Wifi Problem or Router Problem? Please help...

My new laptop, the Dell Vostro 1500, has a wireless-N card, which not surprisingly is very fast when it connects to a network. The only problem is that sometimes I have a problem connecting to a network, and I don't know whether it is the card which is causing problems or the router.

First of all, the router constantly freezes. By this I mean that my desktop and laptop lose connection constantly. Both my desktop and laptop are running Windows Vista. On occasion, my desktop shows that the computer is still connected to the network, but with limited or no activity. Only a hard reset of both the router and the modem will fix this.

Another problem is the laptop's ability to connect to the network. My desktop will have internet, but my laptop will be unable to connect to it. I have dual-boot on my Vostro, so in XP the connection cannot be made, but in Vista the connection is made, but it says that it is an "unidentified network" so there is no internet connection. The only way I can fix this is once again by resetting the router and the modem.

The last problem is that when my laptop is in XP, it cannot detect the network, even though it has the same workgroup as the desktop. In vista, however, sharing is very easy.

Just to let you guys know, these connection problems on my laptop also occur on my other laptop, toshiba satellite M45 S265. The wierd part is that sometimes my Toshiba can connect to my network, but my Vostro can't. Other times its the other way around.

So can anyone explain what the problem is and how I go about solving it?



thanks

 

Contact your ISP, when this happened to me, i called them and they said that there was some type of damaged cable in my area, so they came out and fixed it and my internet is a whole lot better. So give them a call, they wont mind checking it, and it will take like 2 minutes, just be sure to know the last 4 numbers of your Social Security Number.

 

Try changing the channel and updating the firmware on your router.

 

What do you mean by changing the channel?

 

Most routers run on channels 1 to 11 unless you live abroad, fire up your web browser and type in your default gateway should be 192.168.x.x or something similar. This will take you to the routers web page look for channels/SSID and change the channel from default to something less populated.Also you could download netstumbler and look to see what channels are being used the most.