I have an Inspiron 9100 w/a wireless internet card, and I'm having problems staying connected to a wireless network. I'll be connected to the network for a while and then my connection will just randomly drop out. It seems like it happens everytime I use Skype (it has also just happened when I've been on AIM or just using my browser). It hasn't really dropped at all while I've been away from my computer, just while I'm here using it. I'm studying outside of the US, so I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it. The connection is wireless g and I know my card is a g card, so thats not the problem. Also, I've read it could be a power issue, but my comp is plugged into the outlet (I don't unplug it). I'm running XP Pro too if that matters at all. I'm not sure what other settings you need to know to help me out, but any other help will be appreciated.
At the moment, its set to 6. I had it set on 11 when I got here, and it was dropping out so I changed to 6 to see if that would make a difference....it didn't. There are no 2.4gHz phones or anything like that in my room, but I'm not sure about the other rooms around mine.
Are there any other 2.4 Ghz wireless devices in the vicinity (like 2.4 Ghz cordless phones)? If so, try changing the channel on the router to one of the extreme channels.
Another thing to try is to go into Device Manager, expand the listings for Network Adapters, right click on your wireless adapter and select Properties from the drop down menu. If there is a Power Management tab, click on that and set the power savings mode to never to turn off the wireless connection.
I had a problem similar to yours. My wireless connection would drop every 5-10 minutes. What corrected it was I went into Network Connections, right-clicked my Wireless Lan icon, left-clicked properties, then went to the Wireless Networks tab, selected the wireless connection I was using, clicked the properties button, then selected the Authentication tab, and unchecked the box next to "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" and never had a problem with drops again. Maybe that might work for you.
I change the channel to 1 to see if its any different than 6 or 11, but I doubt it will be. I'll post and let you know. Also, the network I'm on requires me to have IEEE 802.1x authentication enabled. I'm not totally sure if that is a problem anyway, because I know people who have the same set up and they never lose their connections. Thx for the responses so far.
volcano11
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Posted September 3rd, 2006 20:00
Which make and model wireless network adapter do you have? If it is an Intel wireless adapter, see the following:
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-006205.htm
Steve