Wireless Computer help

[Moxie]

Alrighty, here's the deal. At home I have a wireless connection that most of the time works great. Then out of the blue it goes down the toilet for sometimes hours at a time.
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<DIV></DIV>Nothing changes, nothing done to computer or the router etc. What gives? More importantly, how do I fix it?
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<DIV>I've just gone through 20 minutes of hell not being able to post on the word associate game and having my answers taken.</DIV>

[TommyB]

Are you sure it's your Wireless and not the ISP..
My ISP here in the last couple of days has been acting screwy.. eg slow, dropped connections, and time outs to the net.

Prolly has nothing to do with the wireless. One way to test, plug in to the wired port and by-pass the wireless.
Then if it drops, you have either ISP issues, or the modem is going out.

[Moxie]

Not sure about anything. I just know I can't stand waiting for the stupid connection to come back.
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<DIV>It seems to be ok now, so I have a feeling you're right and it's my ISP. Dumb cable company.</DIV>

[cummings66]

My experience with cable isp's is that they are not consistant. They'll have great high transfer rates and then they'll drop off enough to make the connection quit.
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<DIV>A test you can do is ping the modem/router that you have, that will establish connectivitity of your internal network. Then ping the gateway which tells you a bit more about the network. If you can't hit the gateway your isp or modem/router has a problem. Then ping a site you know is up all the time such as google or some other large system. Try the pings first when you know it's working so that you're sure they don't block icmp data because many do.</DIV>
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[Moxie]

Originally Posted by cummings66

My experience with cable isp's is that they are not consistant. They'll have great high transfer rates and then they'll drop off enough to make the connection quit.
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<DIV>A test you can do is ping the modem/router that you have, that will establish connectivitity of your internal network. Then ping the gateway which tells you a bit more about the network. If you can't hit the gateway your isp or modem/router has a problem. Then ping a site you know is up all the time such as google or some other large system. Try the pings first when you know it's working so that you're sure they don't block icmp data because many do.</DIV>
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<DIV>I have no idea how to do that, but it sounds like it would make sense. It's much better this morning thank goodness.</DIV>

[JahJahwarrior]

1. Can you plug your computer into the router via an ethernet/RJ-45 cable? If so, try this when the connection drops. If you still cannot connect to the internet, then the problem is your ISP, call them up and tell them you have been losing service every so often, you are not happy with their performance, and you want your money back.

2. If you want to ping things, open up MS-Dos. Im using a mac, so I've gotta remember how to do it on PC. start--prorams--accessories--MS-Dos. It might be under something in accessories, like, another sub-heading. It's a black window with a gray edge.....type "ping" put a space, then the IP address you want to ping. Hm...I'm not a computer person really, I just know how to dabble. 255.255.255.0 might might be gateway.... 64.236.24.28 is cnn.

Ah! Now everything is bolded and it won't stop! Curse you, copyn'paste!

[cummings66]

On windows depending on version go to the start run, then type cmd and run that. Once there you can issue the ping command.
<DIV>The 255.x.x.x part is not a gateway address, it's a subnet mask used to direct traffic. Most of the time your IP address with be a 192.168.x.x type using the defaults with wireless routers, the gateway can be 192.168.1.1 for example, the address of your wireless router/hub. But that device has an address it uses as a gateway and it will vary according to isp. That's the one to ping.</DIV>
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[JahJahwarrior]

cummings, how do you know all of this? So far you are showing me up in every thread we both post in! And you live in Missouri!

But yes, he's right, 255.x.x.x is the subnet mask. My bad. Like I said, I'm not a computer guru at all, whenever anything breaks I just fudge around with settings and stuff until it works again. I'm incredibly good at fudging with things, so people assume I know how to fix any computer problem. And you can use his directions to get to a program that'll let you ping things too. I've just never used the start--run thing, only people who know what they are doing should use that

[TxHockeyGuy]

OK, I was lazy and didn't want to read through everyone's posts. The next time you see this happen please let me know which of the following works and does not work.

First, click on start -&gt; run -&gt; and type in "cmd" without the quotes and click on OK.

Type in "ipconfig" without the quotes and hit enter. Look for the line that looks similar to:

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

This is the IP of your wireless router.

Now type "ping &lt;type in the IP of your wireless router here&gt;" without the quotes and hit enter. You should get something back similar to:

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=150
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=150
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=150
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=150

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss)
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

If you get that then your wireless connection is working. If you get back a bunch of Request timed out messages then your wireless link is not working. To test your internet connectivity, provided your wireless is working, type in "ping 216.206.147.129". That is the edge router at my work and I have it configured to allow ICMP requests (in layman's terms you can ping it).

Yes, I do this for a living...