Wireless net connection keeps dropping out...

[Bananadude]

I've just got a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router. I have flashed it with the latest DD-WRT firmware and all seems to be working ok, but not when it comes to the wireless.

For no good reason, the internet just stops working on my PC which has the wireless set-up. But the signal strength does not change and is still pretty strong at about 60%. I'm using a Netgear WG311 PCI card. It's fine one minute, then will just drop out. I can often get it working again by using the 'repair' function.

The net connection is fine on my other system which is plugged directly into the router, and as I say, the wireless connection itself still seems to be healthy and active as I can see the other system in the DD-WRT control panel.

This happened before I upgraded firmware, so that's not to blame.

I have been told it could be a cordless phone that's causing it to drop out, but it regularly happens at 2-3AM in the morning, when my phone and any neighbours phones are surely not in use. Unless a phone can interfere when not in use? I have tried switching channels which all operate at slightly different frequencies anyway, but that makes no difference. Neither does having security enabled or disabled make any difference. I'm at a total loss to explain what is going on here, and it's quite frustrating!

Any ideas...?

 

[PepperBreath]

Try setting a static DHCP IP for your PC in the router and then typing in that IP in your network adapter setup in windows. Sometimes a network adapter doesn't properly refresh the IP so you have to manually enter one in to get it to work right.

 

[Bananadude]

So would that be a static IP for the internet connection type? I have that option in the router settings. There is a separate 'Network Setup' section where an IP address for the router is given, but there is nothing here about a static IP and it seems to be a fixed IP address that doesn't change. Link to an image below of my setting options.

There is also an advanced section with a 'Static Routing' option, but this just gives me 'route name', 'destination LAN IP' etc' options. There doesn't seem to be an option here to enter an IP for the PC itself.

Screen grab of settings options

 

[spidey07]

Probably interferrence. Try channesl 1, 6 or 11 for wireelss on the router.

 

[PepperBreath]

I was going to type out instructions but I found it on the official DDWRT wiki. Basically, you're going to tell your router to assign your PC a static IP instead of having the PC "ask" the router for a new IP every now and then.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Static_DHCP

 

[Bananadude]

Thanks for that. Very useful.

I'm a bit confused as to what IP address i should assign it though, when it says it must outside the range of the router. Why is that? My range is 192.168.1.100-192.168.1.149. So should I set the IP simply to 192.168.1.150?

Also, how do I set it up on the other PC that I am having problems with so that it knows to connect via this IP all the time? Or will it do so automatically?

 

[PepperBreath]

Basically your router's IP is going to be 192.168.1.1. The range of IPs for clients is 192.168.1.100. They just don't want you to assign an IP to a client that's close to the IP of the router. So 192.168.1.100-192.168.1.150 should be fine.

To assign an IP to a client, you just need to get the client's MAC address. Once you have the MAC address, you can specify what IP the router will give that client every time.

 

[Bananadude]

OK, I think I get it.

So then it should (in theory) give me a net connection without droppping out every 5 minutes? I don't need to do anything or change settings on the other system? What about how it finds the IP. When I go to my network connections, right click on the Wireless and go to properties, then Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then I have the option of obtaining an IP automatically or manually. Should I enter my chosen IP in here?

I've tried this anyway, both ways, and it's still not working properly. I think I will throw my PC away and buy a plank of wood. About as useful and much cheaper.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: Bananadude
OK, I think I get it.

So then it should (in theory) give me a net connection without droppping out every 5 minutes? I don't need to do anything or change settings on the other system? What about how it finds the IP. When I go to my network connections, right click on the Wireless and go to properties, then Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then I have the option of obtaining an IP automatically or manually. Should I enter my chosen IP in here?

I've tried this anyway, both ways, and it's still not working properly. I think I will throw my PC away and buy a plank of wood. About as useful and much cheaper.

If you are setting your client PC IP address manually, make sure you also add in the subnet mask (should fill in automatically 255.255.255.0) and the defualt gateway which is 192.168.1.1.

Then you need to add the DNS addresses for your ISP.

IF your TCP/IP stack is good and you have a good signal, you should now be able to get out.

 

[Bananadude]

Done that and all info is correct. Still no good. Signal is fine and I'm only 5m away from the router. Not a direct line of sight, and it's going through 2 walls, but still that shouldn't be causing all these problems.

Just to clarify, in the DD-WRT setup for the Static DHCP, should it be the MAC address of the other system I enter? What about the host name? Is that name of the system with the router attached, or again the other system?

Whether it makes any difference or not, I do not have the DHCP Daemon setting visible on my GUI. I am using version v23 SP2, so maybe it's just not on there or has been moved to another section.

 

[Bananadude]

This is driving me nuts. What is it with wireless? I am going to write a letter to whoever has the power and say that it should be banned. Wireless has never worked for me. Ever. I'm not an idiot. I consider myself to have a modicum of common sense and computing knowledge, yet in all the years wireless has been in existence is has NEVER ONCE worked properly for me. Perhaps I can persude George Bush to launch an attack against wireless and bring in regime change. Anything else has got to be better than this pile of nonsense that passes itself off as 'technology'. It's about as useful as ear wax.