[SOLVED] Problem staying connected to wifi network

[jimbob007]

Problem staying connected to wifi network

Hello all I have recently purchased an MD96480 Medion Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium.

I also have a desktop PC running XP Pro which is connected to the internet and would like to be able to share this network via wifi.

My problem may have already been covered on this forum or elsewhere on the web but it’s a complete nightmare to find specific information and after being thrown from link to link to get at information that is relevant I decided to make a thread.

I have all the equipment and am actually able to connect to the internet wirelessly via the laptop. However after a period of time of the laptop being connected the connection just seems to die.

I have adjusted my laptops power setting to high performance which I have seen suggested on other sites but this doesn’t resolve the problem.

When the connection dies it seems to crash when trying to access the network and sharing centre part of vista. It will just open the window and show the timer but it’s very slow and unusable. It does get there eventually but when it does it seems futile to get my connection started again. The only way it seems to get it to work again is to restart my pc which isn’t very practical every 10 mins. Upon restart all is working fine again until this problem recurs.

I am running zonealarm on both pc and it is configured to allow access. I am quite sure it’s not a firewall issue because even if I close zonealarm on both pc's the laptop still won’t connect.

I have been to the site and installed the latest driver but that doesn’t seem to have resolved the issue either.

Another problem I have is when the pc's are connected I am able to navigate to the folders on the laptop from my desktop but not from the laptop to the desktop as vista asks for a password. Even when I enter my username and password for the desktop I can’t get it to work as it will automatically put the name of my laptop before the username I have entered thus creating a false username.

Say my desktop name is fred and laptop is lap I will enter fred and then the password then when I click ok and it will change fred to lap/fred and indicate invalid password.

The trouble with all this is I don’t know if it’s the laptop and its wifi drivers, vista, network settings, desktop settings that are causing the problem. I am tending to lean towards vista being the problem. I really don’t know what to try next or what information to give. It’s a real headache.

[johnwill]

Take a look at Windows XP And Vista On The LAN Together, that may address the file sharing issues.

Have you changed the wireless channel on the router? That's the first thing I do for wireless issues.

Please supply the following info, exact make and models of the equipment please.

Make and model of the broadband modem.
Make and model of the router.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Make/model of your computer.

Also, please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, including the exact text of any error messages.

[jimbob007]

Thanks for reply I will look into the link you posted to try to resolve the file sharing problems. Here is some more detailed information on my laptop and desktop setup.


Laptop---

Medion MD96480

Operating System:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
(OEM Version)

Graphics:
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GS
PCI-Express DirectX 10 graphic card with 256MB GDDRII memory

Display:
15.4” WXGA TFT Widescreen display

16:10 widescreen format for optimum DVD playback and usability

Working memory:
Fast 2048 MB DDR2 working memory at 667 MHz

High capacity hard drive:
250 GB hard drive storage capacity, 8 MB Cache, 5400rpm

Integrated Webcam:
1.3 megapixel

4in1 card reader:
(SD/MMC/MC/MS PRO)****

Multi-Standard Dual Layer DVD-/-CD-Writer:*
Multi-Standard DVD/CD writer with DVD-RAM and Dual Layer support. Writes 4.7 GB single layer, 8.5 GB dual layer DVDs.


The digital home cinema experience with perfect sound:
6-channel audio out (Analogue + S/P-DIF) for home theatre sound**

Wireless LAN:
WIRELESS LAN 802.11 a/b/g with up to 54Mbit/s.***

Network:
Fast Ethernet on Board 10/100 MBit/s

Ports:
1x Express Card/54
4x USB 2.0
1x VGA out
1x TV Out
1x LAN (RJ45)
1x microphone in*****
1x line in*****
1x line out incl. S/P-DIF*****
6-channel audio out (analog + S/P-DIF)*****



Desktop---

Power Supply - Corsair HX Series 620W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

Motherboard - ASUS P5W DH Deluxe SKT 775 dual-core Core2Duo Conroe ready Crossfire 8channel audio ATX

CPU - Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz - Skt775 Fsb1066 4mb Cache
Overclocked to 3.02 ghz a friend helped me overclock and build my pc.

