Find solution
What is a historical connection?

What could be the problem with my wi-fi connection? (Details of the setup and symptoms inside

  • What could be the problem with my wi-fi connection? (Details of the setup and symptoms inside) I moved a PC that previously had a wired connection to my router to another room, and so got a USB wi-fi adapter to connect wirelessly. That wireless connection works intermittently and slowly, and I suspect that the reason for that is the connection is flaky, and is possibly stopping and restarting with great frequency. The reason I'm guessing that's happening is that when I look at the processes running, I often see many instances of ipconfig.exe starting up and quickly finishing. Oftentimes I see 4 instances of ipconfig in the process list at once. I also see nbstat.exe and arp.exe frequently active. (In this case not sure if they are being rerun from scratch, or just consuming CPU.) I'm not sure what all those processes do, but googling and Wikipedia suggests they are somehow involved in the PC trying to assign itself a network address. Other symptoms which may be relevant... There are times when the PC seems to be connected to the router ok, and can see the router config screens etc, but still can't actually reach the internet. (Other PCs including the one I'm typing on now connected to the net fine while that was happening.) Even when a web page is loaded more or less ok, the browsers often indicate they're still loading something, as if some page elements haven't made it through yet. (Tried in Firefox and IE, with unpredictable but similar results.) System Details: The router is a "Belkin N Wireless Modem Router". I've had it a while and it has been working with no hassle with a variety of devices used by us and our visitors. (Assorted laptops, desktops, varied handheld devices). Still working fine wirelessly with my iPod Touch, and by wired connecton to a new desktop. The PC that's having this problem is an old Vaio desktop, running Windows XP SP3. As I said it was on a wired connection until yesterday, and Windows is fully patched and updated. The new thing in the mix (which therefore arouses my suspicion) is the wi-fi adapter. It describes itself as a "Belkin Enhanced Wireless USB Adapter" and has an N150 logo also. It claims to be compatible with previous wi-fi standards (n/g/b). So, given that setup and the symptoms I'm seeing, what are the possible sources of the problems and what could I do to investigate further? Is this likely to be caused by faulty hardware in the wi-fi adapter? Or some problem with router or adapter settings? Or something else that I wouldn't know to look into? Help from Mefites that understand this stuff would be greatly appreciated!

  • Answer:

    Are you in a house or an apartment building? Are there lots of other networks nearby? I live in an apartment building in a neighborhood of apartment buildings, and I solved a similar problem by changing the channel of my router. When I looked at all the neighboring networks waith a wifi scanner, I saw they were all using one or two different channels. Switching to an unused channel made my connection a lot more reliable.

philipy at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Try plugging that same USB wifi adapter into another PC closer to the router and see if it works any better there. If it doesn't (and I'm expecting it won't) you should organize a warranty replacement.

flabdablet

Not necessarily "Not necessarily" is reasonably consistent with "typically not". Not that we have a scientific study here, just a canvassing of Mefi opinion. But even a provisional "typically, but not always" is a helpful thing to know if, like me, you find yourself wondering what the heck the problem can be when every visitor's laptop / iPad / smartphone connects just fine, but one thing doesn't and you have no idea why not. Edimax is among the OK cheapie generics To be fair my conclusion on Edimax was based on the comments by lots of buyers left on multiple sites like Amazon, and then further validated by you. If you want to recommend something that's better than cheapie generics, please do that. That's not going to be relevant for me now, but it might help someone else. Belkin, on the other hand, is almost always troublesome Re Belkin... I was aware it's got a mixed reputation. But personally I had good results with Belkin kit in the past, including my Belkin router which is by far the most stable of all the ones I've ever had. There's not really any brand that I haven't heard of horror stories with though, and frankly it was with some trepidation that I bought it in the first place! The user reviews for it were majorly divided between people saying "piece-o-crap, won't stay up for 5 minutes" and "fantastic, goes months without a glitch". It seems YMMV, but mine turned out to be at the good end. That was back before I joined Mefi. Now I'd probably ask for recommendations here first.

philipy

- External USB adapters are typically not as good as those built into laptops Not necessarily true. I've had a Compaq laptop that got far better results with the micro-size Edimax adapter I linked above than with the flaky piece of crap built into it. - Edimax is well thought of for this kind of kit (and is both cheap and good) In my book, Edimax is among the OK cheapie generics (TP-Link is another). Belkin, on the other hand, is almost always troublesome - either because it performs like crap from the get-go or is impossible to configure sanely or flakes mysteriously after a couple months of indifferent service. About the only Belkin gear I've ever been happy with is cat 5e patch cables. Would not trust them with anything containing actual electronics.

flabdablet

My new adapter arrived, and it's working fine now. I did eventually go for the one I mentioned earlier. I'm using it with a cable, so I can position it conveniently and there is no worry about breaking it off as there might be if it was plugged directly into the PC. Thanks to everyone for your input. You all helped me in different ways, and I'm sure your answers will be useful to anyone else that has wifi woes and finds the thread. A summary of key things that I learned from the responses: - A noisy wireless environment can be a problem - It's possible to change channels to try to improve matters - inSSIDer is useful software to help with that - External USB adapters are typically not as good as those built into laptops - One with an antenna may be better at pulling in the signal - Plugging one directly into the back of a desktop PC may be a bad idea because of the metal plate - Edimax is well thought of for this kind of kit (and is both cheap and good) All that helped me narrow down the possible causes of the problem and figure out what kind of adapter would have the best chance of working for me. Thankfully everything seems ok now. Thanks Mefi!

philipy

One nice thing about having a stick-shaped antenna is that you could easily add a http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html to it and point that at your router.

flabdablet

I'm always a bit leery of plugging things that look like crowbars into a computer's USB ports - it's too easy to break them. Should be fine if you use it with a cheap USB hub stuck to the top of the tower with double sided foam tape.

flabdablet

It's good to hear an endorsement of Edimax kit from a Mefite, cos I'd never heard of them until yesterday. Would you recommend going for the teeny one over one with an antenna? Size doesn't matter much in itself as it's for a desktop. I'm now thinking of getting http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_detail.php?pd_id=356&pl1_id=1&pl2_id=44. Also can be had very cheap, and if the reviews are to be believed, it should be good at making the most of the signal.

philipy

flabdablet

Ok, I got a refund on the Belkin adapter. I'm now considering getting http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_detail.php?pd_id=277&pl1_id=1&pl2_id=44#03. Does that sound like a good idea? I'm assuming it's still worth trying different adapters before resorting to a range extender, though by now I'm almost frustrated enough to order both at once.

philipy

Load more

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.