Wireless network connects & disconnects every 2 seconds

[Ronnie101]

My Wireless network connects & disconnects every 2 seconds like clockwork, from "Connected, firewalled, signal strength excellent" to "Not connected, firewalled".

Belkin 4-way router and 802.11g wireless card. Windows XP SP3.

Connectivity works fine between them through a direct cable but not wireless.

Had the "stuck on Acquiring network address." problem, so switched it to manual config of IP Address, using some values from the DHCP pool range specified in the Belkin router setup that weren't in the list of used addresses, as well as trying the value from the cable connection. If I let Windows do it automatically, it just says 0.0.0.0

I have also tried turning the firewall off - made no difference so I turned it back on. Have updated the wireless driver with the latest download from the Belkin website.

There are all kinds of solutions on the net where they say to reconfig your router name, etc, but I can't do that with someone else's router when I'm on the road using a hotel network.

There are no errors in Device Manager.

Need an answer in the next few days before I go away, please!

 

[LooPrEvil]

My Wireless network connects & disconnects every 2 seconds like clockwork, from "Connected, firewalled, signal strength excellent" to "Not connected, firewalled".

Belkin 4-way router and 802.11g wireless card. Windows XP SP3.

Connectivity works fine between them through a direct cable but not wireless.

Had the "stuck on Acquiring network address." problem, so switched it to manual config of IP Address, using some values from the DHCP pool range specified in the Belkin router setup that weren't in the list of used addresses, as well as trying the value from the cable connection. If I let Windows do it automatically, it just says 0.0.0.0

I have also tried turning the firewall off - made no difference so I turned it back on. Have updated the wireless driver with the latest download from the Belkin website.

There are all kinds of solutions on the net where they say to reconfig your router name, etc, but I can't do that with someone else's router when I'm on the road using a hotel network.

There are no errors in Device Manager.

Need an answer in the next few days before I go away, please!

Are you using the correct password to get access to the router?

 

[Ronnie101]

Yes, I've tried both the System and the public Guest passwords. Tried changing the System one (which forced a router reboot), then tried reconnecting.

After about 20 secs saying it was waiting for network to be ready, it said "Connected!" for about a second, then went back to cycling the Connected/Not connected statuses.

 

[Astra99]

It could be the wireless side of the Belkin router which is the problem. With your Wireless connection set to DHCP (this is important) are you able to connect to any other wireless networks? As you say you are going away, it is no good putting a static IP address into your wireless connectionon your router, that may, or may not be suitable for an hotel room or a WiFi hotspot.

You also say "When I let Windows do it it comes up with 0.0.0.0" Can you elaborate on this? I would expect when Windows XP cannot find a DHCP server on the network, it would assign an address in the 169.254.X.X series.

As a for example, my Netgear router is reluctant to hand out DHCP addresses, both wired and wireless, but using static IP addresses allows immediate connection!

 

[xr4x4]

Try changing your wirleless channel to a different number.

Also, what router is it. Is it a b/g/n? Try switching it into b/g mode only.

 

[Monsterminty]

go back to basics, change all settings to default, reset your router, see what happens.
are you using windows wireless zero or does your wireless card have its own software?

 

[LooPrEvil]

Yes, I've tried both the System and the public Guest passwords. Tried changing the System one (which forced a router reboot), then tried reconnecting.

After about 20 secs saying it was waiting for network to be ready, it said "Connected!" for about a second, then went back to cycling the Connected/Not connected statuses.

Ronnie, I once had that problem, and discovered the password I was using was incorrect so the connection kept dropping. Apologies for the red herring that I gave you.

 

[Ronnie101]

A guy from the local church phoned up and volunteered to come round this afternoon.

He must have scared it into working, because while he was on his way I reinstalled the software (3rd time?) into a totally new folder and put the PC next to the router aerial (100% signal strength 2 ft away instead of 80% at 20ft away) and it started working.

So I'm going to shut it down and put it away ready for my road trip unplugging nothing except the mains plug...!

Thanks to all who took the time to reply!

 

[LooPrEvil]

This guy from the church doesn't also part waves in the sea, and make a loaf of bread feed 5,000 people does he?

 

[madder]

Ronnie, just for some piece of mind, I had a Belkin wireless adapter that failed on me, I contacted Belkin and told them. They asked me for the serial number of the adapter, and then posted me a new one free of charge. Their customer service is clearly very good!

 

[gman76]

Hello there,

My experiences with Belkin routers (we used to use a lot of them at work), is that they are extremely unreliable - especially the wireless side. F/w updates do little to solve any issues.

I would advise using Netgear, Draytek, even D-link instead.