[Seansdad]

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 using a Broadcom 802.11g adapter to a dLink router. Everything fine until last weekend when the PC started having problems connecting to the router. The router seems to be fine as my laptop can connect everytime wirelessly. When the PC tries to connect wirelessly, sometimes the adapter cannot find any networks, sometimes it can connect to the router but not the internet. Connecting with the ethernet cable however is fine and even the wireless connection works once it has been given a jump-start by being connected using the cable first.

Like most first posters here, I'm frustrated by ny inability to fix this despite having googled this problem most of this week.

Anyone out there who can help me?

[computerguy1990]

Are you running secuirty on the router try turning off any wep or wpa2 security and try it and see if it works properly or not. Also how far are you from the router may be the reason you cant find the signal at times.

[Seansdad]

Thanks for your reply. I may be wrong but I can't see how either security or the positioning of the router can be the problem as up until last weekend I had no problems connecting wirelessly with the router in the current location and security state and it has been like that for the last nine months. It seems to me that something has changed/worn out/updated which has caued the problem but I don't know what that might be or where to start looking!

As I noted, the wireless connection works fine once I have given the router a jump start by connection via an ethernet cable and wireless continues to work once the cable is removed so I would have thought that something else might be the problem - or am I way off beam???

[JohnWill]

Well, clearly something has changed, so running through some common fixes is probably warranted.

If you still have the problem, I'd do some basic fixes for the router, just to insure that's not an issue.


Some things you can try here, listed in the order you should try them.

1. For wireless connections, remove all the stored wireless profiles and search for networks. You'll have to enter the encryption key again, which is sometimes the issue for connection problems.
2. For wireless connections, change the channel on the router, I like channels 1, 6, and 11 in the US.
3. For wireless connections, try moving either the wireless router/AP or the wireless computer. Even a couple of feet will sometimes make a big difference.
4. Update the network drivers (wired and wireless) on your computer to the latest available.
5. Update the firmware to the latest version available on the manufacturer's site.
6. Reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure.

Many times these measures will resolve a lot of intermittent issues.

[computerguy1990]

It is also very possible that where your laptop is there is another wireless signal other then your own in the area and your laptop may try to connect to that one if it discovers the connection has better strength then yours. Do you live in an apartment? Because that was the problem I was having in my apartment all the routers that werent password protected would right for my connection.

[Seansdad]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

Well, clearly something has changed, so running through some common fixes is probably warranted.

If you still have the problem, I'd do some basic fixes for the router, just to insure that's not an issue.


Some things you can try here, listed in the order you should try them.

1. For wireless connections, remove all the stored wireless profiles and search for networks. You'll have to enter the encryption key again, which is sometimes the issue for connection problems.
2. For wireless connections, change the channel on the router, I like channels 1, 6, and 11 in the US.
3. For wireless connections, try moving either the wireless router/AP or the wireless computer. Even a couple of feet will sometimes make a big difference.
4. Update the network drivers (wired and wireless) on your computer to the latest available.
5. Update the firmware to the latest version available on the manufacturer's site.
6. Reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure.

Many times these measures will resolve a lot of intermittent issues.

JohnWill - thanks for the reply - already tried 1,2, 3 and 6 and I have checked for new drivers and firmware - nothing doing.

What I have tried tonight is diggin out an old Netgear adapter and downloading the Vista sofware for it (I previously used this adapter with an XP machine) Set up et voila - wireless connection OK. this would suggest that my Broadcom adapter was the orginal issue so I'll be on the phone to Dell tomorrow as the machine is still within warranty. I'll give it a few days and if it continues to work Ok I'll mark this one solved. thanks guys - even though you may not have produced the answer, you have at least confirmed that I was doing the right sort of basic things to start with to find out the problem!!

[JohnWill]

Glad you're on the trail of it.

Debugging is just eliminating possibilities until there's only one left, that's why I have the various lists of steps. Usually, if you run through all the steps, you narrow down the problem.

Let us know if this is really solved.