What does my workaround tell me about my connectivity problem?

[wocketpatch]

WinXP/SP2
2gb RAM
Intel 3.25ghz

I was having a problem staying connected via WiFi to my house's router, though I have no trouble with laptop.

Basically I lose connectivity after a few minutes, and the only thing that fixes it is to right-click the wireless network icon in the tray and choose "Repair".. this will fix it temporarily.

I have, however, found a work-around and I thought maybe sharing it might give someone a clue as to the source of the problem.

I've found that if I open my torrent program, and set a giant torrent to download and then cap the download speed of that particular torrent at only 3k, then I no longer lose connection for the duration of the download. Something about keeping the connection alive with this consistent trickle of traffic is what is working for me.

Does this discovery point any fingers to what might be causing it?

Thank you!

 

[Steltek]

Does the router have an option to keep the connection alive in the setup? If so, make sure this option is turned on.

It could also be a power management setup issue with the laptop -- the laptop may be turning off the wireless adapter to save power, which causes a loss of connection. You may want to disable this option in device manager on the laptop wireless adapter to see if it helps.

 

[wocketpatch]

Thanks for the response! I was not able to find any such option on the router setup... The menu seems exceptionally convoluted but I think I looked on about every page, and also updated the firmware but the problem persists (except when I have a torrent running..)

Also note that my laptop is the one that's working fine -- my desktop computer is the one that is having the connectivity issue.

 

[Steltek]

Thanks for the response! I was not able to find any such option on the router setup... The menu seems exceptionally convoluted but I think I looked on about every page, and also updated the firmware but the problem persists (except when I have a torrent running..)

Also note that my laptop is the one that's working fine -- my desktop computer is the one that is having the connectivity issue.

Not all routers have a connection keep-alive function. However, it seems like it has to be (in this case) either a bad wireless adapter, or a power management setting (this type of power management issue is equally applicable to both desktops and laptops).

To resolve a power management issue on the desktop, do the following:

If it is the external USB type, you need to go in to Device Manager, right click on each of the USB hubs, then hit Properties. On the Power Management tab of each USB hub, make sure to remove the checkbox which allows the computer to shut down the USB ports to save power. You can also just disable power management on the hub your wireless adapter is plugged in to, provided you can determine which one it is. If the wireless adapter is also enumerated under the Network Adapters category in Device Manager, you need to go in and do the same thing with regards to power management.

If it is an internal wireless card (like a PCI card, for instance), you'll need to go in to Device Manager and open up the properties tab for the wireless adapter. Make sure that there are no power management functions activated which allow the computer to shut down that adapter to save power.

If you can't trace it to a power management issue, I'd try replacing the wireless adapter with a cheapo USB adapter to see if your present wireless adapter is failing. You ought to be able to pick one up at DealExtreme or Meritline for just a few bucks.

 

[JackMDS]

Probably the Power saving feature of the Wireless card.

The forced low traffic prevents it from falling a sleep.:whiste:

Check the Computer's support site and make sure that you are using the latest

Drivers*** for the Network cards.

Check the Router's support, and make sure that your using the latest firmware for the Router.
----------------------

Uncheck the Network Card's Power Saving (I.e., do not let the card save power).

There might be some variations on where the Power saving setting is.

Here are few examples, YMMV, look around in your systems.

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/example/powersave.jpg

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/power_sav_wireless..jpg

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/power_save_win7.jpg

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/adv_power-sav.jpg

***On Drivers Update Win 7 .

Try to install the latest drivers of the card from the support page of the manufacturer.

Download the drivers and unpack them to a folder of your choice.

In the Device manger, right click on the adapter.

Click on Update Drivers, and choose the Browse my computer for drivers,

Choose let me pick from a list, Click on Have a Disk and point to the folder with the Drivers.


😎