[gabebillings]

I purchased a new Toshiba Laptop a couple of weeks ago and I'm having some issues with the WiFi connectivity. My computer skills are such that I can fix most things by just trial and error and common sense, but I'm certainly no expert. Sometimes, like with this issue, I feel like the problem is probably something relatively simple but I'm just not quite to where I can pull the answer out of my hat.

I've got cable internet from Comcast into a Linksys WRT54G v2 wireless router with 2 PCs connected via ethernet and the new laptop via wireless. My signal strength isn't great in the far reaches of the house so on a whim I put DD-WRT's firmware on my router to try and boost the signal power. That's v23 SP1 final.

For security I'm using WPA Pre-Shared Key with the TKIP algorithm. I'm also running ZoneAlarm on the laptop, but was having the same issue earlier with Windows firewall.

So onto the problem... I'll be browsing, then suddenly I'll start getting "Page cannot be displayed" errors. Signal strength is still fine, and I get normal results when I ping the router. But no web browsing. Then suddenly things will work again of their own accord. Down times seem to range anywhere from minutes to hours.

Any brilliant thoughts?

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If you are using the Windows Wireless Zero config tool...STOP...

I tried using that thing with WPA-PSK and experienced what you are.

Find the manufacturers utility for your wireless chip, mine is Intel, and use that to connect.

[-=blaster=-]

If you are using the Windows Wireless Zero config tool...STOP...

I tried using that thing with WPA-PSK and experienced what you are.

Find the manufacturers utility for your wireless chip, mine is Intel, and use that to connect.

[gabebillings]

Ok, I ditched the Zero Config Tool for the Intel tool that came with the PC. It still happens. And here's a couple other weird things... I've gone into the router and turned off the wireless security with no change. Then last night when I wasn't able to connect, just for fun I switched over to the unsecured connection of one of my neighbors. Got on the web with no problem. Then I disconnected from then and reconnected to my connection, and then that was working. What the....

[-=blaster=-]

Changing security settings can have that effect on wireless connections. The computer is looking for one thing and finds another.

[gabebillings]

I'm still having this issue and it's beginning to get annoying. I've got a little more data to work with.

So to recap... Laptop is dropping web access. I can still reach the router via ping, but can't get any further than that. Can't ping outside the network; can't telnet anywhere. PC connected via ethernet to router is still working fine.

Though I haven't done this enough to say 100% that this'll fix it, but it seems that disconnecting, then connecting to one of the neighbor's access points will get things going again. At that point I can disconnect and reconnect to my router again and everything works normally.

I dug my old laptop out of the closet and got it working. At the periods where the new laptop is having problems, the wireless on the old laptop is working fine. Note also that I've got the wireless security turned off now, if that makes any difference.

So it would seem like it's something with the PC, rather than with the router. I'm not sure where to go from here, though. I guess I'll try contacting Toshiba since it's something going on with the laptop, but if anyone has any brilliant thoughts I'd appreciate hearing them.