Problem with Wifi...

[Nick M]

Well... playing some LAN games of Age of Kings II last night at Sarah's Parents house I kept on disconnecting from the game about 15-20 minutes into each game. I would go back out to the desktop and the wireless connection window would say my connection was a-okay, but then when I opened a web browser I couldn't get any content, nor could I successfully reconnect by disconnecting and reconnecting to the wireless network. After a restart I could connect fine once again, but then I would have the same trouble 15-20 minutes into the next game. Oddly enough, we did play one game with no troubles before this started to happen. And it was only my machine out of 6 laptops.

Any ideas?

Running XP Pro.

[Kevin P]

Are you running the latest drivers for your wireless adapter? That's the first thing I'd check.

Also, what router/WAP are they using? Maybe there's a firmware issue with that router, or a combination of "that" router and "your" lappy.

Are you able to play the same games at your place without losing connection?

Are you running any 3rd party software firewall? Is it reporting anything? Maybe one of the other laptops was infected with something and trying to infiltrate yours and your firewall was killing your connection to protect your system? Usually you'll get some sort of notification if this happens though.

[dyazdani]

I had the same issue with my laptop and XP before it was updated to SP2. Kevin's 1st suggestion is mine as well.

I don't know anything else to do other than verify your connection settings (security, etc). I was having issues at home connecting and I finally realized that the WPA key was in wrong in one spot. It would connect if I did it manually, but not upon startup.

[Nick M]

I have the latest drivers for my laptop.
The router is a Western and also has combo DSL modem duties.
Haven't played the games at my place.
No firewall/antivirus stuff (even the Windows one is off).

We played a 6 person game fine (which took about 2 hours), but then after that I would disconnect after about 20 minutes. Going back out to the desktop the network connection window would say I was connected, but I really wasn't because I couldn't start another game or even get content to show up in a web browser.

Upon startup mine logs onto the network automatically too with no trouble. It's just after 20-30 minutes that it disconnects.

I thought it also might be a power-saving feature, but couldn't find anything in that neighborhood either.

It's just kinda aggravating... :M

[bigburner]

Nick, do you have a 2.4 GHz cordless phone nearby? Wireless operates in the same frequency band and can be disconnected when the phone is used.

Nigel.

[Nick M]

No 2.4GHz phone...

I'm still having some troubles here...

Did some downloads off iTunes tonight - Scientific American episodes at 325MB each. My 'puter would allow 100MB at 250kbps, and then the speed would drop to 3-4kbps. I would then have to restart the computer and it would then allow me to download 100MB or so again.

This is just baffling me... :M

[PewterTA]

Is there any way to hook the PC up directly to the router (wired)? Then try to download and if you don't have problems, then you know it's the wireless part of the router or the settings on the PC.

[Nick M]

I reinstalled OS X, and still have the problems. I have other devices on the network and they work flawlessly, so I believe this is a hardware issue. The Macbook worked fine when I first got it a few years back, this problem developed within the past year.

Apparently a lot of people are having this problem, and Apple has done nothing and will not comment on the issue.

This is a serious problem for me, as my Macbook is my primary computer.
I'm no longer recommending friends and family to buy the Macbook - it's back to Sager and ProStar.

[Hdale85]

Just purchase another airport card off ebay or something. Or buy it locally so if it doesn't fix it you can return it.