[WLAN] Laptop w/ wireless router lockup

[BradBo]

I have a problem thats really annoying.

I have Dell Inspirion 8500 laptop using a Linksys card to a Linksys wireless router.

The router uses WAP protect.It located at my work.

When I get there I can log in an surf just fine,but if I leave my desk fr 10 min.or so I cant hookup to the internet.

Sometimes my connection gets slower and slower till it just stops working.

I updated my Linksys wirless card driver and seemed to get a little improvemnet,but keep getting the lockup after while.

If I reboot my computer I can re-connect and surf away till it happens again.

What kind of problem does this sound like?

Any ideas.

Thanks

Brad

Seattle

[Gouki]

Hi. I noticed you said that the router has WAP enabled.

WAP = Wireless Access Point (not encryption)

What is encription is WEP or WPA. Your must have one of these 2 enabled so that the traffic between clients and the Wireless Access Point is encrypted.

You said login. Do you use your job account to login? Do you know if the WAP is forwarding request (logins) to a centralized server (RADIUS or other)? This is really important to know, because if you are using some kind of centralized access server, you maybe getting policies that disconnect you after X time.

As for the bad transmission rates ... How far away are you from the WAP or a signal repeater?

Edited March 27, 2006 by Gouki

[BradBo]

Gouki,

It is a WPA,sorry.

It is a private Linksys router that we have were I work.

Im a firefighter and we pay for our own Comcast Cable account.

Just like at home.

It is about 20 ft away.

The problem is,lets say I just rebooted and it works fine like right now.

If I just close my IE and leave for 15 or 20 minutes I cant log back onto the router.

If I disconnet and reconnect typing in our password that doest help either.

I actually have to reboot my laptop,then I can relog into the router.

Its obviously my laptop becasue everyone else can stay connected all day.

Brad

[Gouki]

WEIRD!!

I would say drivers. Are you sure you have the lastest drivers for your NIC?

[LLXX]

Check the power management for the card to make sure it's set at Disabled. Some of them have difficulty saving internal configuration when powered down due to inactivity, and need a reboot to reinitialise.

You can try disabling/reenabling the card in the device manager. If that makes it work again, it's probably the problem mentioned above.

This problem happened to me with a Netgear card and desktop computer. It would not reconnect after it resumed from Power Saving mode, but disable/renable in devicemanager worked. I just set the power management properties to make it stay on all the time.

[BradBo]

LLXX

Yes,it must be the power managment issue.

I think I was told that before but the problem is I cant find anyplace that would allow me to modify the card settings.

I have a Linksys-G Notebook Adapter 2.4 ghz 802.11g model:WPC54GV4.

I go to Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Network Adapter>Wireless-G and there's no power managment options.

If I got to Program File>Linksys>WPC54G there are some files and exe programs,one reconfigures my card (I shouldnt have hit that ,now I have to reset it up at work,I just plug in at home RU45),and I cant find anything there to reset the power managment setting.

Where could I find that?

Brad

Edited March 31, 2006 by BradBo

[LLXX]

I know on Win98 it's Control Panel -> Network -> [your adapter name] -> Properties -> Advanced and then there is a Power Management option there.

On WinXP it's probably in the same place, I can't remember exactly but it's with the network and not the system properties.

Does the configuration program for the card have any power management options? Usually they're under Advanced Option Setting or similar submenu.

[BradBo]

LLXX

Thanks for the direction here.

I have been through every single option suggested and cant find any power saving options for my Linksys card.

I think I'll email linsys and see what I can find.

I know when I go on battery there has been some kind of notice about the network card and some kind of option to disable it to save power.

I will try to get that screen and see if I can do something with it.

Also on the Desktop>Properties >Power managment there is a drop down menu the chose an option on how the machine will us a certain power profile ,maybe theres something there.

Thanks Ill try to take it from here.

Love MSFN org great site.

[HyperHacker]

One thing you can try is disabling the device in the Device Manager, then enabling it again. This re-loads the driver and may reset the hardware. This should at least tell you what the problem is.