Topic: wireless rooter

[Don Karnage]

the computer i use have the antena card for the wireless rooter, my signal is very week, there 10 to 12 meter betwen this computer and the rooter, so how or what i must do to boost the signal so i have a stonger signal?

[Sethan]

With a 12 meter separation, the signal should be plenty strong.  You should get 100 meters indoors easily.  Are you certain your wireless router is working and you are not picking up the signal from someone else's wireless router?  What make and model router do you have?

[Don Karnage]

linksys wireless-g broadband router 2.4 Ghz with speed booster, model number wrt54gs

[Sethan]

Yep - you should definitely be getting 100 meters indoors (up to 500 meters outdoors).

[Don Karnage]

wireless network  (linksys)connection

speed 54.0mbs

signal strengh: very week

status: connected

beside some stupid answer some game me like is the antena up?, buy another router (its brandnew) and put some aluminium foild, i have no answer of why do i have a very week signal?, i do ger the signal from my router i have unplug it and i have see that it was no connected, first i have unplug the internet cable and still got a signal then i unplug the rooter (power) and the signal was lost, so it seem i do get the signal from my rooter, monday i will go to the computer shop and ask what is the problem?


thanks  for the help

[Sethan]

Don - if you unlug the router and the signal goes away, then it is indeed your router you are connecting to.

That means the problem is one of three things:

1) The router/antenna is bad.

2) The wireless NIC in your laptop is bad.

3) There is a lot of interference in your house on that same frequency.

You can test the laptop by going to a coffee shop or the like where they have wireless available for customers - if you are getting a weak signal there also, it is most likely the laptop's wireless NIC that is the problem.

You can try testing the router by bringing it to a different physical location (somewhere other than your house).  I don't think you need an internet connection to get a signal from the router - all you should have to do is plug it into power.  You can also see if someone else has a wireless device they can use to connect to your router and see what the signal strength is.

[Don Karnage]

its not a labtop and i have lost the signal, i know thereboost antena but i don't think it will change the problem, i will go see the computer shop and ask them to come and check what's wrong, for the interferace well i don't see what it could be since there nothing that can produce that much interferance, i also try help from linksys but the contact is lost after a few minutes and the problem is still present, what ever is wrong i will get it fix and make sure it work fine.

[Dracho]

Energy moves in waves and sometimes, those waves bounce around indoors, like sound waves making an echo. 

You may just have the two computers in a "funky" position that, due to reflection, or air conditioning ducts in the walls nearby, or who knows what, the signal is being degraded, or repeated so many times as to make it functionally weak.

I'd try turning one of the machines 45 degrees to the other and see if that helps.  If not, turn the antenna from straight up to 45 degrees off the side.  If nothing still, try moving one of the machines 6-8 feet left or right of where it is now.

If one is a laptop, just walk around with it with the signal software running and map out your good and bad reception spots.

Also, if your surge protector, or some other electronic device is close by, the electromagnetic field created can interfere (like a TV, or even a case fan), or if a wireless phone is nearby, or between the two.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 

If your connection is stable, you could probably just ignore it.  As long as it stays 'connected' it doesn't matter what the signal strength is reported to be.

If it bothers you, the first thing to try is to locate, download and install the latest firmware for the router and the latest drivers for the wireless network card.

[Don Karnage]

the connection is unstable, what's weird is i have 2 connection 1 is me the 2th i don't know and i can't connect to it, when m not connected the 2 connection are very strong (mine and the other)  but when i connect to mine the signal is very week, its annoying cause i can't pay on line or do anything that need a connection like using Mirc, icq, or anything like that,the work fine at the computer shop but at home there something weird and its frustrating.

[E_Look]

The second one is someone else's router nearby.  This seems to happen a lot.

[Sethan]

Yep - and it is likely on the same frequency.

This falls under:

3) There is a lot of interference in your house on that same frequency.

...mentioned earlier. 

According to Linksys, you can change the channel on your router, which may fix things:

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

Yep - and it is likely on the same frequency.

This falls under:

3) There is a lot of interference in your house on that same frequency.

...mentioned earlier. 

According to Linksys, you can change the channel on your router, which may fix things:

That's a good suggestion, too.  All routers seem to be set to channel '6' outta the box.  Change it to channel '1' or '11' - Maybe the neighbors router is interfering.

[Don Karnage]

i know that channel 1-2 are not working (no signal) 3 to 11 work but still signal week, if i disconnect  i get 1 or 2 signal and both are strong but wen i connect  to mine i still get a week signal, i have change channel but no change, is it possible that when i change my router channel that i change  the other router at the same time?, i still don't get it why when m not connect i get a strong signal but if i connect it get week?, also i have read about antenna boost (to boost the signal from the router and the card) is it good?

[Sethan]

Don,
      When you change the channel on your router, it only affects your router - not the other one.

At this point, I'd say we're probably back to bad hardware - either the router or your wireless NIC.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 
So last week I did some work at the home of one of our business clients.  The client's son was having a lot of difficulty with his wireless connection, and really needed help sorting it all out.

They have a cablemodem, Linksys router, main computer connected directly to it and the son's computer in his room trying to connect wirelessly.