RAM - OCZ (OCZ2G8002GK) OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB Gold XTC Dual Kit (5-5-5-12) 2G Kit 800MHz Gold XTC

Video Card(s) - EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS SuperClocked 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

Hard Drive(s) - Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Sata 150GB 10kRPM 16MB Cache - Oem

and

Old Maxtor 200GB (not sata)

Operating System - Windows XP Pro

Case - Coolermaster Centurion 531 Silver with front fan

CPU Heatsink - Arctic-Cooling Freezer 7 PRO - P4 775 up to 4.4 Ghz

Side Fan - Hiper 80mm 3 pin Case Fan - Blue LED with Clear Frame and Clear HiperFlow Blades

Back Fan - Antec Cooling Fan 120mm Blue Led Lights

Fan Controller - Aerocool GateWatch Silver Fan Controller

Monitor - Philips 109E50 19 FST 0.25 92khz TCO03

Burner - LG GSA-H10ABAL 16xDVDRW/RAM Internal Black - OEM

Other - I also have an old analogue tv card





I have Internet via NTL (Virgin Media) in the UK and it's connected directly to an ethernet port on the desktop and wifi is built into the desktop motherboard via Asus WiFi-Ap Solo 3-in-1 Wireless LAN Adapter which screws into the back of the pc into a small white arial.


More information on my motherboard is on

http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/produ...P5W_DH_Deluxe/

But here is what it said about network

Network
LAN - Chip Marvell Yukon 88E8053
LAN - Speed 1000 Mbit/s
LAN 2 - Chip Marvell Yukon 88E8053
LAN 2 - Speed 1000 Mbit/s
WLAN - Chip Realtek RTL8187L
WLAN - Speed 54 Mbit/s



I am using WEP encryption through the ASUS Wifi-AP Solo Software

Not sure on make and model of modem other than it says cable modem from NTL but internet is fine on my desktop.


The network icon on my laptop has a yellow triangle and when hovered over reads currently connected to network with limited connectivity

When clicking or right clicking laptop acts slow and struggles to bring up menus and network settings. Only way to regain internet appears to be restart.

There is a function on the laptop of enabling and disabling the wifi access which is to hold fn and f1 and the light to indicate that the wifi is on remains lit when running into the problems.

[johnwill]

Does the network work normally if you connect them all with wired connections to the router?

[jimbob007]

The laptop has been holding connection for a while now so hopefully I have managed to resolve the issue. I found followed this advice from another forum.

1. Click the Window's Start logo and type Device Manager.
2. Locate the Wireless network card under the Network Adapter's tab.
3. Right click and select "Update Driver Software..."
4. Select "Browse my computer for driver software"
5. Then select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
6. Select the one that says "Intel® PRO/Wrieless 3945ABG Network Connection (Microsoft)" and make sure it has Microsoft after it.
7. Click next and hopefully it works

I also followed some information on the Broadcast flag, in the DHCP Discover packet in the link you provided to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/

After editing the registry like it said all seems to be ok.

I havent tried to connect the laptop via wired connection yet. I dont use a router I used to use a hub connected to 2 other computers in my home but I think it has died. The 2 other computers worked fine via wired connection when the hub was funtional but those computers are rarely used at present. I can connect one of the old pc's to my pc for direct connection rather than through the hub though if I decide to connect one of them. Maybe at some stage I will get a router but for the moment this setup should be fine. Thanks for all your help and I will keep you posted on any findings as I learn more about vista and it's problems. I actually find vista to be very well made and layed out granted its not for the impatient and is a lot to get used to but I'm sure with everything setup and configured it will be a joy to use (fingers crossed).

[johnwill]

Let us know if it's all working now.

[jimbob007]

Laptop permanently holds connection and I have managed to share files between both computers by creating a user account on my xp machine with the same name and password as the vista laptop. Problem solved thanks again for your help johnwill. Top forum!

[johnwill]

Glad we could help.