Wireless-i'm Really In Need To Be Wired

[weiyang123]

Hi thanks for spending time to read my problem.

 

To begin with, My laptop cannot seem to stay consistently online on the internet.After every 20 seconds, I get a message popup from taskbar telling me that I have many wireless networks available. And I get disconnected and have to manually connect to the internet. I am hooked on to the internet through my router at home which is placed downstairs and my neighbour's router is just next door to my room, so I often get connected to his network instead. Therefore, my woe is that I cannot seem to stay online longer than 20 seconds even though I selected my wireless card configuration's authentication algorithm to WECA compliant. And my home router's signal is amazingly excellent.

 

Hope someone can enlighten me to what to do. Thanks alot and God bless!

[Madmanmcp]

my router at home which is placed downstairs and my neighbour's router is just next door to my room,

 

My first question would be why have TWO wireless routers in the house? Or do you mean your neighbor is just very close.

 

Now if you are jumping connections I would assume that your neighbor is not running a secure Network and at one point you connected to his and your now set to automatically connect to his. You can ask him to secure his network which will block you. Or the next time you are connected to it, DISCONNECT from it and it will stop connecting. It may ask if you would like to connect, you can then bypass it and connect to yours.

 

The best thing to do is have him secure his.

[weiyang123]

I meant His network is very near mine because my neighbours are like right beside my house ( less than 5m) so I guess the problem is not being connected to his network. Yet, its that I am being disconnected and told to select an available network. I can be successful for a short time before the problem repeats itself.

By the way, thanks.

[Madmanmcp]

Yet, its that I am being disconnected and told to select an available network. I can be successful for a short time before the problem repeats itself.

 

What I believe is happening is the network settings for both your network and his network have been set to "Automatically connect". Because he is so close your PC is having a tug of war between the two networks and its trying to connect to the one with the strongest signal.

 

You need to go into your settings and disconnect from his network and change the "Automatic" to "Manual". Rightclick on the wireless icon in the Systray (bottom right) and select View Available Networks. There is an option to refresh the available list, select this. You should see his and your network listed. Click on his and at the bottom of the page click the DISCONNECT (if its connected) button, if its not click the connect and then disconnect. Now click on your network and click on CONNECT.

 

See if this clears up your problem.

[weiyang123]

Thanks.Weird but currently I'm not experiencing any disconnections. Haha but thanks anyway.

[TweezerMan]

Welcome to the forums, weiyang123!

[TCH-Don]

Welcome to the forums, weiyang123

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the forums, weiyang123

[TCH-Thomas]

Welcome to the forum, weiyang123.

[TCH-Rob]

Welcome to the forum, weiyang123

[weiyang123]

Thanks hosts. This forum is wonderful. By the way, am still experiencing disconnections every now and then to select a network from the many available ones. I've tried disconnecting from my neighbour's network but it cannot be done permanently. Is there a way to set my linksys card or settings to access only my network?

[stevevan]

Welcome to the forums. Personally, if I were you, I'd talk to your neighbor and ask him to secure his network. If he wonders why, ask him if he wants to provide all of the other neighbors an Internet connection for free. That should (hopefully) wake him up.

[Madmanmcp]

Ok, lets see if we can do something else.

 

Right click on the wireless icon in the Systray and select View Available Wireless Networks.

On the left side select "Change the order of preferred networks.

In the list of networks, click and highlight your network and click the MOVE UP button to put it at the top.

 

Do these following steps for all the other networks listed.

click on the unwanted network name to highlight it.

click the properties button.

click the CONNECTION tab.

uncheck "Connect when this network is in range"

click the OK button.

the "(Automatic)" should say (On Demand) now

 

After all networks are changed, click the OK button to complete all changes.

 

See if this helps.

[weiyang123]

I don't have the tabs you mentioned.And i definitely cannot uncheck any options. I can only remove the preferred network which is my neighbour's network but am still detecting the network. But I have came across options to choose which are automatic, infrastructure or ad-hoc networking. And chosen to use infrastructure. And can someone enlighten me on what is ad-hoc network.

[stevevan]

What operating system are you using? Bob's instructions were assuming you are using Windows XP. An "Ad hoc" network is one that is an improvised or impromtu network.

[weiyang123]

I'm using Microsoft XP Home Edition.Yup,I would like to follow his instructions but I don't have the tabs that He talks about except for the available network stuff.

[Madmanmcp]

The instructions I gave were for Windows XP Home Edition. Do you have the latest Service Packs and Security Updates from Windows installed? I believe there were some wireless networking enhancements added in them and thats what I was possibly using. So from your Windows IE browser, click on TOOLS at the top and select Windows Update and from that page check for Upates and use the EXPRESS route for updates. You may need to reboot and return to the update site several times to get ALL of the patches and updates.

[Madmanmcp]

An ad hoc network is a computer-to-computer network, the computers are directly connected/networked, usually wired.

 

Open Network connections:

 

To open Network Connections, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.

 

Did you move your network to the top of the list?

 

To change the order in which connection attempts to preferred networks are made, under Preferred networks, click the wireless network that you want to move to a new position on the list, and then click Move up or Move down.

 

Try changing settings here:

 

To change the wireless network connection settings for a network that is listed in Preferred networks, click the wireless network for which you want to change settings, click Properties, and then change the settings as needed.

 

Try removing all the networks you don't want to connect to:

 

To remove a wireless network from the list of preferred networks, under Preferred networks, click the wireless network that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

[weiyang123]

An ad hoc network is a computer-to-computer network, the computers are directly connected/networked, usually wired.

 

Open Network connections:

 

To open Network Connections, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.

 

Did you move your network to the top of the list?

 

To change the order in which connection attempts to preferred networks are made, under Preferred networks, click the wireless network that you want to move to a new position on the list, and then click Move up or Move down.

 

Try changing settings here:

 

To change the wireless network connection settings for a network that is listed in Preferred networks, click the wireless network for which you want to change settings, click Properties, and then change the settings as needed.

 

Try removing all the networks you don't want to connect to:

 

To remove a wireless network from the list of preferred networks, under Preferred networks, click the wireless network that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

 

I've removed all unwanted networks but still doesn't work. And I have done an update as well. Anyway What is IEEE 802.1x anyway?

[Madmanmcp]

Anyway What is IEEE 802.1x anyway?

 

IEEE - Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers." A professional organization that helps set transmission system standards.

 

802.1x - "This IEEE standard can be used as a basis for authentication on all 802 networks, including Ethernet, token ring and WLANs. IEEE 802.1X specifies how EAP information should be encapsulated in frames. To be useful in enabling WLAN security, 802.1X must be supported by WLAN infrastructure equipment as well as mobile-device operating systems."

 

In simpler terms, 802.1x is the way networks "talk" to one another, like a language you need to speak french to communicate with a frenchman. If you have a router that supports 802.11a, you need a network card that also supports 802.11a, otherwise they cannot communicate.