connection problem WRT54G and centrino dell

Same Here. Here's my story...

I'm sick & tired of constantly loosing sync w this Intel Pro wireless 2200BG card.
I own both a linksys WRT54G v2.0 router and a Dell 700m laptop.
My connection is awesome at full speed when connected to my wired desktop.
But my laptop is another story. No matter what kind of protection I use whether its wep or wpa personal, I loose my connection at random times and my connection seems to get slower..
I give up. I tried various drivers and I'm tired.
What ta heck is the problem??
Is it the router or the wireless card?
I tried changing some settings on both the wireless card and router and no luck.

I was gonna buy a new wireless card but I don't want the same thing happening.
Even while I'm typing this I just lost my connection again :scratch:

I think it may have to do w the wireless card and linksys.
Somehow when using a g connection is where problems occur.

Right now I'm connected to another network w a "B wireless access" and seems to run fine.

just updated this very moment. New version is 4.20.7
I had 4.20.6

Let's see how this works out.. Crossing fingers!!

Thanks.

Here's my experience so far. I thought I'd write and maybe something here will help somebody else.

I've been having a heck of a time with a new Inspiron 6000 with a PRO/Wireless 2200, hardware version 2.1.3. I'm running a Linksys WRT54G with firmware version 4.20.6 (latest), the high gain antenna kit, running in WPA2 mode with AES encryption.

The symptoms are similar to what many others have mentioned (here and in other forums), and maybe a couple extra:
Good initial connection
WiFi light goes out all by itself after a minute or so, even though the connection is still live. Toggling Fn/F2 twice turns it back on.
Speed varies quite a bit with no apparent cause - no change in position, no interfering appliances, etc.
Connection dropped with no apparent cause. Sometimes connection reestablishes, sometimes it's gone for 5-10 maddening minutes and then comes back spontaneously with 54Mb speed!!

I started out assuming trouble with router, since I was also having **very** slow speed on my desktop system connected by wire to the router. linksys eventually agreed it was probably hardware problem. I got it replaced. Guess what? Same trouble. Turned out it seems it was some sort of problem with wire connection running at 100Mb. I set the interface to 10Mb and all trouble cleared up.

I still had trouble losing connection. I bought the high-gain antenna kit from Linksys. Seemed to help at distance with signal strength as seen by Net Stumbler.
I downloaded the latest software from Dell, driver 9.0.2.25. No help.
Eventually I called Dell and spoke with a friendly guy in India named 'Jim' (!!). He talked me through re-seating the wifi card and antenna connections. It seemed to help for a while, but then everything went back to the way it was. I repeated the operation just to be sure. No dice. Sigh.

Now things got really weird. I took the thing to work where there's an open, unencrypted network. It seemed to work fine there! I have access to a Dell Latitude D810 with the same wireless card, running driver 9.0.0.61. It worked fine at home also, although it did seem to lose speed somewhat.

I took my laptop in to work two more days and it ran fine at full speed for the full 8 hours on both days. Something's sure fishy.

To rub salt in the wound, I looked up the paperwork and found I was a couple of days past the 30 days on the Dell, so now I have no option but to fix the thing, can't send it back. Thing is, I really like the laptop, it's just the wireless that's giving trouble. The time got away from me because I don't have very many 2-3 hour slots to work on this and with all the screwing around with the router, the time just slipped away. Anyway, I digress.

Today, spurred on by comments on this and other forums, I downloaded the latest driver from Intel itself, driver 9.0.2.31, which seemed to have solved all the problems for some other people. Just to keep giving me false hopes, it seemed to be working great - for a while. Then the usual nonsense started again. Slow downs, dropped connections, etc. really frustrating.

Finally Sat evening I became aware that two other networks I can pick up, especially with Network Stumbler, were running on channel 6, the same one I was using. I had been aware of this, but assumed since their signals were much weaker than mine they would cause no trouble. Tonight I switched to channel 11 and -- guess what -- I've had a good solid 48-54Mb connection working at good speed for over 2 hours straight, and I'm near the maximum distance from the router I would normally be at.

