WTF is wrong with my wireless connection?

[MsWhatsit]

Background information: Dell Inspiron 1501 running Windows Vista, connected to the Internet via our 2Wire wireless router.

Apart from occasional network outages, I have never had a problem with the Internet connection on this laptop before. But in the past couple of days, the connection has become extremely spotty. The wireless utility says that the connection is there and that the signal is excellent; the router itself has three solid green lights, indicating there is no problem with the broadband connection; and yet, sites take forever to load, time out, and then I lose connection with the router entirely. Often when this happens, our router does not even show up in the wireless utility as an available connection. But then, sometimes it does, but I still can't connect to it, because the connection times out. Sometimes I am able to actually connect and everything runs fine for a few minutes, and then I start getting time-outs and failures again.

This is extremely annoying.

Earlier I thought the problem was solved because I'd been connecting to the Internet just fine and everything was loading normally. Then I realized that the laptop had automatically connected to a neighbor's wireless signal. :smack: This is obviously not optimal, but did provide me with another piece of information; namely, that the laptop is still capable of connecting to a wireless network and running just fine. Just, not MY wireless network.

Also, our desktop machine that is physically connected to the DSL modem seems to be connecting to the Internet with no problems, although it's kind of hard to tell, because the connection IS intermittent, and I rarely use the desktop machine. We will do some troubleshooting once MrWhatsit gets home today to try to determine if the connection upstairs on the desktop is in fact running normally.

So anyway. WTF? I'm thinking that a call to tech support looms in our future but I freaking HATE HATE HATE calling AT&T or Dell tech support, so if there is anything obvious that I am missing, please point it out and save me a 45-minute, probably-unproductive, call to India. Please.

[Flander]

This would probably do best in GQ.

First thing that comes to mind is that other people are using your connection. Do you have WEP enable or a MAC filter running on it? Most routers will enter a setup screen if you type 192.168.1.1 in the address bar (this may be different, check your literature). From there you can usually see who is connected to the router. Also, change your admin password.

Also, check the power management settings on your laptop's wireless card.

[SanibelMan]

It may just be your router. I have a crappy Belkin router I bought for $30, and a couple of times a week, it just stops working. All the lights blink happily like they usually do, but it doesn't show up as a wireless hotspot on my laptop, and I can't access the internet from the desktop it's connected to, either. If I unplug and replug it, it comes right back. And occasionally, I can see it, but the signal strength is weak and it says the (stored) WPA2 password is incorrect. I just figured I bought a cheap router.

[Finagle]

Been running the microwave or a cordless phone? Either of those might interfere with the wireless signal.

Aside from that -- I dunno. Failing hardware? If you have a spare wireless dongle, you might try plugging it into the laptop's USB port and trying that, just to try to eliminate one possible point of failure.

[ZipperJJ]

I've had to troubleshoot a couple of machines before that had both the built-in Windows XP wireless connection settings turned on and settings from the software that came with the modem, card or computer (like a built-in IBM wireless connection program). The two different softwares "fought" over the connection.

I know in one instance (my own computer) I removed the wireless card's software and forced the connection to use the XP software because I couldn't figure out how to shut it down.

On my sister-in-law's Dell laptop, I managed to somehow shut down the XP wireless connection thing and force the computer to use the included Dell software (actually, I'm not sure it was from Dell. But it came with the laptop) because I did not want to mess with a card/software I was not familiar with.

Anyway, MsWhatsit - do you know which connection software you are using? XP or the one that came with your machine?

[MsWhatsit]

WEP is enabled; we don't have a cordless phone; we do have a microwave but the problem occurs throughout the day including times when the microwave is not running.

I am not sure which connection software I am using. I have two wireless icons in the taskbar. One looks like a little monitor with radio waves coming out of it. If I double-click it, the Wireless Network Connection dialog pops up. The other icon looks like a series of bars, and indicates the strength of the current wireless connection. (Accurately, I should point out.) If I double-click it, I get a message saying "This utility is not currently managing your wireless adapter" and a wizard asking me to set it up. I should note that this has been the case since I first purchased the laptop a year ago, and my Internet connection has generally worked perfectly for that entire time.

I am currently leaning towards "router hardware issue" which probably means a call to AT&T tech support. Sigh.

[Noone Special]

Just in case -- you have unplugged the router then plugged it back in, right?

I have the same issue SanibelMan has, and my router is an ancient (5 years? More?) DLink -- when it just fails, I unplug it and plug it, and presto! Internet.

When you can't reach the net through it, can you reach the router itself (using, as Flander has been pointed out, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1, unless you configured it differently)? If not, then the unplug/plug trick will almost certainly work.