First, I sit down at his desk and check his wireless.  The 'Available Networks' list shows four wireless networks nearby, a default open one named 'linksys', a WEP encrypted called 'linksys-CG1234', a third called 'aaaaaaaalinksys' and a fourth called 'Joey'.  Well, then, this open 'linksys' network must be the one he just put in, no?  I wonder if it's available for remote configuration or if I have to walk to the other side of the house and do it from the main computer, and sure enough!  it works! 

#1  Download latest drivers for wireless NIC.  Success.

#2  Download latest firmware for router.  Hmm... What model?  Oh, there it is on the 'Status' page.  After much searching I come up with the drivers.  At one point I found that the model on the bottom of the router didn't match the model it said it was on the status page....  Odd.  Different revision?  No matter, I got the proper firmware and installed it.  Success.

#3  Set Admin password so the neighborhood kids can't do what I'm doing with our router.  Success.

#4  Change network name from default 'linksys' to innoculous "Wireless2" so neighborhood kids won't automatically know who it belongs to and decide that it needs hacking.  Success.

#5  Enable WEP encryption using passphrase and key #4 (chosen at random).  Success.  Oops.  Now I can't log back in because my wireless NIC software doesn't allow me to create a key using passphrase - have to enter it manually and I didn't write it down.  Oh, well, I guess I'll have to go to the main computer in the house, log in to the router from there and write it down....

#6  Log into router from main computer.  Failed.  Hmm.... wrong password?  Oh, it changed back to the default.  That's odd.  OK, I'm in.

#7.  Check wireless security to get key.... Hmm... That's odd.  Security is not enabled.  Why would it go away?  Check status page.  Router uptime 3 days....  Back to wireless configuration page.  Wireless network name.... "linksys-CG1234".

#8  Get a clue.  SUCCESS!  That must mean....  That means.... that....  I just....   hosed.... some random neighbor's wireless router.  And now I can't log back into it to fix it....



D'Oh!!!    

[Darth Sidious]

BOFH mode on

And the moral of this story is to not allow default configurations on wireless routers.
No pity for the neighbor who's router got hosed
/BOFH mode

Seriously - a simple hard boot of the neighbor's router should fix the issue.  And should prove a valuable lesson

So last week I did some work at the home of one of our business clients.  The client's son was having a lot of difficulty with his wireless connection, and really needed help sorting it all out.

They have a cablemodem, Linksys router, main computer connected directly to it and the son's computer in his room trying to connect wirelessly.

First, I sit down at his desk and check his wireless.  The 'Available Networks' list shows four wireless networks nearby, a default open one named 'linksys', a WEP encrypted called 'linksys-CG1234', a third called 'aaaaaaaalinksys' and a fourth called 'Joey'.  Well, then, this open 'linksys' network must be the one he just put in, no?  I wonder if it's available for remote configuration or if I have to walk to the other side of the house and do it from the main computer, and sure enough!  it works! 

#1  Download latest drivers for wireless NIC.  Success.

#2  Download latest firmware for router.  Hmm... What model?  Oh, there it is on the 'Status' page.  After much searching I come up with the drivers.  At one point I found that the model on the bottom of the router didn't match the model it said it was on the status page....  Odd.  Different revision?  No matter, I got the proper firmware and installed it.  Success.

#3  Set Admin password so the neighborhood kids can't do what I'm doing with our router.  Success.

#4  Change network name from default 'linksys' to innoculous "Wireless2" so neighborhood kids won't automatically know who it belongs to and decide that it needs hacking.  Success.

#5  Enable WEP encryption using passphrase and key #4 (chosen at random).  Success.  Oops.  Now I can't log back in because my wireless NIC software doesn't allow me to create a key using passphrase - have to enter it manually and I didn't write it down.  Oh, well, I guess I'll have to go to the main computer in the house, log in to the router from there and write it down....

#6  Log into router from main computer.  Failed.  Hmm.... wrong password?  Oh, it changed back to the default.  That's odd.  OK, I'm in.

#7.  Check wireless security to get key.... Hmm... That's odd.  Security is not enabled.  Why would it go away?  Check status page.  Router uptime 3 days....  Back to wireless configuration page.  Wireless network name.... "linksys-CG1234".

#8  Get a clue.  SUCCESS!  That must mean....  That means.... that....  I just....   hosed.... some random neighbor's wireless router.  And now I can't log back into it to fix it....



D'Oh!!!    

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 
Which neighbor?  Do I just go knocking on doors asking if their wireless connection stopped working at about noon?   

Actullay, 10 minutes later I did realize that I could generate that same key from the router I could connect to, then enter it in to our wireless-ly connected PC and connect back into the neighbors router and *fortunately* I had not disabled remote administration....

[E_Look]

Whatta white hatted knight in shining armor!

 

I'll bet that neighbor had NO clue as to whether anything had even happened:  "Oh, I don't know, I wasn't able to connect around noon.  It must be that lousy ISP again!"

[Just plain old Punisher]

You can download 3rd party modified firmware, which allows you to increase the default signal strength.

I did that with my WRT-54G