So at this point, it appears the most trouble has been caused by the interference from other routers. I live in a rural area with the houses pretty far apart. What would happen if I lived in an apartment and was surrounded with a dozen access points?

somewhere along the line, after I discovered it worked at work, I had also switched off all the WPA stuff and ran a completely unprotected router - that didn't really matter.

Believe it or not, this is a very abbreviated version of all the grief I went through -- it's been over a month, after all -- so many details are probably omitted. I'm not sure the change in channels is the ONLY thing that helped, it may be that it was just the last thing of several that were necessary. I'm typing this on the wireless machine so we'll see if I can send it!!

(Sunday morning)

Looks like I wrote too soon. Sat night I pulled the plug on the laptop, leaving it on battery, and took it to the bedroom to prepare for the night. I left it sit on battery while I got ready and when I came back it had gone to sleep. When I woke it up, the connection was made, excellent signal, then lost with "no signal", then made, then lost, then made, then lost....You get the idea. Nothing I did would change it or get the connection back. So I just shut it down for the night.

This morning I booted back up and it said there was no wireless card!! Fn/F2 didn't turn on the light. I went to bios and turned it on there, then it came up on boot, but like last night it was there, then not, then there, .... etc. I realized that, other than being closer to the router than last night, there was one other thing different -- I was running on battery. I plugged in the power adapter and, viola, I now have a steady, good connection again! The wifi light did spontaneously go out once, but the connection was not lost. Toggling with Fn/F2 twice turned the light back on and now it seems steady. The saga continues.....
(Monday Morning)
this morning, I turned on the 6000 on battery. No connection. Nada. Zip. I waited a few minutes and nothing improved. Then I plugged in the external power supply. In just a few seconds, I had a good, steady connection. A few minutes later, I unplugged the power supply again and the connection stayed OK. So, this looks like a power management problem.

Wrapup at this point. Things I have done, some of which may have helped:

replaced router (probably not necessary)
installed latest software on WAP
installed latest driver and software direct from Intel (I know Intel says get it from the laptop mfr, but Dell doesn't have the latest)
put high gain antenna on router (probably not necessary)
changed settings for 2200BG card to hi power all the time.
changed power management setting on 2200BG to "highest"
changed from channel 6 to channel 11 (definitely changed situation)

I've read lots of opinions about this issue, but my conclusion at this point is that there's not one "fix" that's gonna fix everybody's troubles. There could actually be several things that need to be done (I'm not completely happy yet, but I'm getting a lot closer). From my experience there are at least two things that made a lasting difference: changing channel and power settings, and upgrading driver to Intel's latest. I'm not sure some other things haven't contributed also. It's very hard to figure this out because it's very complex and there are clearly card/laptop/router interactions going on the determine how things are going to work.

by the way, on Intel's website in the release notes for their latest driver 9.0.2.31 under problems fixed it says something like "intermittent connection loss".!!

From everything

The Dell version of Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG v.9.0.2.31 driver is also available.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R107434&SystemID=INS_PNT_6000&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=5896&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=3&formatcnt=1&fileid=139213

Thanks for the link. This is a very recent posting from Dell and I seriously doubt it's any different (better?) than the one from Intel, but it'd be worth a look. Last night I booted up in battery mode and, after an "excellent signal strength" connection it again went quickly dead - no connection, no wifi light, etc. I toggled Fn/F2 and got the light back on, but over the span of 10 minutes there was nothing I could find to do that would restore the connection. I finally plugged in the AC adapter, expecting that to cure things, but no - it didn't change anything. Rebooting didn't help. I finally toggled the wifi on-off-on-off-on a few times with Fn/F2 and suddenly I got a connection - excellent. While checking email and stuff, the speed kept decreasing but I didn't lose the connection completely.

