A puzzling Broadband connection
 

Win XP SP2.

I have 2 options for connection on the Desktop, a RJ45 into a USB adaptor or wifi. (Normally in the evenings) I get one or both of them showing cycling disconnect/reconnect but then with 'limited connectivity'. Reboot re-enables normal connections (which is how I am here now). Laptop works fine with wifi all the while.

It would seem there must be something 'common' in these Desktop connection problems and I would be grateful for any pointers.

Are you saying that you have the two network connections running at the same time on the same computer to the same router? If so why? (I'm intrigued) You could try disabling one of them and see what happens :confused:

I recently had an intractable connection problem on a laptop (not me mum & dads - that's still frazzed) where the router could see the connection, but wouldn't hook up to it. In the end, I found BT Home hub software left on the machine - got rid of it & the network connection associated with it & voila. Connected straight away. So I would try to disable one connection & go with the other.

Despite all the vendors of 802.11 (b & g) claiming that their kit is 100% compatible, I have found a few instances where one wifi network card will just not, ever, connect to a given WAP, while other brands have no problems.

This can even (in one instance) be a problem between a wifi NIC and a WAP from the SAME vendor (Netgear)! :ugh:

But in all the cases I have come across it has been NO connection, not periodic failure.

Good advice so far, to which I would add - ensure that you don't have both Windows AND the card vendor's config software trying to manage the wifi card at the same time.

SD

Orange Livebox
 

Im currently having trouble making a wirless connection to an Orange Livebox . RJ45 works fine I suspect its a compatability issue between my USB wirless adapter and the router . To make things more interesting Im running Vista .
Mumbai cant help because the adaptor didnt come from Orange they suggested a couple of config changes to the router but that didnt work.
I have tried using the Livebox software to set up the connection and also tried Vista . The strange thing is that the devices see each other and the PC says it has a connection but NO internet access.

Anyone else had this problem ?

All the above boxes ticked and only one connection device in action, falling back on wifi when RJ45 fails. I am just toying now with a theory that it might be happening after a Roxio back-up process. I run an email every night and a doc and settings twice weekly. Any known conflicts with Roxio?

Sounds like a driver issue.

Roll back to the last known good driver for each one. If you go into device manager, select the devices that you are having the problem with, hit the drivers tab, click the roll back to last driver button.

TIO

Yes- but why do both become 'flakey'? Must be something 'common'?

Connection problems are an asrehole. Have you IPV6? Newest, not very supported TCP/IP protocol?? I found it on an xp machine recently & found that net chatter says disable it...

I had not even heard of it, so I doubt it - how would I now, say, if MS had sneakily installed it?

Click on your internet connection icon in the system tray I.e. the one that looks like a monitor with radio waves coming out of it, on the general tab, click properties & it will be there in the 'this connection uses the following items' box - where tcp/ip & QoS packet scheduler etc all live.

Worth a try...

TCP/IP Version 6 - the swines! What now?

Well, I removed it & it sorted out that machine. However, i would recommend a little reading on the internerd, before you go hacking away at your ip settings. I know you know all this, but I don't wish to be sued:p

IP v6 (to give TCP v6 its more formal name) shouldn't impact home users at all - it's only really being asked for in the US Federal market, and its unlikely to be required for all Internet users for a while.

Why ? IP v4 was going to run out of addresses to give people, until some clever bods came up with the idea of Network Address Translation, which obviates the need for everyone in the world to have their unique address, and instead only the device at the edge of the network, which directly connects to the Internet, needs one, and it mediates between devices inside the network which want to access resources on the Internet. IP v6 allows for enough addresses for everyone to have lots.

If you've got an IPv6 stack installed on your home puter, I doubt your broadband access device would understand it is it used it anyway.

I cannot see that it will be IPV6. I am still getting ''network cable is unplugged' then it shows 'reconnected' and also 'limited connectivity', sometimes I can access the internet/emails sometimes not.

All the checks I have run on the system come up clean, so any ideas? Right now the RJ45 shows 'dead' and the wifi is good. Shortly I will need to swap again, and it may or may not work. Reboots seem to fix temporarily. :confused:

BOAC My experience with RJ45 into a USB might help (might not)

I used the adapter without any probs on two computers without network cards. (at different times) Then when I introduced WiFi into the house the computer using the adapter worked erratically and then froze.

The locked up computer recovered when the adapter was disconnected and a reboot was performed.

My solution was to dump the adapter in the bin and go wireless on that computer.

Can you put a network card in the PC?

Sorry I cannot explain why this happened - but I'm feeling better now.

MC

MC - thanks - that was almost my first action, but the wifi then showed the same problem. I am puzzled. There MUST be a common chip on the motherboard, driver or summat?

I see repeated inbounds from 'smurf' in the log. I HAD blocked WAN ping on the router on installation, but have taken that off to see what happens.

Following MC's line, I pulled out the RJ45 USB module, but the wifi still comes and goes on its own. Laptop still fine???

Couple more ideas. Have you tried progressively switching off stuff, like the firewall, the anti virus etc. then connecting? Not ideal to be exposed, but if you can't connect anyway...

Also, you don't have windows & the router software both trying t manage the connection do you? It should be one or t'other. Lastly, have you tried disabling one & seeing how the other gets on? If that works ok, it would suggest a conflict when they're both enabled.