Random Connection Drops During Specific Hours

[Johnathan Lyman]

This may be worth a try http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider and see if there is any 'standard' wi-fi interference. If it is a big problem then you could look at the wi-spy for 'other' rf interference. Just seems a bit weird its always at the same time....good luck!

Thank you, I will take a look and see if anything looks out of the ordinary.

So this is what the tool came up with for me. Being in a very large apartment complex [over 50 buildings with 8 units each] I wasn't surpised to see 27 access points nearby.

Picasa Web Albums - 11353079070350824... - Misc. Stuff

 

[acurasd]

Shot in the dark here! - I use a wireless cctv camera and when this is on it wipes out my wireless to router link. Is there any security systems, microwaves etc coming on near you at 9? -or - is there any 'schedule' settings in your router that may need altering?

That is what thing I was thinking becuase I know in that router there is a ECO friendly setting that will disable his router during certain times of the day, but it literly disables the signal or any kinds of internet activity, it just does not lower his bandwith.

that is why i had his restore his defaults becuase by default, that setting is turned off.

In the end....I would try a different router.

I know its a last end result but it just maybe something that its not a proper mixture between your ISP and the chip inside that perticular router.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

Shot in the dark here! - I use a wireless cctv camera and when this is on it wipes out my wireless to router link. Is there any security systems, microwaves etc coming on near you at 9? -or - is there any 'schedule' settings in your router that may need altering?

That is what thing I was thinking becuase I know in that router there is a ECO friendly setting that will disable his router during certain times of the day, but it literly disables the signal or any kinds of internet activity, it just does not lower his bandwith.

that is why i had his restore his defaults becuase by default, that setting is turned off.

In the end....I would try a different router.

I know its a last end result but it just maybe something that its not a proper mixture between your ISP and the chip inside that perticular router.

In regards to the "eco" mode: I have it turned off so it shouldn't be disabling it at any point in time.

Before I go out and splurge for another router, I am going to try two more things: PS3 via wireless during the time frame, and another wireless adapter during the time frame to see if I have the same effect. That way, I can narrow down if it's my laptop or not. It just seems weird it would lose the connection to ANYTHING on the network but the connection status never reflects these changes.

 

[Hobbit]

Sounds like 'data collision' muffling rather than preventing communication. Still weird about the timing though- could there be a wireless network controlling the lighting in your apartment block? (8pm-5am)

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

Sounds like 'data collision' muffling rather than preventing communication. Still weird about the timing though- could there be a wireless network controlling the lighting in your apartment block? (8pm-5am)

The lights come one at 6:30pm and are off at around 7am. The only thing that turns off and on during that time period are the sprinklers (3am-4am). It doesn't seem like it happens in a pattern either. One night it could be 9:14, 10:12, 12:06, 2:00, 3:13, 4:41 and the next night 9:30, 11:00, 12:15, 2:45, 3:30; 4:14. It doesn't seem to be consistent in terms of the gaps.

Just out of curiosity, could someone overload the router's ability to serve packets via wireless from the outside?

I have a lot of experience inside a computer, but networking is where I know the least.

 

[fseal]

It does not take very much interfereance to severely reduce Wi-Fi thorughput. 27 acess points nereby? I'm surprised it works much at all frankly.

And when does everyone get home from work, then game all night? Is the cut off pattern the same for weekends as week days or does it change? I'd put money on the entire Wi-Fi space just being impossibly crowded in the evneing shen everyone is home and on the net.

And microwave ovens blast the entire Wi-Fi spectrum for a LONG ways, anyone above you, below or off to the side can take out your connection by running their microwave.

The Wi-Spy works pretty well. If you have the money to pop it's a nice tool. Really interesting to see just how much 2.4 radiation that they leak when operating. It's no coincidence either, microwave ovens are in fact the reason that the 2.4GHz band is free for cunsumer use. They destroyed it for much of anything officially reliable so they let it go to civilian use. Though lately the military has been taking it back and have been putting in some high power 2.4 equipment

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

It does not take very much interfereance to severely reduce Wi-Fi thorughput. 27 acess points nereby? I'm surprised it works much at all frankly.

And when does everyone get home from work, then game all night? Is the cut off pattern the same for weekends as week days or does it change? I'd put money on the entire Wi-Fi space just being impossibly crowded in the evneing shen everyone is home and on the net.

And microwave ovens blast the entire Wi-Fi spectrum for a LONG ways, anyone above you, below or off to the side can take out your connection by running their microwave.

The Wi-Spy works pretty well. If you have the money to pop it's a nice tool. Really interesting to see just how much 2.4 radiation that they leak when operating. It's no coincidence either, microwave ovens are in fact the reason that the 2.4GHz band is free for cunsumer use. They destroyed it for much of anything officially reliable so they let it go to civilian use. Though lately the military has been taking it back and have been putting in some high power 2.4 equipment

InSSIDer stated 27 at one point, Windows only picks up 8-12 depending on where I am at.