So, unless there's some trick I'm missing, this thing just doesn't work well. Certainly can't depend on getting a connection, not to mention a good one. Things definitely work better with AC connected. This seems to have to do with power management, but others have suggested elsewhere that there's some kind of negotiation going on between the router and card and that may be at fault. Maybe it's worth switching from G to B and seeing what that does. If I need high speed occasionally, I can always plug directly into the router with a *wire*. Sigh.

A couple of questions: 1) Are we limited to channels 1,6 and 11? These are the channels always mentioned. What about the others? 2) Is it possible to replace the 2200BG card in the I6000 with one from another manufacturer, one that actually works? If so, what would that be? I hate thinking like this because this is a NEW machine but it's just frustrating as anything to keep putting up with this stuff.

Thanks for the info on channels. Although switching channels did make a big difference in performance, it'd be a stretch to say it "works". The problems most people are having seem to be pretty intractable. I'll read somewhere where "I did this and it fixed my problems" or "I did that and it fixed my problem", but there doesn't seem to be any consistent answer for the troubles which apparently mostly affect the 2200BG card and/or its software/drivers. Other Intel cards are sometimes mentioned, too. It's just so frustrating to see other people whip open their laptops, connect immediately, and go about their thing while I'm sitting here just wishing for a connection. I think somebody earlier in this forum (Molly) mentioned having this experience too. I quite honestly don't know where to go next. I'm just tired of all this and wish I could make it work reliably.

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@zozma wrote:
I think somebody earlier in this forum (Molly) mentioned having this experience too.

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Sorry, I think "Molly" was on a different forum or at least a different thread.

Esquire, I don't think you really meant "unfortunately". I'd be dancing in the streets if I were you!!:) Actually I seem to have had a major breakthrough. It was you who suggested, in a different thread (Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 and Wireless Router WRT54GXv2 Problems) that some folks have benefitted from lowering the Group Key Renewal interval. I tried setting mine down from 3600 to 600 seconds. At this writing, I have been successfully connected at full speed for maybe a couple of hours, including a couple of hibernates and complete reboots. This was all on batteries, no AC. I say "cautiously" since I've been fooled before, but if things keep going as they are now, I'd say I've finally found the final key to my problems, thanks to you.

If my good fortune continues, I'll try to put together a list of things which I am doing that have gotten me to this point and post it on several forums. The only way we're going to help each other is if we're willing to take the time to share in detail what has worked for us.

Glad to hear from you that lowering the renewal interval appears to have helped.  FINGERS CROSSED!!

Linksysinfo.org has documented this to be beneficial for a couple of years now, but it's still one of those things that may work on some but not on others.

Another suggestion from Linksysinfo.org is to set the router's Beacon interval to 50 (Wireless > Advanced Wireless Settings)

Message Edited by esquire on 09-29-2005 10:50 AM

Well I knew it was too good to be true! Last night I sat with the thing for over an hour and probably had a total of 5 minutes of usable connection. I'm beginning to feel like there's an almost total disconnect between cause and effect here. It seems that I make a change; things seem better; then after a time things go back to where they were. Random. Once I lost the connection, nothing I did would get it back. An interesting point is that NetStumbler usually shows three WAPs when things are working well. When I could get no connection, NetStumbler also shows no WAPs available.

I'll look for the change you suggest. I probably won't get more time to play with this (play? Isn't "play" when you're having fun??) until Friday night at soonest. (I'm wasting my employer's time now - not on the laptop.)

I think, esquire, you have at least some of the exact same equipment as I do: I6000 with 2200 card and WRT54G wireless router. At some point, do you think it'd be possible for you to list all the settings, driver and firmware versions, etc. that you are using? I'm really running out of hope that I'm ever going to get this thing working consistently.

Some folks on another thread have recommended to rolling back to a much earlier version of Intel driver, 8.0.-- I believe. I may try that next.

Thanks for all the help. I'll keep plugging. I'm sure learning a lot more about wirless than I wanted to.