No Wireless but Full Bars???

zeus1985 · 01-21-2009, 08:31 PM

This started happening a few months ago. I have a secure wireless network coming out of a LinkSys router. My family has the main computer that's wired to the router, along with 3 laptops and another desktop (and a ps3) on the network. Previous to this, everything worked fine. Internet was fast, downloads were fast, everything was fine.

But a few months ago, my internet started slowing down. Within a few days, I was getting time-out errors. After a week, it was like the internet had shut down completely, but it was just my computer. The network still had full bars on my computer. I switched to an external wireless card and that seems to have fixed it, so I thought it was my card. Now, we just got a new laptop, and the exact same thing happened almost immediately. Full bars, no actual service. Is there something wrong with my router? It's only the newer computers in the house. Has something changed in the way wireless cards communicate with routers in the past few months? What's going on?

**johnwill** · 01-23-2009, 01:58 PM

Some things you can try here.

For wireless connections, change the channel on the router, I like channels 1, 6, and 11 in the US.
For wireless connections, try moving either the wireless router/AP or the wireless computer. Even a couple of feet will sometimes make a big difference.
Update the firmware to the latest version available on the manufacturer's site.
Reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure.
Update the network drivers (wired and wireless) on your computer to the latest available.

Many times these measures will resolve a lot of intermittent issues.

01-21-2009, 08:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
zeus1985 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1 OS: xp	No Wireless but Full Bars??? This started happening a few months ago. I have a secure wireless network coming out of a LinkSys router. My family has the main computer that's wired to the router, along with 3 laptops and another desktop (and a ps3) on the network. Previous to this, everything worked fine. Internet was fast, downloads were fast, everything was fine. But a few months ago, my internet started slowing down. Within a few days, I was getting time-out errors. After a week, it was like the internet had shut down completely, but it was just my computer. The network still had full bars on my computer. I switched to an external wireless card and that seems to have fixed it, so I thought it was my card. Now, we just got a new laptop, and the exact same thing happened almost immediately. Full bars, no actual service. Is there something wrong with my router? It's only the newer computers in the house. Has something changed in the way wireless cards communicate with routers in the past few months? What's going on?

01-23-2009, 01:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,685 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: No Wireless but Full Bars??? Some things you can try here. For wireless connections, change the channel on the router, I like channels 1, 6, and 11 in the US. For wireless connections, try moving either the wireless router/AP or the wireless computer. Even a couple of feet will sometimes make a big difference. Update the firmware to the latest version available on the manufacturer's site. Reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure. Update the network drivers (wired and wireless) on your computer to the latest available. Many times these measures will resolve a lot of intermittent issues. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience