Laptop disconnects from Internet randomly

Hi,

I've been having this problem for the last couple of weeks now. I'm running Windows 7 and my laptop disconnects from the Internet every couple of hours but in the wireless network connection's window it says that I'm connected and a little yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark appears on the signal strength icon. In order to re-connect I have to right click my connection and hit disconnect, then click my connection and connect again. There are 3 other laptops connected to my home network and none of them face this problem so i don't think it's a router/isp problem.

sometimes a little red x would appear on the signal strength icon and my network adapter would disappear from the device manager and the only way to fix that is to shut the computer off and start it again, then the red x icon would disappear and i'd be able to connect for a couple of hours again until the little yellow triangle appears again, i've unchecked the save power box in the driver properties but still doesn't help, also all drivers are up to date.

any help would be much appreciated
thanks

killadragon said:

Hi,

I've been having this problem for the last couple of weeks now. I'm running Windows 7 and my laptop disconnects from the Internet every couple of hours but in the wireless network connection's window it says that I'm connected and a little yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark appears on the signal strength icon. In order to re-connect I have to right click my connection and hit disconnect, then click my connection and connect again. There are 3 other laptops connected to my home network and none of them face this problem so i don't think it's a router/isp problem.

sometimes a little red x would appear on the signal strength icon and my network adapter would disappear from the device manager and the only way to fix that is to shut the computer off and start it again, then the red x icon would disappear and i'd be able to connect for a couple of hours again until the little yellow triangle appears again, i've unchecked the save power box in the driver properties but still doesn't help, also all drivers are up to date.

any help would be much appreciated
thanks

Are you by chance using "homegroup" and are the other machines older OS'es?

win 7 uses IPv6 in homegroup. That really is only meant to be used with win 7 machine and not older machines or routers. they are meant to run workgroup and use IPv4.


Ken J

hi, thanks for the reply

2 laptops are using windows 7 and the third one is using windows vista, and they have no problems when they connect to the internet, also i'm not using homegroup

killadragon said:

Hi,

I've been having this problem for the last couple of weeks now. I'm running Windows 7 and my laptop disconnects from the Internet every couple of hours but in the wireless network connection's window it says that I'm connected and a little yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark appears on the signal strength icon. In order to re-connect I have to right click my connection and hit disconnect, then click my connection and connect again. There are 3 other laptops connected to my home network and none of them face this problem so i don't think it's a router/isp problem.

sometimes a little red x would appear on the signal strength icon and my network adapter would disappear from the device manager and the only way to fix that is to shut the computer off and start it again, then the red x icon would disappear and i'd be able to connect for a couple of hours again until the little yellow triangle appears again, i've unchecked the save power box in the driver properties but still doesn't help, also all drivers are up to date.

any help would be much appreciated
thanks

For this type of problem you should first check to make sure that you are using a clear channel for your wireless connection. Try the Xirrus wifi inspector which you can download in the link below.

It will show you which wifi channels are being used in your area so that you can choose an unused channel for your wireless connection. You can easily change the channel in your router's control panel.

Xirrus: The Leader in High Performance Wi-Fi - Advanced IT Wi-Fi Networking Tools

^^

lol, I was going to ask if they put a wireless telephone in the room with the router.

brady said:

^^

lol, I was going to ask if they put a wireless telephone in the room with the router.

Lets hope that isn't the case as the 2.4GHz frequency is already crowded enough, a phone station near the computer or router will wreck havoc for sure.

before we go any further, i just had a question about the channels for my wifi connection, if the channels weren't clear, then wudn't the rest of the laptops on my network also be experiencing the same problem? i used xirrus and i'm running on channel 1, and there is 1 other network that is using channel 1 but the signal for that is really weak, here's an image of what i'm talking about

killadragon said:

before we go any further, i just had a question about the channels for my wifi connection, if the channels weren't clear, then wudn't the rest of the laptops on my network also be experiencing the same problem? i used xirrus and i'm running on channel 1, and there is 1 other network that is using channel 1 but the signal for that is really weak, here's an image of what i'm talking about

Not always, it depends on many factors. I can't see the weak signal channel 1 in your screen shot but it may be worth trying a different channel that isn't on the list of used channels. It certainly won't hurt anything to try a different channel.

how would i go about doing that?

killadragon said:

how would i go about doing that?

Depending on your routers default gateway you would type the gateway of the router into the URL of your browser to access the routers set up page. I'm not sure what router you have?

Looking at your Xirrus info the default gateway is probably 192.168.1.1, while your in there it would be best to set the router to use WPA2 and AES encryption.

Giving you exact directions to find the place where you change channels is a bit different for all routers, you may need to look around a bit to find the place where you can change channels.

This can also be a problem with your wireless adaptors drivers.