POS Wireless Network(Can you browse me now?)

starmanbrand

So, this problem is concerning my friend's wireless network. The router and his reciever are no more than 30-40 feet from each other. The router is a WRT300N linksys, and the reciever is some netgear usb dongle. Not sure on specifics of it, but I can find out of need be.

Now. He can get on the internet. The problem comes from staying on the internet. Randomly, but averaging around every 10-20 minutes, he will be dropped. The solution? Unplug the dongle and plug it back in. Works perfectly again for another 10-20 minutes. The problem? This is completely fucking up our TF2 2fort whoring.

The only thing I could come up with as a solution is that there is some sort of wireless interference. I went into his router settings and changed it from Automatic to shortband(I think was the term. The one that uses normal channels 1-11) and used channels 1, 6, and 11 (what I understand to be the best). One seemed to last the longest, but still dropped after about half an hour. I then set it to the wideband, which was something to the effect of 40 yadda yadda yadda. This also dropped.

We did a virus check and spybot S&D prior to all this, so his compy should be fairly clean.

Can anyone of you wireless network wizards out there give me any other ideas as to what might be wrong?

Oh, another piece of info. It seems that the connection dwindles a bit before falling out. It will start at like 54 mbps, then over time slowly drop down to around 15 before cutting out. I only have a small bit of experience with the problem ,and he is not super computer savvy(nor am I) so he can not accurately detail the problem to me.

Oz K. Fodrotski

Personally, I'd say run an ethernet cord for the length - get a set of eyehooks if you need, and hang that thing from the ceiling. I don't trust wireless any further than I can throw it -- you might think this could be a longer distance than something with wires attached, but my throwing arm isn't very good.

Barring that, maybe a PCI wireless card?

Ganluan

Try resetting the router to default settings. This can usually be done through a small button on the back or underneath it.

mspencer

Microsoft included the Performance Monitor for jobs like this. Start Performance Monitor (found in control panel under administrative tools) and check to see if you can start logging events related to your wireless network card.

Start logging nearly everything you can, especially network signal strength and/or quality. Set your logging interval for perhaps one second per update.

Then start using your network and see what happens. The very MOMENT your connection drops, dump out of your game and go look at performance monitor. Freeze the display and see what you can observe.

This will tell you if your problem is signal strength or not. If it isn't, come back and ask for more ideas.