Why does my wireless router keep booting me offline?
 

Got myself a new Netgear 108Mbps DG834GT wireless ADSL router which I have connected to my laptop (running XP) via a Netgear WG511T PC card.

Every so often the internet connection drops off, even though the status window says :

Speed : 54Mbps
Signal Strength : Excellent
Status : Connected

Occassionally the web just won't connect and a re-boot of the router usually sorts it, but surely it shouldn;t be dropping off like this?

Any suggestions?

(I'm a bit ham-fisted with these sort of things btw :thumb:)

Have you tried changing the channel of the router. Most of them have a default of 11, try chaning it to 7. It could be be you're getting interference from another router.

Agree, I have had alot of problems recently on channel 11 with my D-Link and have switched to 10 and it is definately more stable.

I've heard of a few problems with that particular router.

Some have tried upgrading the firmware to the latest one, some have found an older version that works great.

Changing Channels would be a good start though

It sounds more like the internet connection is dropping out rather than the wireless ..

Can you hit the router's admin screen when it dies ?


Steve

Is it when someone is on the phone?

I've seen this twice now (in different places) due to cheap filters.
Decent filters fitted, no probs since in both cases.

Cheers for the suggestions guys....
How do I manually change to Channel 7? It keeps defaulting to 11 :wonder:

Bear with me, I'm not the most PC literate guy you'll ever meet! :D

You need to login to your router

Normally it's 192.168.0.1 so type that in your browser.

Type in username and password for router (normally 'admin' and 'password' :D)

Select Wireless LAN section and change channel

Cheers Jowl :thumb:

Thats me changed to channel 7, so I'll see if that makes a difference.

Also, my security appears to be disabled....

This is what I see.... what should the setting say? :iamwithst

http://hillparktaekwondo.com/desktop.jpg

Can anyone talk this neanderthal through setting up my security settings so that freeloaders don't piggyback my wireless, like someone is doing now I think...... :Suspiciou

Its not me :razz: ;) :D

talizman

You need to set security as WPA ("Advanced" on that screen), and select a pass phrase of at least ten characters - use some easy to remember phrase with no spaces. However, note that this will tie you to channel 6! But WEP is too easy to break. Make sure you've changed the router password, and make sure you turn SSID broadcast off. You also need to set the router so that it will only accept connections from set MAC addresses (use "ipconfig /all" in a DOS window to find the MAC address of the lappy if it's not on a sticker on it).

But in answer to the original question: it seems to be a fault with that router. Mine does it whenever a neighbour is accessing the net, even though he/she uses a different channel.

Edit: I forgot to say: you'll also need to set an SSID for your network. Again, pick a word or phrase up to (IIRC) 16 characters. Note that all passwords, phrases etc used are case-dependant!


M

mine does the same, this router is crap and netgear know it, but dont seem to be doing much about it.
Loads of people are having the same problem, have a read here

Thanks guys, I'll give them a bash :)

Funny how the salesman didn't tell me that this router was rubbish :mad:

My problems don't seem to be anywhere near as severe as some on that thread. About once every few weeks the thing will overheat and lock up. All the lights say everything is working, but the connections are all dead (I use it as a router/switch for my four machines, as well as a modem). This used to be an issue with the old wired DG834, but a firmware change finally fixed it.

But the DG834GT and the WG311T NICs I use seem to need a lot of care in how you point the aerials - you might need to try various point and tilt attempts to get good reception. You used to be able to get range extender aerials as well, which might help.


M