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Latop frequently drops connection to router

Mathias
Grafter
Posts: 242
Registered: ‎21-08-2008

Latop frequently drops connection to router

I have a Dell Inpsiron 9100 laptop and a Thomson TG585v7 router.
The laptop frequently drops connection with the router, requiring me to use the wireless radio utility on the laptop to run a quick diagnostic on the line, this test runs fine and once completed allows me to reconnect to the router, but obviously cuases problems if a connection is dropped during a download.
When the connection between laptop and router has dropped any other device (eg my phone and girlfriends laptop) is unnaffected and can browse as normal, so the issue is strictly between the dell and the router.
The old D-Link router i had worked perfectly fine with the laptop, so i wonder if its some setting conflict with this router.
The disconnects started when using P2P traffic, so i assumed that Plusnet may have been blocking it, but now it occurs with streaming on iplayer etc.
I can't seem to upgrade the firmware on the router, which i could previously with the D-link, which i thought may help.
Any help please?
8 REPLIES 8
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

Hi mathias,
what operating system is it?
Jojo Smiley
Mathias
Grafter
Posts: 242
Registered: ‎21-08-2008

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

Sorry, its XP
MrT
Grafter
Posts: 379
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

@Mathias
Does P2P and iPlayer work ok on your girlfriend's laptop?
If it does then I suggest you try connecting your Dell laptop to your router using an ethernet cable and disable your WLAN card. Then try running P2P and iPlayer and see what happens.
If it works ok via ethernet then you probably have issues with the WLAN card (could be hardware or firmware) or you might have a problem with the Windows XP Driver software.
Presumably when your wireless link is working on your Dell laptop, you are getting Good or Excellent Signal Strength?
Apologies if you have already done some or all of these checks.  Roll_eyes
Mathias
Grafter
Posts: 242
Registered: ‎21-08-2008

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

Thanks for the suggestions, Mr T i will try the ethernet cable tonight and a few sites on my girlfriend's laptop. The signal strength i get is very good if not excellent, so that's not a problem.
The activity that normally causes the failure is using Winamp Remote to stream my music to my xbox. Used to work perfectly fine with the old d-link router so not sure why it doesn't any more.
If the problem is driver related to the wireless card, i have the "latest" Dell drivers (the laptop is now 6 years old), so they don't produce them any more. I can't seem to get the latest drivers for the router though as there doesn't seem to be an option for it in the menus.
wisty
Pro
Posts: 591
Thanks: 112
Fixes: 8
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

Mathias,
One thing you might want to try is changing the wireless security method on the router and laptop ( you will need to change it on the girlfriends as well unless you do it simply as a test when she is not using it). I have had problems with wireless dropping out between my router (Netgear DG834GT with DGTeam firmware) and a Windows W7 laptop. It used to drop frequently using WPA2-PSK but was rock solid with WEP or WPA-PSK.
Since the latest release of the router firmware however WPA2-PSK has also been rock solid.
Given that it works on the other devices it could be a problem with the DELL implementation of the security method, something incompatible with the new router ( did you upgrade the security method when you changed the router?) 
Mathias
Grafter
Posts: 242
Registered: ‎21-08-2008

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

Hi wisty, thanks for the suggestions.
I tried WEP and tbh it was no better if not worse, the wireless light on the router went from green to orange and the laptop still disconnected. My phone and xbox, which connected to it on WEP were fine though, my girlfriend's laptop wasn't available so didn't try it. i therefore have changed it back to WPA/WPA2.
I tried changing the channel from 6 to 11, since there are quite a few other routers on channel 6 in the nearby area and i thought that may impact it, but that didn't really help.
As a final resort late last night i reinstalled the wireless card drivers from Dell, am yet to test if that helps, so we'll see tonight.
Out of interest what traffic would the winamp remote generate and would Plusnet restrict/block it for some reason as that is the main thing that causes the disconnects of the wireless radio? The program used to work perfectly fine with the d-link router and it hasn't changed so i know its ok.
What did you mean with "did you upgrade the security method?", i have just left it at WPA/WPA2, the laptop connects with WPA2 apparently?
Thanks for the help.
Mathias
Grafter
Posts: 242
Registered: ‎21-08-2008

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

A reinstall of the firmware of the wireless card seems to have fixed it, have used winamp remote all evening and have not had a single disconnect, which would have been nigh impossible previously.
Thanks for all the suggestions though.
wisty
Pro
Posts: 591
Thanks: 112
Fixes: 8
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Latop frequently drops connection to router

Glad you found a fix for it.
By asking "did you upgrade the security method?" I was trying to discover if the laptop connected to the old router using WPA and to the new router using a different method ( WPA2? perhaps). Most wireless routers offer a choice of security models, and I wondered if you had taken advantage of the new router to change to a more secure  encryption scheme. If the old router had only offered WPA and the new one was using WPA2 then one possibility was that the Dell's wireless card was struggling with the newer security model.