Wireless connection problems with D-Link DWA-125 rev A2 usb adapter

[syalam]

Hi,

I've been having some trouble connecting to the internet via a wireless connection. My network is set up as follows:
Motorola cable modem, connected to an EnGenius ESR 9850 router. I have one pc connected to the router via ethernet, and about 3-4 laptops connected wirelessly, all without any issues. I'm having trouble connecting a second pc the the network wirelessly, via a D-Link DWA -125 rev A2 usb wireless adapter.

The PC having trouble connecting is running Windows 7 Home Premium x64 service pack 1. It's using a Gigabyte 8I925XC-G motheboard with an Intel Pentium 4 3.00 GHz processor. The DWA-125 network adapter is installed with the version 1.40 driver from http://www.dlink.com.sg/support/support_detail.asp?idproduct=418
I skipped the automatic installation that installs a wireless connection manager program, and updated the driver via device manager.

Currently, this pc is located about 15m from the router, in the same room with two macbooks, behind one door. The mabcooks have no trouble connecting to the network. The pc has a very bad, intermittent connection, although windows shows there a signal strength of 2 out of 5 bars in the status window, and a speed ranging from 1.0 up to 13.5 Mbps. The status window shows no IPv4 or IPv6 connectivity to the internet.

On a few occasions, usually immediately after I boot up the pc, I have been able to connect to the internet and access websites through the browser. After a while, the problem resurfaces. Sometimes, I am able to get a ping response from both the router (192.168.0.1) and google.com. However, at other times pings to both the router and external websites time out. Oddly enough, the one time I tried moving the pc next to the router, I had no issues using the wireless connection (at least for a while).

I've attached a diagnostic log from windows when running the automatic troubleshooter. The troubleshooter was unable to resolve the problem.

 

[chev65]

With the signal strength that low your connection will be marginal at best.

Other than adding a better antenna to the router or extending the USB adaptor with a USD extension cord to a better location, I can't think of anything else that will increase the signal strength other than adding an access point.