while you are directly connected using ethernet.

The whole 'random disconnects when you try to get real use out of the network' thing feels like interference of some kind to me, but I'm not what you would call a wireless expert. (If there were wires involved I'd feel more comfortable)


It might be worthwhile to see how well some other computer connects to your wireless network, do you have a buddy with a laptop who could come over and try to watch some movies?

If we can eliminate your computer from the equation, I'd feel more comfortable blaming your wireless access point or ISP.

Hakkekage

Well, my sister has a laptop. She was vague and uninterested in my attempt to help our issue, but she said that the internet does disconnect now and again (not as frequently as mine though), and I know she's a downloading, movie-watching madwoman.

The weird thing was, I took your advice and switched to channel 6, didn't notice much of a difference (except things seem to run smoother, although I still seem to disconnect fairly often...my record is 37 minutes watching a succession of dailyshow.com videos, which is a marvel). Then I got an angry shout from my sister. Her WiFi couldn't even detect any routers in the area. I switched back to channel 5 and now everything is A-OK for her, and working just as well as on channel 6 for me.

As for ethernet, laying down that much wire would require I set some actual time apart, and have my dad to supervise and make sure I'm not using his drill to kill everyone in the neighborhood. Also to make sure I drill in the right places. It's also a hells of a lot of wire I need to buy.

Also, as far as I know about my Mother's Dell on the first floor, she gets internet just fine. I think she has an internal wireless card. I tried the internal card once and that thing when kaput real fast, but my mom never seems to have a problem with it. Of course, my mom forgets how to send emails with attachments every 6 months or so and I have to re-teach that bit, so maybe she's not the most credible source.

deke55555

I wasn't thinking of a full installation of ethernet cable. Just moving your computer to where it could be directly wired in for an afternoon to see how it works.

From what I'm hearing (others don't have significant complaints), I'm wondering if it might be something about your computer rather than the wireless, and taking the wireless out of the loop would tell us that right away.