[scubasteve8542]

I am in charge of the wireless network here at my dorm. First i must admit that i am not exactly an expert on this stuff, but i get along well enough. I just got new routers and made some changes on the old ones after resetting them to factory default.

Some of the routers include :2 Belkin wireless N
2 Linksys wrt54gx
and i think 1 other random linksys one

We have about 50 or 60 people total using the routers. Unfortunately, the walls are really thick cement (probably around 1ft), so i think the signals can only go through the windows, but that is not really the problem...

I'll explain it from what happens to me: I actually have a repeater (Buffalo air station G, with ddwrt) that is wired to my computer in my room since none of the signals came in strong enough in my room. This works great, i can even get speeds up to 12mbs download speed. However, especially recently, after resetting the routers, my internet just disconnects. I still and completely connected to the router itself and there are no problems there. It says the connection is great (it should be since i have an Ethernet cable plugged into it). However, there is no internet. Once i restart the thing, it works fine. As i said, i sometimes get great download speeds. Once i restart it, it goes back to normal.
I checked, and it is not just my computer. I had a friend come over and wirelessly connect to the thing too. Once my internet was down, his was down at the same time. It especially happens during things that take up a lot of bandwidth, like watching videos or playing games.
This is happening apparently with all of the routers. Once the power is unplugged and plugged back in it works just fine.

Un fortunately, i don't know exactly what the setup is before the wireless routers up here on my floor. I think that they are connected to another router downstairs, since i get assigned an ip address when i plug the cable straight into my pc. however, because of this, i even have some set up as access points (some not also). It still happens to people connected to any of them.

The setup i think is

net
router downstairs
my wireless routers
computers

Another thing that might need to be noted is that i am using open dns on some of the routers. I don't think that this can be it though, since the probelm still occurs on the routers that i have not yet been able to get too change...

thanks in advance!

Edited by scubasteve8542, 02 March 2009 - 06:32 PM.

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Hey scubasteve8542 -- welcome to G2G

How often is "randomly" -- i.e. once a day, once a hour, every few minutes, some times multiple times in a day, other days nothing?

Please follow the steps listed in this MS Article - Wireless Connection Is Periodically Lost -- I'm mainly interested in Part 1: Disable IEEE 802.1X Authentication -- do the random disconnects persist?

When you lose your connection, please try the following steps:

Step 1 - Attempt to release and renew your IP:

• Click Start, select Run, type cmd and press OK
• In the new command prompt window, please type the following commands:
• ipconfig /release
• ipconfig /renew

*Note: If the above commands generate an error, please post the error.
You stated that you reset your "old routers" to factory defaults -- did you re-install the latest firmware? This could be caused by outdated firmware.

What type of encryption do you have setup on your wireless (i.e. WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc.)?

- Dan

[Dan]

Hey scubasteve8542 -- welcome to G2G

How often is "randomly" -- i.e. once a day, once a hour, every few minutes, some times multiple times in a day, other days nothing?

Please follow the steps listed in this MS Article - Wireless Connection Is Periodically Lost -- I'm mainly interested in Part 1: Disable IEEE 802.1X Authentication -- do the random disconnects persist?

When you lose your connection, please try the following steps:

Step 1 - Attempt to release and renew your IP:

• Click Start, select Run, type cmd and press OK
• In the new command prompt window, please type the following commands:
• ipconfig /release
• ipconfig /renew

*Note: If the above commands generate an error, please post the error.
You stated that you reset your "old routers" to factory defaults -- did you re-install the latest firmware? This could be caused by outdated firmware.

What type of encryption do you have setup on your wireless (i.e. WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc.)?

- Dan

[scubasteve8542]

random is just that, sometimes, it is a few minutes, sometimes a few hours. It especially cuts out whenever there is a big load, like videos or games...

I tried the dhcp rlease and renew and it works.

using WPA authentication...


thanks!


I also dont think its the firmware, since i just check for updates on one that isn't working and there are none. It could be te router that i think all of them are connected to...

[Dan]

Let's see if it's a DHCP issue. Please post an ipconfig /all so that we can setup a static IP. If you know how to setup a static IP, then you're more than welcome to go ahead and do so.

• Click Start, select Run, type cmd and press OK
• In the new command prompt window, type ipconfig /all > C:\ipconfig.txt
• Navigate to your C: drive and open the text file ipconfig.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

As to the firmware issue, if you are using multiple routers to re-route traffic, all it takes is one faulty router in the chain to break the connection of all of the routers. Since it seems to be a fairly wide-spread issue, I would be looking at your "core" routers to make sure they have the latest firmware.