Wireless disconnects frequently...

[AEGUYTN]

I have recently upgraded from XP for Win7. In my househouse we have 1 wired computer and several wired devices along with several wireless devices and 2 wireless computers. The issue seems to be that when the two wireless computers are accessing the network at the same time, they both will disconnect constantly and share a slow speed.

The touchpad (wireless pc 1) was working fine before and I was able to access the internet fine before on my desktop (wireless pc 2) when running XP. Since upgrading there seems to be some issue whereas the computers are recognizing each other on the network and causing some type of network flaw. Im completely at a loss as to what is causing this and have investigated the issue at lengths using google searches - this is my first forum post and any help would be much appreciated.

 

[chev65]

Have you tried changing the wireless channel to one that isn't being used by your neighbors?
Windows 7 wireless networks are more picky about over crowded channels than XP and will disconnect if the channel is overloaded. You can change the wireless channel in your routers set up page. You should also change to WPA-2 with AES encryption if you aren't doing that already.

In general, channels 1, 6 and 11 are the best channels to use.

The Xirrus wifi inspector software will help you figure out which channels are the least crowded in your area.
Wi-Fi Inspector | Xirrus

 

[AEGUYTN]

I switched to channel 11 already before posting. I havent changed encryption although I have an idea on how to change it but if you have a quick suggestion on how to do so im all ears.

 

[chev65]

Just guessing at it and changing channels one time may not be enough. You should run the wifi inspector to make sure the channel you are using isn't too crowded. Windows 7 is very particular about this. If you can post a screen shot of the Xirrus wifi inspector I can help you find the best possible channel to use.

You can change the wireless encryption and security in your routers set up page. You would also need to make those changes in Network and Sharing Center> Manage Wireless Connections and set up or change the wireless profiles to reflect those security and encryption changes you made in the router.

 

[AEGUYTN]

Sorry I trying to get this done as quick as i can, but the connection only last for about 15sec at a time before it disconnects for 1min-5min so it may be a min before i can get back to u.

 

[AEGUYTN]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/coldeyes83/settings.jpg

link to settings, having trouble switching to wpa2 and then to aes - do i have to disable wpa first or just leave it enabled?

also i have downloaded xirrus and checked the userguide - having trouble finding where to locate the best channel

 

[chev65]

Ok in the screen shot you posted a link too, where it says TKIP you definitely need to change that to AES. It looks like you are already using WPA-2 so that's ok. TKIP is an old standard and doesn't work well with WPA-2 at all.

If you can post a screen shot of the wifi inspector I can help with the channel selection.

 

[AEGUYTN]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/coldeyes83/xir.jpg

 

[AEGUYTN]

it seems to be running smooth right now, but then again nobody else is home - it seems to correlate alot with the other windows 7 enabled computer behind online the same time as me.

 

[chev65]

Just changing from TKIP to AES will probably fix most of the problems you were having. The scan shows you are still using TKIP, so you definitely want to change that to AES if you haven't done so already. You may need to make those changes in your wireless profiles as well.

TKIP doesn't work well at all with Windows 7.

The WIFI scanner does not show any other wireless connections in your area so it's not a channel problem.

 

[AEGUYTN]

thanks ill see what happens once the other one in fired up - still at a loss as to why it would be making the touchpad disconnect as well