Why is my signal so poor?

Baybes55 · 11 Jul 2010

I have a Linksys WRT54G2 router right outside of my room and i only catch 2 bars of signal strength. all the other laptops in my household catch excellent signal strength and their range is way farther than where my laptop is from my router. However when i place the laptop right next to the router it receives excellent strength, but as i move away it starts to lose signal. Sometimes it would disconnect at a random time also. my laptop is a dell studio 1555 running on windows 7 and my wireless card is a Dell Wireless 1397 802. 11g Half Mini Card.

I'm thinking its the wireless card but i purchased a dell mini running on xp with the same exact wireless card and had no problem with the signal strength. Please help me fix this issue. Thanks.

not so gray matter · 11 Jul 2010

It sounds like one of two problems. You either have a malfunctioning wireless card or you have interference in between you and the router. In my experience, interference is the more likely culprit, but I have a feeling you may have a bunk card due to the fact that other laptops don't have connection issues.

You can test my theory by moving your laptop to another area in the house where you know for certain that other computers can receive a strong signal. If your signal is still weak in this area, then you know that your card is bad. If you receive a strong signal, then you likely have some sort of interference in the area you normally use.

If you have a bad card the solution is very simple, buy a new one. I suggest a USB Wireless Stick. They're easy to use, portable and are fairly cheap. Branding doesn't matter much as long as you buy a device that's compatible with Windows 7 and will work with your router. The latest Linksys USB device is the AE1000. However, the 600N would work too.

If you think you have interference, then you need to find the culprit. Anything that sends out or blocks radio waves could be interfering with your signal. Some metals can do this, but this isn't usually a problem unless you have large sheets of copper or brass which almost no one has. Microwaves can be an issue, as can some cordless telephones and any other device that broadcasts or communicates wirelessly.

Bill2 · 11 Jul 2010

Before going for a new wifi card, try a couple of things.

1) Update your wifi card driver to the latest available. Googling may help.

2) Experiment with the wireless adapter properties and settings. Heres a generic article that explains various settings.

Intel® WiFi Products — How to access and configure advanced Wi-Fi adapter settings

Digerati · 12 Jul 2010

Try swapping cards with another laptop and see if the problem stays with this laptop, or moves with the card.

my44186680 · 15 Jul 2011

I got some problem, I am using Dell E4300 which is running Windows 7. It is for sure, there is no interfering, because I tried in my office, my home and friend's home, some

my44186680 · 15 Jul 2011

my44186680 said:

I got same problem, I am using Dell E4300 which is running Windows 7. It is for sure, there is no interfering, because I tried in my office, my home and friend's home, same result.

The truth is within the scope 3 meters from the router, the signal is strong, but once far away than 3 meters, then the signal weakens sharply.

It only happens on the 1397 card + Windows 7, works fine in XP.

Digerati · 15 Jul 2011

@ my44186680 Please do not hijack another poster's thread with your problem. That is considered poor forum etiquette because it detracts from the OPs (original poster) problem, and can derail topic.

While it may appear you have the same problem, you clearly have different computers, different setups and different configurations. Please start your own thread.

my44186680 · 16 Jul 2011

Digerati said:

@ my44186680 Please do not hijack another poster's thread with your problem. That is considered poor forum etiquette because it detracts from the OPs (original poster) problem, and can derail topic.

While it may appear you have the same problem, you clearly have different computers, different setups and different configurations. Please start your own thread.

Understood, will not do such thing in future.