Any ideas? Wireless on parents' laptop

[sparkeh]

So my parents have a Toshiba Satellite Pro about 4 years old.

Recently they have been having intermittent issues connecting to the Internet via the wireless connection (IE intermittently display the "can't display website page".

The first thing they did was ring O2 who played about changing channels then sent a new router - same issue.

 

If I ping the router it works fine for a while, then drops a lot of packets and times out, then starts working again for a while but repeats the cycle. However the connection to the wlan never seems to drop. Connecting via Ethernet works fine.

I have scanned for malware, reinstalled the wireless NIC and updated drivers etc but the problem persists.

 

I am inclined to think that the issue lies with the wireless NIC but wondered if anyone had any ideas above what I have tried?

[chazzy2501]

is this the only wireless device that does this?

[Oaktech]

Borrow someone's pcmcia or usb wireless card and see if you get the same effects -Unless the thing is in warranty it may be easier to just get another usb adapter from ebay, if only to test with.

[sparkeh]

is this the only wireless device that does this?

Good question. They only have one wireless device though so not sure

[jinnantonnixx]

Boot the laptop with a copy of Knoppix. This will eliminate any crazy settings that Windows may have.

 

Knoppix Linux Boot CD, Download Disk and Documents, Discuss, Get Help

[Dos_Box]

Any other local interference from neighbours wi-fi or local businesses with uncertified wireless equipment? (It does happen)

 

inSSIDer – Discover The Wi-Fi Around You | MetaGeek

[plexer]

I have exactly this on the Satellite Pro we recently bought, has been fine for months but just lately it drives me crazy dropping the wireless connection all the time.

 

8188CE wireless nic I believe it is I updated to latest driver yesterday and seems slightly better possibly.

 

My phone is permanently connected to the wireless and never drops the connection like this laptop.

 

Ben

[Dos_Box]

One I'd forgotten about. If the wireless card has power/transmit options, try dropping it from high/maximum (usually the default) to medium. You can find these in it the wireless NIC properties in device manager, often under a tab marked 'Advanced'.

[mac_shinobi]

One I'd forgotten about. If the wireless card has power/transmit options, try dropping it from high/maximum (usually the default) to medium. You can find these in it the wireless NIC properties in device manager, often under a tab marked 'Advanced'.

 

Disable the power management options on the NIC itself and is there any other power management software on the laptop that may have an option with regards to power management on the NIC / Anything in the control panel for NIC's, I know sometimes the broadcom or others add a control panel item ?

[sparkeh]

Awesome stuff so far guys, thanks!

[Thesweeney]

One other thing to try is dropping the router down to 802.11 b/g speeds.. I had similar probs with older (4-5 yr old) laptop when I got the new virgin connection here.. Kept dropping out, reigned the router back from .11n speeds to .11b/g and suddenly everything working fine..!!

[AMLinington]

I had similar weird issues with our Virgin Superhub and it turns out there was a bug in the firmware. It has since been corrected but it shows up very strangely. That being said, definitely disable power management on the NIC and try updating the wireless tools. IIRC the Toshiba tools are a bit pants.

 

We also have issues with band - if you have it on 5GHz some older drivers really hate it. We had to drop ours back down to 2.4Ghz because of compatibility issues with LeBoyfriend's laptop.

[mac_shinobi]

One other thing to try is dropping the router down to 802.11 b/g speeds.. I had similar probs with older (4-5 yr old) laptop when I got the new virgin connection here.. Kept dropping out, reigned the router back from .11n speeds to .11b/g and suddenly everything working fine..!!

 

The virgin media router aka superhub are pants. Got mine in modem mode with my own router attached, works great.

 

I tried

 

* Adjusting the speed from .11n to b/g speeds

* Tried different encryption methods

etc

 

The best way of adjusting settings I found at least on the virgin media superhub was to use the WEB GUI , remote on and adjust whichever settings you wanted, apply them, wait 30 seconds for them to be applied and then log off of the router, power cycle the router , give it a few mins to load everything etc and then try again.

