Well Established Network Dropping Out

R

roker

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Since coming back from a 3 week holiday my wifi has become unreliable. The wifi between my HP laptop and router drops out, sometimes after a few minutes and sometime after a few hours.
I have had this setup for a number of years without any problems, the Netgate router connects to the landline and is located about 3 meters away. The diagnostic is prevented from working, and the only way I can get it back is to either re boot the laptop or disable and enable in the Device manager. I suspect that my Atheros wifi card is possible going faulty. How can I check it? or any advice please.
The drivers are up to date
 
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Do you have any other wireless devices at home? Do they have any issues staying connected to the wifi? Have you tried removing the wireless network connection and resetting it back up?
 
Check you're drivers. For windows laptops go to control panel and open device manager. Find you're router in the devices and click "Update Driver". Hit search internet. Any new driver software should pop up. But that may not be the problem.
 
Vanadium said:
Check you're drivers. For windows laptops go to control panel and open device manager. Find you're router in the devices and click "Update Driver". Hit search internet. Any new driver software should pop up. But that may not be the problem.
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You do realize that routers don't show up in device manager? Wireless cards do though. :)
 
I do not think the router is the problem, My Smart phone works OK from it, as do others that come to my house, the only other Wifi device is my printer. As previously stated the drivers are up to date. I know that I have to go to an IP address to get to my router, the Atheros is shown in the device manager as working correctly.
JohnB What do you mean by " removing the wireless network connection and resetting it back up"
 
He means telling Windows on your effected device to 'forget' the connection. That way, you try and connect, re-enter the settings and begin again.
 
Okedokey said:
He means telling Windows on your effected device to 'forget' the connection. That way, you try and connect, re-enter the settings and begin again.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Go into network and sharing center and on the left you will see where it says manage wireless networks. Find the network that you are attached to and highlight and click it on remove/delete(can't remember which one it is) And then set the wireless connection back up. I have heard of issues like this between the router and the actual chipset the wireless uses, conflict involved. If an updated driver doesn't help then its either a connection problem or a hardware issue.
 
As stated since this is a local-to-the-laptop problem it wouldn't really adhere to the subject of 'network dropping out' versus 'client dropping off of network'. :P
 
Thanks guys, after doing that, it has held in a few hours, only problem is, it interfered with my temperamental HP printer software which took time to fix by downloading new drivers and running a diagnostic because the scanner would not work after download. I hope I am back to normal now.
 
It dropped out again last night after several hours, I have a strong signal from next doors modem which is WAP2 protected, could it be this if I am on the same channel?
If I remember correctly this is changed in the router and the laptop automatically detects it. At 71 the old grey matter does not retain as much
 
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Go into device manager and list what model it says for the wireless adapter and also give me the driver version and date? Also what operating system are you running and is it 32bit or 64bit?
 
I'd make sure your network is on 1,6 or 11 for channel, otherwise it may overlap with multiple members of those non-overlapping subnets.

While something like "channel 8" might not be occupied, most wireless networks have a 20 MHz channel width, and channels are 5 MHz apart. Therefore you have two channels of extra padding on either side of the one you choose that would interfere.

That doesn't really address the laptop-specific problem, although you indicated it had been changed. You may get better performance with it assigned as per above.
 
beers said:
I'd make sure your network is on 1,6 or 11 for channel, otherwise it may overlap with multiple members of those non-overlapping subnets.

While something like "channel 8" might not be occupied, most wireless networks have a 20 MHz channel width, and channels are 5 MHz apart. Therefore you have two channels of extra padding on either side of the one you choose that would interfere.

That doesn't really address the laptop-specific problem, although you indicated it had been changed. You may get better performance with it assigned as per above.
Click to expand...
Sometimes a visual helps

3896175717_1c00ccd917.jpg
 
It is a Atheros AR9285 802.11 b/g/n
I am presently set at channel 11
Driver 10.0.0.76
Windows 7 32/64 bit

As previously stated this set up has worked for years. Drivers are updated when I run a update request
 
I downloaded and unzipped the file as you said, when I go to update the driver and point to the files it does not recognise them.
Having said that it was OK all last night but today it is dropping out every 15 minutes, I can sometime get it back by going to the home group diagnostic and fix, otherwise I have to reboot.
I still suspect it could be a faulty wireless car or due the activity next door, If I change the channel in the router does the Laptop automatically find it?
 
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Are you sure you directing the update to the correct unzipped folder? There is usually no issues updating drivers.
 
I will try again but why does tell me I have latest updates when I go "Search Automatically for Drivers"?
I will try again "Brows My Computer for Driver" to my file "Computer Stuff" where I have my unzipped file
Message "The Best Driver Software for your Device is Already Installed"
" Windows Determined that your Drivers Are Up To Date"
 
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