Ok, Im having some issues with getting my new laptop to connect to my desktop and gain internet access.
My home computer is using XP Pro SP1, while my laptop is using XP Pro SP2. It seems it has trouble holding a connection, although they can detect each other, they can’t send information, and the connection is displaying as ‘very weak’, and usually drops out very quickly.
The computers are in very close proximity, so its not distance or disturbance.
Does anyone know any troubleshooting I can undergo, or any common problems? I’m downloading sp2 for my desktop right now, hopefully thats partially the problem, but I doubt it.
Do you have WEP enabled? My Microsoft-hardwared wireless network would keep dropping me if I didn’t have WEP enabled. It kept looking for my login info even tho WEP was off. So I turned on WEP and put all the passwords in and haven’t had a drop problem.
This was before SP1, even, so the SP wasn’t the problem. With the new security measures in SP2, making sure WEP is enabled (and the logins are correct) might help.
If this is 802.11b or 802.11g (e.g. not 802.11a), then the microwave, 2.4GHz cordless phones, X10 wireless video senders, and various other wireless devices that use the 2.4GHz band can wreak havoc with your wireless network.
I second the frequency suggestion. When I set up my wireless network, I had to try the different frequencies until I found one that wouldn’t get clobbered.
It wasn’t a hard process. Set both computers to one of the other frequency options. See if it stays up. Repeat as necessary.
I had exactly the same problem the other day. SP1 desktop and SP2 notebook and wireless Linksys router and Linksys PCCARD for the notebook. Connection was very flaky.
After several hours of futzing around I un-installed all the wireless drivers and helper apps for the notebook wireless card that the normal CD “setup” installs. I then re-booted and when windows detected the card pointed it to the CD. It got the drivers it wanted and then asked for the WEP Key (I had set a 128 bit WEP key on the router). I plugged this in and then XP SP2 automatically connected and was happy as a clam.
SP2 apparently really, really wants to control the wireless connections. The connection quality monitoring and wireless configuration applets that normally get bundled in with the wireless install using the setup option off the wireless card manufacturers install CD apparently gives it a real headache.