Unstable Wireless Network

[Hail_Ballz]

I've been having a number of intermittent wireless networking problems for a few months now and I can't find a solid answer to any of them anywhere. So I figured I'd post here to see what kind of response I get.

Here's what I have for a network setup: a Belkin N+ router with a 1TB USB drive shared through it, a cheap Acer laptop with an Atheros wireless N network card and an XBox 360 connected wirelessly behind a D-Link DPR-1260 wireless print server.


Problem #1 - Acer laptop drops connection.

A few times a day the Acer laptop will drop its connection to the router and I have to force a disconnect and reconnect to the wireless network. I've updated drivers, turned of power save mode and changed wireless channels, but it still happens. The laptop has Windows 7. Any ideas why this keeps happening?

Problem #2 - Network storage disappears.

I connect to the network storage by mapping a network drive. Quite often this connection just goes away. The drive will still be listed in Windows Explorer but when I try to get in to it Windows tells me it's not found. At this point I need to go and unplug the drive and plug it back in, then it will work again.

The router says the USB device is always connected, so I have no idea why this share fails. I thought it might be because the hard drive goes in to sleep mode so I put it behind a powered USB hub, this helped some, but hasn't completely fixed the problem. Any suggestions?

Problem #3 - Xbox 360 Media Sharing.

I share media from my Acer laptop to my Xbox 360 through Media Player 11 sharing. If the laptop has been on for a while (say 2 hours) and I turn on the Xbox I can't access the media on the laptop with out either restarting the router or the laptop. Internet access on the Xbox has never been an problem, only laptop to Xbox connectivity. It would be nice to be able to have everything sharing without having to restart something.


I would just love for things to work without having to restart something constantly. When it's all up and running it works fine, signal has always been strong and throughput has always been fast (except transferring files to the USB drive, which isn't unexpected).

So far my only conclusion is that wireless networking is inherently flaky, and just isn't stable enough to maintain constant connections. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Shot in the dark, is there a new firmware out there for your D-LINK?

 

[handyrandyrc]

First thing you need to do is take a look at the radio world around you. Fire up netstumbler or something like it and see what things look like. The only 3 channels with no overlap are 1, 6, and 11. Are you getting co-channel interference from someone else sitting on the same channel?

Do you have a microwave you use that drops the connection? Cordless telephone? Bluetooth devices? All of these things use the same band. To complicate this, your neighbors all have these devices as well. It's possible that they can turn on THEIR microwave and shut you off. THEIR cordless phone going off-hook can drop you.

I gave up on WiFi for everything except casual browsing. My connections are hard-wired -- only way I can be sure I don't get interference. My area is quite 'hot' with 2.4GHz traffic, so I gave it up.

 

[Hail_Ballz]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Make sure that you go into device manager and disable "Allow this device to turn off to save power" on your wireless NICs.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

If it turns out to be noise being the problem, check out something in the 5ghz range Not a whole heck of a lot going on there.

 

[JackMDS]

If your Router does Static DHCP try it.

Otherwise try a Static IP.

 

[Hail_Ballz]

I've statically assigned IPs, changed the channel to 8 (which no one else is using), turned off power saving in the wireless network cards and updated all the firmware and all the problems still exist.

It's sounding more and more like I'm going to have to deal with the connection drops or hard wire as much as I can.

 

[spidey07]

That mostly sounds like interference then. Wireless by it's very nature is unstable and is influenced by all kinds of noise sources. It's pitiful in shared spaces like apartments/condos.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I've statically assigned IPs, changed the channel to 8 (which no one else is using), turned off power saving in the wireless network cards and updated all the firmware and all the problems still exist.

It's sounding more and more like I'm going to have to deal with the connection drops or hard wire as much as I can.

Channel 1,6,11 are the only ones that dont overlap. Just get in the mindset that these are the only ones available

 

[Hail_Ballz]

I can't get anything wireless to work reliably, I'm in the process of wiring the xbox to an old computer that I'm using as a file server. Conclusion: wireless networking is not all that it's cracked up to be. It's great for casual internet browsing but terrible for file sharing.

 

[JackMDS]

I can't get anything wireless to work reliably, I'm in the process of wiring the xbox to an old computer that I'm using as a file server. Conclusion: wireless networking is not all that it's cracked up to be. It's great for casual internet browsing but terrible for file sharing.

That is very true.

Next step try to explain it to all the "WishFull Thinkers" Ignoramuses. :hmm:

 

[Binky]

Do you live in an apartment?
Do you live within close proximity to other human beings using devices that emit radio frequencies (i.e. pretty much everything like cordless phones, microwaves, wireless devices, etc.)?
If yes to either or both of the above, you're screwed.

Try changing wireless channels. Try moving the wireless router. Once you get tired of screwing with it, create a wired network and use wireless only when absolutely necessary.