Connection keeps dropping

jpleslie,

Try using these Recommended Wireless Router Settings imn your wireless router, I use channel 11.

Also try these tweaks and also look for one in the device manager for your wireless card.

Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager)

Go to the USB Controller section and click the + sign.

Go to each USB Root Hub and right click on it, left click properties, left click power management. Uncheck the box, allow computer to turn off this device to save power.

Restart your computer.

--------------------------------------

Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager). Click on Network and then right click on your wireless adapter, left click properties, power management. Uncheck the box, allow computer to turn off this device to save power.

Rick

Thanks for the suggestions. Since this NIC is a PC card slot type and not a USB, I wouldn't think of disabling power mgmt on the root hubs, but I did anyway. As for disabling power mgmt on the NIC itself, that's one of the first things I do on any PC for all NICs when I set them up (I work in IT).

As for the recommended settings on the link, I already used most of them except I believe in disabling the SSID. I realize someone who tries hard enought can discover it, but anything I can do to thwart the casual hacker I will do. I read up on wireless channels but didn't find anything that said any particular channels work better than others. What I did read is that you should choose a channel that is least used and as far away as possible from other used channels. I was using 7 but I tried 4 other channels just in case. Each time, trying to copy a large file gave the same results. About a minute into the transfer, the connection fails and I have to disable/reenable the NIC to re-establish the connection. Next I tried assigning a static IP to the NIC. That didn't help either.

So at this point, I'm beginning to think that either this NIC isn't worth the money I paid for it or else this 2650 just doesn't like using wireless as I don't know what else there could be that is causing the problem. If I had a USB stick NIC I'd try it.

I suppose that it's possible that there is something about my router that doesn't like this NIC but since I don't have another wireless router to try, I can't test that theory either.

JL

Thanks for the suggestions Rick. Since this NIC is a PC card slot type and not a USB, I wouldn't think disabling power mgmt on the root hubs would have any effect in this case, but I did it anyway. As for disabling power mgmt on the NIC itself, that's one of the first things I do on any PC for all NICs when I set them up (I work in IT).

As for the recommended settings on the link, I already used most of them except I believe in disabling the SSID. I realize someone who tries hard enought can discover it, but anything I can do to thwart the casual hacker I will do. I read up on wireless channels but didn't find anything that said any particular channels work better than others. What I did read is that you should choose a channel that is least used and as far away as possible from other used channels. I was using 7 but I tried 4 other channels just in case. Each time, trying to copy a large file gave the same results. About a minute into the transfer, the connection fails and I have to disable/reenable the NIC to re-establish the connection. Next I tried assigning a static IP to the NIC. That didn't help either.

So at this point, I'm beginning to think that either this NIC isn't worth the money I paid for it or else this 2650 just doesn't like using wireless as I don't know what else there could be that is causing the problem. If I had a USB stick NIC I'd try it.

I suppose that it's possible that there is something about my router that doesn't like this NIC but since I don't have another wireless router to try, I can't test that theory either.

JL

jpleslie,

Did you try WPA-PSK(TKIP) Security(Personal)

Channel 11

Mixed mode

Broadcast SSID

See it it connects. If no,then try with no security. If connects, try with WEP. Had an issue where a Belkin Wireless N router did not know the difference between WPA-PSK and WPA-AES and then the wireless device could not connect using WPA Sceurity of any type. They have to drop bac to WEP. They returned the wireless N router.

Rick

Sorry, I forgot to say that I've been using WPA-PSK(TKIP) for about 2 years now, as well as mixed mode. Channel 11 was one of the 4 other channels I tried which made no difference. I tried enabling SSID broadcasting but it didn't help so I again disabled it for the reason that I already stated.

However, I believe you discovered the root of the problem with the suggestion to try a lower level of security. I changed it from WPA-PSK(TKIP) to WEP and so far I was able to copy a 150MB file and I'm about halfway through copying a 700MB file. This is the first time I've been able to copy a file larger than 20MB without the connection shutting down.

Since I haven't experienced any problems of this sort with the HP laptop using my router, then I really don't think the router is the cause of the issue. So my conclusion is that either this budget NIC isn't capabile of sustaining a connection under load using WPA-PSK security or the PC Card circuit is somehow not up to it.

So I'm going to return this budget NIC and rethink just what I want to do. Which would mean in order to maintain using wireless I need to get a more expensive PC Card wireless NIC or somehow do without the use of the second USB port and use a USB stick type of wireless NIC. Do you agree?

JL

Rick, one other thing I noticed is that when the security was WEP, the link speed was most of the time at 54 Mbps, occasionally dropping to the 40's. But when I have security set to WPA-PSK, the link speed is down around 18 +/- 6 Mbps. I don't know if this is normal or if it is an indication of either this cheaper NIC or this older Dell PC unable to maintain the higher speed with the higher level of security. Do you have any idea?

JL

jpleslie,

WPA2-AES is faster

WPA-AES is also

WPA-PSK(TKIP) Security Personal is secure but slower that AES

WEP is slow, also and can be hacked in less than 10 minutes.

Open security is slow and can get slower with people using your internet connection.

Did you ever update the firmware in your wireless router? They sit in a warehouse for a long period of time and got out-dated.

Rick

Rick, sorry I forgot to mention before but my router has the latest firmware. It's at least 3 years old, possibly 5, so it's not what you would call the newest router. As a matter of fact, when setting wireless security in the router, you can choose Disabled, WEP, WPA, and WPA-PSK. With the WPA option, you have to set up a Radius server which of course I don't have and don't plan on setting up though I do use Windows 2003 Server for DHCP and DNS since I have my own home AD domain. So I'm pretty sure this router won't support AES as I don't see any options for encryption type to choose between TKIP and AES.

I still think the problem is with the PC Card NIC I got for the Dell though since I don't have any of these problems I've described with my HP laptop with its built-in wireless.

JL

jpleslie,

If it's under warranty, then contact Dell.

Rick

As the laptop is several years old, it is quite beyond its warranty. I guess I will see if I can fine another wireless NIC to borrow to test to see if I can determine if the file copy problem is due to the NIC or the laptop. Thanks for your help!

JL

I solved this by trading in the PC Card NIC and getting a different brand of NIC which is a USB type. It runs full speed and copies any size of file. I still wish I had a PC Card NIC as it's less obtrusive and so less likely to break but I'll go with what works.

JL

jpleslie,

Glad you got it working! :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.

Take care,

Rick

Rick, I have a post note to add. Getting the other NIC took care of my problem at home, but I ran into another problem. I took the laptop to my church where I'm the system admin and tried to connect to the wireless there. I and others have connected many devices, laptops, iPads, cell phones, etc to it and this is the first time I couldn't connect a device. The WAP is a Cisco Aironet 1200. I can see the WAP from the laptop and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have the settings in the NIC correct, but it just can't connect to grab an IP. I pulled the NIC and borrowed a Linksys NIC from a PC to try. After installing the software for it and configuring it, the NIC connected right up.

So I'm guessing that this Tenda NIC is a marginal NIC and may or may not connect to a WAP depending on what the WAP is. Does that sound correct? I can't think of any other conclusion.

JL

 jpleslie,

Honestly, I would make a new thread and hope someone else has that answer for you. I know enough about networking to hopefully get people connected to their wireless networks. I would like to know more but sometimes do not have enough time to do research. Some people do use a different profile in their wireless adapter program to allow for quick connections to different networks.

Rick