Intermittent Connection Through WiFi

I connect to the internet via an Asus AAM6000EV ADSL modem (more than 6 years old) and a D-Link DI524UP wireless router (about 3 years old). I have a Toshiba Tecra S2 laptop running XP SP2. I never have any problems when connected to the router by ethernet cable, and until recently the WiFi connection also worked reasonably reliably over a short distance. Lately, things have changed. When I first boot the computer I can use WiFi with no problems. After a while, it seems to go to sleep. The wireless signal remains excellent but when I try to do anything with it, like nothing happens - neither Outlook Express nor Firefox see an internet connection for long enough to connect, if they see one at all. Sometimes this situation will last for a few minutes, and sometimes forever, until I restart my laptop to start the process over again Switching off WiFi and reconnecting does no good. I thought I must have had a problem with my laptop's wireless adapter, but another laptop in the household is having exactly the same problem. Having the problem go away on restarting the laptop makes no sense to me if the fault isn't in the laptop.

Is unreliable behaviour of this sort typical of home WiFi setups? I didn't have the problem this badly until recently. Does it suggest that the D-Link router is on the way out? As the problem is intermittent I know that the router will perform perfectly if I take it to a technician. In any case, the cost of having a technician check it is probably close to that of a new router, but I'd be annoyed if I buy a new router (with printer server as I have now) and the problem is still there.

Any suggestions as to what I can do to resolve this problem, or at least find its cause?

 

Have you rebooted the modem or router of late, I find if I have slow connection speed by rebooting my Modem/Router seems to sort it out, if the problem is still intermitent, see if you can borrow a router to test with before buying a new one, and then you would be better off buying a WiFi Modem/Router.
Regards
Jac

 

Thanks Jac. Yes, I've rebooted both modem and router recently. I'll try again.

 

Hmmm. It's difficult not to think dying hardware.

However, it could be a signal strength problem. Either a new wireless network in your area or a new bit of electrical equipment emitting a lot of wireless noise. So first thing to try is changing the wireless channel the router is using. This setting is shown on page 13 of this guide for your router:

ftp://ftp.dlink.co.uk/di_broadband_gateways/di-524/di-524_manual.pdf

Change it to something at least 3 units different to your current setting - so if 7: 4 or 10 would be fine but 6 wouldn't make a lot of difference (the channels overlap a little).

 

Thanks for your suggestion Reggie. It was set to channel 6. I've tried various settings down to channel 1 and up to channel 10. No change. I'm leaning towards the dying hardware scenario and will try another router when I can get one.

 

its sure a long rambling question that is hard to read
I did my best
Are you on dsl or cable broadband
dsl can take some time to kick in generally even on an ethernet cable
There is also a setting for dsl in routers to resume on activity ( router shuts down for security reasons on inactivity) . Try turning this switch to always remain on. Its usually near the connection type setup

The biggest problem by far with wi fi is interference
Signals can drift in out of the blue and cause interference
You often will not see the interference
It can even be a different brand with a different ssid
99 % of wi fi wireless problems are solved by simply changing the channel
Change the channel from the default channel 6 to anything else
Channels 1 and 11 are first picks as they are clear , non overlapping channels
Next change the ssid so that it is not the default ssid of the router brand - often default , linksys or wireless
Next if encryption is not turned on turn it on
Make sure the router is high and not cluttered or obstructed in any way
Metal doors , filing cabinets , pipes in walls , metal lathing of plaster etc etc all cause major reductions in range and speed
One not to bright person i used to know placed the wireless router on the floor in a furnace room in the basement under a heavy metal office desk
In addition to the metal furnace , water tank and metal heating ducts there were full metal filing cabinets and of course the well made substantial desk to block the signal well.
Several last points , - if an adapter is usb try a usb extension cord to get the usb adapter high and away from the metal of the computer case and metal pipes in the wall , if its a pci adapter move the computer away from the wall , often moving the router over a foot or so will help, if everything is g adapters you can try setting to g only wireless rather than mixed
Lastly - a very useful home networking program is network magic
Even the free version is helpful