wireless connection keeps going on & off

[jeff19]

I'm using a dlink network adapter(6 months old) on my pc, have always
gotten an excellent signal. Main pc in house is hooked up to dir-615
router & works fine. I had some bsod's recently & decided to
reformat xp. I did a reformat back in july because of a bsod from avast antivirus & had no problems till now. An xp repair didn't work this time. Loaded the driver for the adapter, got an excellent signal,
but couldn't access the net. The signal shows 4 green bars for about 20
seconds, then all white bars for a few seconds, then back to green. It
keeps dropping the signal over & over. The network card shows its
working properly. I did an ipconfig, and it says "media state
disconnected" & shows no addresses. It has to be some setting somewhere in the pc thats not right & not the adapter thats the problem. The reformat went fine, loaded all the
drivers in the right order. I only have IE for a browser which i need
to access the net with to load firefox & all other programs plus
service pack 3 & other xp updates back on with. When i loaded the
driver for the dlink adapter, i used a different workgroup/name than the
network name originally used to set up the dlink router if that means
anything. I can't figure it out. Any help MUCH appreciated.

 

[etaf]

can we see a device manager and a xirrus screen shot
also the status of services - see below

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Run Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector
Download and install
If you cannot access the internet with this PC, then you will need to copy the program across to the faulty PC

http://www.xirrus.com/Products/Wi-Fi-Inspector.aspx
Direct link to the program is here http://wpc.475a.edgecastcdn.net/00475A/XirrusWiFiInspectorSetup.1.2.0.exe

{If the above link does not work heres another link http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download/fid,77196-order,4/download.html}

Then run and install the program - on a wireless enabled PC/Laptop
if you get an error - You need NET Framework installed for the WiFi Inspector to function.

Run the program

A user guide is available here http://www.xirrus.com/Products/Wi-Fi-Inspector/xirruswifiinspectorguide1-2-0.aspx

post a screen shot of the program running - if there are a lot of networks showing can you click on "networks" top lefthand area - so we can see all the network information, and also post which network "Adapter Name" (1st column) is yours on the list

To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file.
To upload it to the forum, open the full reply window and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here.
Full details are here http://library.techguy.org/wiki/TSG_Posting_a_Screenshot

Note:
For a reliable (or robust as the Xirrus user guide says) wireless connection you need a signal of about -70 dBm or better.

If you are using the Mac OS then use http://www.istumbler.net/
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Device Manager
Post back the results in device manager
If you cannot access the internet with this PC, then you will need to copy the program across to the faulty PC

windows key and pause Key should open to allow device manager to be seen on laptops may need to use windows key + FN key + Pause Key
if not then

Start > control Panel {Vista set to classic view}> system > {Vista, device manager on left hand side} {XP hardware Tab, device manager button} >
windows 7
start > control panel> System and Security> Device Manager

network adaptors, click on the + > post back the devices listed there
are there any ! ? or X


post a screen shot of the device manager - network adapters

To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file.
To upload it to the forum, open the full reply window and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here
Full details are here http://library.techguy.org/wiki/TSG_Posting_a_Screenshot
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Services

We would like to see some status information for each of the services listed below to do this goto
Control Panel>
Administrative Tools>
Services>

then for each of the servies listed below - Please post back the following status information -
If the service is Started/Stopped
and
If the service is Automatic/Manual

• COM+ Event System (for WZC issues)
• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Wireless Zero Configuration (XP wireless configurations only)
• WLAN AutoConfig (Windows 7 & Vista wireless configurations only)
• Workstation

If a service is not running,
right click on the service
then click on properties and now check the dependencies.

Check each of the dependencies and see which one is preventing the service from running.

Also to help us identify what may be causing the issue
Check the event log, there may be clues to what is failing. To do that
Start >
control panel >
administrative tools >
event Viewer>


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[jeff19]

THANX for the reply etaf. I downloaded the program for future reference if i have this problem again. I logged on monday, ready to call dlink tech support to see if they could help, and i didn't have to. The wireless signal indicator was showing all green bars & it stayed that way for longer than 20 seconds, so i clicked on IE icon & was able to get on the net. Have no idea why it worked but its still going. I downloaded firefox, loaded all my saved bookmarks, then xp sp3 along with other xp updates & other programs i use to have. Can't figure out why the signal was going on & off, but i'll give it another day or two to keep working before i stop worrying about it just to make sure. Your reply was very informative, I appreciate all the step by step info you gave. You know your stuff. If i have a problem with it again, i know post back here. THANX AGAIN.

 

[etaf]

you may want to look at the xirrus and see what other wireless networks are in your area and broadcasting on your channel - you can then change you channel to minimise the interference - its possible someone switches their router on/off and when it switches on is a strong signal on your channel and then the adapter is switching to the other network