I use my microwave all the time, even with my laptop right next to it from time to time while in the kitchen and have never had it kill my connection. I might get cancer some day but that's a different story.

And yes, it's consistent with weekends as well.

 

[Hobbit]

Mmm - it's the time thing bugging me here - but just recalling a recent problem I attended where 2 x laptops in the same room and 1 had intermittent connection issues the other was fine and both had same set-ups. It turned out to be JSW driver on the faulty one - but the time issue is still niggling away............

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

Mmm - it's the time thing bugging me here - but just recalling a recent problem I attended where 2 x laptops in the same room and 1 had intermittent connection issues the other was fine and both had same set-ups. It turned out to be JSW driver on the faulty one - but the time issue is still niggling away............

Well I'll fire up the PS3 tonight and let it sit online via Wireless and see if it stays connected. If it does, I render the verdict towards my laptop's wireless card.

Tomorrow I will pick up a usb adapter and see if that makes a difference or not.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

Mmm - it's the time thing bugging me here - but just recalling a recent problem I attended where 2 x laptops in the same room and 1 had intermittent connection issues the other was fine and both had same set-ups. It turned out to be JSW driver on the faulty one - but the time issue is still niggling away............

Well I'll fire up the PS3 tonight and let it sit online via Wireless and see if it stays connected. If it does, I render the verdict towards my laptop's wireless card.

Tomorrow I will pick up a usb adapter and see if that makes a difference or not.

UPDATE: I was able to go through the night with only a minor hiccup. I decided to set my PS3 up to run off the wireless with me and the hiccup I had was not reflected on the console as someone was playing MW2. The ping wasn't affected at all. My machine was experiencing ~2000ms for about 10 minutes than returned to normal but didn't fully time out at any time.

 

[acurasd]

So you have it narrowed down to the wireless card on your laptop. Something in your settings is causing it to go haywire on those certain times.....

any suggestions on your part?

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

So you have it narrowed down to the wireless card on your laptop. Something in your settings is causing it to go haywire on those certain times.....

any suggestions on your part?

I've tried watching the event logs to see if there are any services acting up or ANYTHING out of the ordinary for that matter and I am coming up with nothing.

I'm moving out of this dump in a few months to a house so if I can't find something maybe just the huge amount of network traffic in the immediate area is the only problem.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

So you have it narrowed down to the wireless card on your laptop. Something in your settings is causing it to go haywire on those certain times.....

any suggestions on your part?

I've tried watching the event logs to see if there are any services acting up or ANYTHING out of the ordinary for that matter and I am coming up with nothing.

I'm moving out of this dump in a few months to a house so if I can't find something maybe just the huge amount of network traffic in the immediate area is the only problem.

Ok I have a couple updates:

1. I have confirmed it does it during daylight hours as well. Today was the first time it has done it during the day time. The "specific hours" idea is out the window, now.

2. I did some tweaking of my wireless card's settings, more specifically, how bad the signal needs to get before it starts to hunt for another one to connect to [turned down to "lowest"]. I also set the requirements for "channel width" to auto from the standard 20Mhz as my router is set to 20/40mhz by default and if the router jumps to 40 for whatever reason I can see my laptop being left hanging.

We'll see how it goes tonight.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

So you have it narrowed down to the wireless card on your laptop. Something in your settings is causing it to go haywire on those certain times.....

any suggestions on your part?

I've tried watching the event logs to see if there are any services acting up or ANYTHING out of the ordinary for that matter and I am coming up with nothing.

I'm moving out of this dump in a few months to a house so if I can't find something maybe just the huge amount of network traffic in the immediate area is the only problem.

Ok I have a couple updates:

1. I have confirmed it does it during daylight hours as well. Today was the first time it has done it during the day time. The "specific hours" idea is out the window, now.

2. I did some tweaking of my wireless card's settings, more specifically, how bad the signal needs to get before it starts to hunt for another one to connect to [turned down to "lowest"]. I also set the requirements for "channel width" to auto from the standard 20Mhz as my router is set to 20/40mhz by default and if the router jumps to 40 for whatever reason I can see my laptop being left hanging.

We'll see how it goes tonight.

So although I haven't been able to find a definite solution to my problem, I have not had any issues with my wireless connection completely dropping out like it has before. When it does act up, it may lag a bit and have grossly high ping times, but never any actual packet loss.

I'll update my wireless card drivers for kicks.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[kenster]

This is a serious issue MS needs to address, i tried many solutions on here, see some people have gone out and bought new NICs which has worked for some.
I almost convinced myself it was a hardware issue, but it's not, ive reinstalled Windows 7 now all works fine.