 

Also does it make any difference if it is a hidden SSID or a broadcasted SSID ?

 

or as per @AMLightfoot's suggestion - update the routers firmware if this is possible

Edited August 7, 2012 by mac_shinobi

[AMLinington]

The virgin media router aka superhub are pants. Got mine in modem mode with my own router attached, works great.

 

Indeed. I plan to do exactly that when we've finished decorating. Until then I only want to worry about 1 device, not two! lol

[michael2k6]

+100000 for the power management. Happens all the time. Check the BIOS settings even, that's tripped me up beyond the power management in the software. I've seen 3rd party power management such as lenovo crap do it before, but there's also a setting on the device in device manager which is something along the lines of allow power management to control this device. Turn that off saves you going through everything else. I think that might have been mentioned but I've only skimmed the thread as i'm sleepy.

 

Mic

[mac_shinobi]

Not sure how much the below will help because you stated that the connection works fine via ethernet physically connected as apposed to obviously a wireless connection but just so all the protocols etc are set back to defaults you could try :

 

1. Reset tcp/ip stack ( as per the below MS KB ) :

 

How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

 

2. Reset the winsock settings ( as per below article )

 

Repair/Reset Winsock settings

 

netsh winsock reset catalog

 

3. Reset the Hosts file

 

How can I reset the Hosts file back to the default?

 

Also make sure the WLAN NIC in the IP settings ( presumably IPv4 ) does not have any static or manual ip address settings set, if so set back to DHCP ( obviously ).

 

The other only thing I can think of is to ( seeing as it is 4 years old I presume there is no warranty on said laptop ) so you should be able to find a guide via google to take the laptop apart to a degree just so you can get access to where the wireless card is and

 

1. Disconnect the wires / aerial cables ( whatever you want to call them ) and make a note of which cable connects to which connector on the wireless card, take the wireless card out and reseat it just to make sure its seated firmly and correctly.

2. take off the wired connectors and plug them back on just to make sure they are attached correctly.

 

Put the laptop back together and power on and try again ??

[mac_shinobi]

Just wondering how you are getting on with this

 

Thanks

[sparkeh]

Just wondering how you are getting on with this

 

Thanks

They have disappeared on holiday for a month!

I will continue with this when they get back.

Thanks everyone

[mac_shinobi]

Forgot to mention I normally do all 3 of the above and then it requires a reboot / restarting windows before the changes take effect ( at least for the resetting of winsock settings and resetting tcp/ip settings. ) Most likely a given obvious

[plexer]

Well touch wood I've solved this with my win7 laptop, latest nic driver and changed the power settings to never put the laptop to sleep a long with the usual uncheck "allow the computer to put this device to sleep" for the wireless nic.

 

Ben

[CESIL]

Which channels have you tried? I have always gone for channel 13 and this seems to be interference free as most standard routers go for lower channels...

 

Have you tried looked at which channels are in in use around them with inSSIDer?

[sparkeh]

As requested, an update.

Since they have been back from holiday the wireless has worked flawlessly.

Also I want all the hours back I spent troubleshooting it for it just to fix itself *mumble* *grumble*

[mac_shinobi]

As requested, an update.

Since they have been back from holiday the wireless has worked flawlessly.

Also I want all the hours back I spent troubleshooting it for it just to fix itself *mumble* *grumble*

 

Just wondering if 02 or ISP have secretly pushed out a firmware update for the router ( assuming its the same router that 02 gave them originally ) ??

 

I know virgin media are always pushing out firmware updates to the super hubs. Just a question if you can remember the original firmware version before you came back to find out it works fine.

[tollfreenumbers]

It's sad that the parental control features are gone, but the Linksys WRT54G *does* have a logging feature in its firmware. It's not a specific parental control feature, in that it doesn't allow you to block sites or anything, but if the log is activated then you can see all inbound and outbound connections. It has a simple interface and works very well --- I've used it for a couple of years now to keep an eye on things in my house. The WRT54G is a solid router and is still for sale pretty much everywhere. Good luck!