My wireless card on my PC was working great for a while, but for about a month it's been getting a "low" connection and it periodically cuts out altogether. I've updated the drivers, no difference. It has the same responce when I boot into Ubuntu, so I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the environment. What could be messing up my connection? What can I do to optimize a wireless connection?

how many walls are between you and the router? and what are they made of?

3 made of studs and dry wall. Or just one if it goes down the hall . I'd run a cord, but that ALWAYS ends badly at my house.

 

And it was working well for a good month before it started getting horrible connections.

overheating damage maybe?

ooh,That would be bad. Is there a way to test for that? I think I'll put it right by the router and see what signal it gets.

Any new networks around you, like from a neighbor?

My wireless card on my PC was working great for a while, but for about a month it's been getting a "low" connection and it periodically cuts out altogether. I've updated the drivers, no difference. It has the same responce when I boot into Ubuntu, so I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the environment. What could be messing up my connection? What can I do to optimize a wireless connection?

 

I have had this problem for a long time under XP. It doesn't seem so bad under Vista.

 

Following a suggestion I disabled the Wireless Zero Config service in Windows XP earlier today, and I have not had any of the poor connections or periodic cut-offs since.

Any new networks around you, like from a neighbor?

 

2 others that I can periodically detect.

 

Following a suggestion I disabled the Wireless Zero Config service in Windows XP earlier today, and I have not had any of the poor connections or periodic cut-offs since.

 

I'll try that.

2 others that I can periodically detect.

Try poking around in your router's configuration (not your wireless card, the router's) and change the channel it uses. It may be set on "auto" or something, just try changing it around a few times though. Sometimes the neighbors can cause problems.

Someone nearby recently started using a cordless phone? Or new large electrical appliance, like a microwave?

Not that I know of. and about the channel -- under "wireless" it does say "wireless channel" but the drop down menu is empty . (it shows it on channel 6 under the "settings" tab, if that means anything).

Okay, I've been changing the channel, but none of them seem to work any better

Are you using it in the same room that you have been using it in for the last few months?

 

If you just moved to a new place which might have metal reinforced walls or something... I'm not sure, to be honest.

Sadly yes, I'm in the same room. The laptop floats around though, usually in the same room through. It is also having problems, but I don't use it so it might have always had problems

 

I'm going to try the rest of the channels

 

Edit: Channel 1 seems to work well with the laptop, but not my desktop so much. It's better,still at "low", but it's not dropping out anymore, which is very nice . I'm moving the router around, to get it as close to this computer as possible.

The antenna was loose so I took a length of phone cord and wrapped it around it a couple times and tied it to the case. Ever since then I get a great signal. Could the cord act as an extension to the antenna? Is a phone cord shielded from interference?

I don't believe the phone cord would be shielded. It's probably acting as another antenna.

 

If I wrap my shortwave radio's external antenna (a 75ft wire) around its built-in antenna, reception improves dramatically. Same sort of idea, I think.

Wow, that's cool. Would a normal copper wire work as well as the phone cord?