Forced to repair network connections....need help please

[Walter Cohen]

I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem is
hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to. It sends
out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows XP Home in my
house. The two Dell machines had been working well as far as always being
able to boot up and grab and make the wireless internet connection.

In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be fine.
About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and do a repair
of the network connection in order to establish the wireless connection. I
don't know why this is happening.

Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more importantly,
what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I originally thought that
perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be the problem but it really just
doles out the signal to the router and out to both Dell machines. So I
don't think it is the problem.

Please help if you can!

Thanks,
Walter

 

[philo]

I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem is
hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to. It sends
out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows XP Home in my
house. The two Dell machines had been working well as far as always being
able to boot up and grab and make the wireless internet connection.

In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be fine.
About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and do a repair
of the network connection in order to establish the wireless connection. I
don't know why this is happening.

<snip>

is the one that's loosing the connection farther away from the router?
it might be just a bit out of range or borderline

 

[Kerry Brown]

I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem
is hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to.
It sends out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows
XP Home in my house. The two Dell machines had been working well as
far as always being able to boot up and grab and make the wireless
internet connection.

In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be
fine. About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and
do a repair of the network connection in order to establish the
wireless connection. I don't know why this is happening.

Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more
importantly, what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I
originally thought that perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be
the problem but it really just doles out the signal to the router and
out to both Dell machines. So I don't think it is the problem.

Please help if you can!

Thanks,
Walter

It sounds like you are using Internet Connection Sharing on the win98 pc?
Why? I would remove ICS from the win98 pc then hook the modem directly to
the router. Hook things up this way and see if the problem is still there.
If it is post back with more details.

 

[Walter Cohen]

No, the modem is hooked directly to the router and the router directly to
the pc, not using ICS.

Thanks,
Walter

 

[Richard Urban]

You have stated two different way that your modem and router are connected.
Which one is correct?

Connect the modem to your wireless router. This should deliver the internet
directly to the Dell. The Win98 PC has nothing to do with this at all. Take
the Win98 machine out of the equation altogether and the Dell computer
should STILL be able to access the internet.

You have issues on the Dell.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

No, the modem is hooked directly to the router and the router directly to
the pc, not using ICS.

Thanks,
Walter

 

[Kerry Brown]

Then it sounds like the Dell has some issues. Does it work OK if you use the
wired connection?

 

[Walter Cohen]

No, I'll say the same thing but just a different way....
The cable line comes into the modem as it should/needs to; the modem goes
into the router, the router goes into the pc via a nic card.

Walter

You have stated two different way that your modem and router are connected.
Which one is correct?

Connect the modem to your wireless router. This should deliver the internet
directly to the Dell. The Win98 PC has nothing to do with this at all. Take
the Win98 machine out of the equation altogether and the Dell computer
should STILL be able to access the internet.

You have issues on the Dell.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Kerry Brown]

No, I'll say the same thing but just a different way....
The cable line comes into the modem as it should/needs to; the modem
goes into the router, the router goes into the pc via a nic card.

Walter

The way your first post was worded it sounded like you had it set up modem -
win98 pc - router. Obviously we misunderstood you. Does the Dell act up if
you connect it to the router with an ethernet cable?

 

[Archive >:-) Ed]

I have an older machine still running Windows 98 that my cable modem is
hooked up to and my Linksys wireless router is also attached to. It sends
out my internet signal to two Dell desktops running Windows XP Home in my
house. The two Dell machines had been working well as far as always being
able to boot up and grab and make the wireless internet connection.

In the past few weeks, only one of the Dell desktops has been having
difficulty connecting to the internet. The other desktop seems to be fine.
About 60% of the time I need to go into network connections and do a repair
of the network connection in order to establish the wireless connection. I
don't know why this is happening.

Any ideas as to why this might be happening lately and, more importantly,
what I can do to try and alleviate the situation? I originally thought that
perhaps my old Windows 98 machine might be the problem but it really just
doles out the signal to the router and out to both Dell machines. So I
don't think it is the problem.

Please help if you can!

Thanks,
Walter

I'm going out on a branch here but it sounds like the same general M$
incompetence with the DHCP. give them a static IP and it should work a
lot better.

 

[Walter Cohen]

The dell doesn't have a nic card, only the pci wireless adapter.

Thanks,
Walter

 

[Kerry Brown]

The dell doesn't have a nic card, only the pci wireless adapter.

That's too bad it would have helped with the troubleshooting. Do you see any
errors in the event logs when you lose the connection?

Start ==> Run ==> eventvwr.msc

What does the signal strength show for the wireless connection? Does it
fluctuate?