Wireless Fluctuates

I got a new laptop about a month ago (nothing fancy) anyways since day one my wireless connection fluctuates. This does not happen on my other laptop or any of my other devices. Only this new laptop.

It will show low connectivity or even none, then when I hover over it, it often goes back up to excellent but then will shortly go back down...this goes on constantly. I can use the internet still but its spotty and when it dips all the way down it stays at a standstill.

Fluctuations:


Then I'll hover over it and it will quickly go to excellent......


Moving the computer closer makes no change in this. Sometimes I will click "diagnose" and it will say its resetting or restarting the network card.

I don't know much about computers so I have no idea how to figure this out or stop it. By the way my comp:
HP 2000 notebook
Windows 7 Home (64 bit)
AMD E350 4Gig

The wifi adapter is a Ralink 5390 if that helps at all.

 

Hi and welcome to CHF

Start > type in ........devmgmt.msc .......ENTER
click the + next to network adapters
Right click on the device shown > click on update Drivers

Obviously you will need internet access to do this. Let it "Search Automatically".

 

To add if you take notice the signal bar in your second image is still weak (look on the taskbar).

Another thing I would suggest is you download inSSIDer - http://www.metageek....ducts/inssider/

Open it up and right click on the MAC Address column and untick it so it is hidden then take a screenshot (on both computers) it will give us a better idea of what signal strength both computers are picking up in numbers rather than signal bars which can be rather inaccurate at times, it would show other wireless networks in your area as well which could cause interference but based on your two screenshots above there are no other networks around for a good 50m or so.

 

O.k. so I took the steps outlined above and made sure my drivers were updated, they were.

I downloaded the suggested software onto the laptop and took screenshots.....I have not gotten it on the main computer yet but I will. For now here are the shots off the laptop....so far today it is NOT fluctuating which is really annoying since this has been going on daily every single day since I got the computer. It says connection is excellent but it seems VERY slow to me during use. Anyways here are the various screenshots I took.









I will try and get this program on the main computer. I don't understand why today of all days its not fluctuating like it has been daily. But it's super slow.

 

Arrrrrghhhh............this problem has been on my back like a monkey since day one with this laptop but all yesterday while monitering with this program it didn't do it. So this am the program was off (the program above) and I noticed once again I had like NO connectivity. So I scramble, turn it on so I can post a screenshot while the connection is showing as really bad, and boom goes perfect and has stayed there.

It's like the wireless connection knows I'm watching it. Wtf? Why is it running perfect with no fluctuations when this is open but for weeks and weeks not five minutes has gone by without a fluctuation.

 

Is your "Main Computer" also wireless or is it connected to the router directly?

 

It is connected to the router directly with no connection troubles.

 

Hi,

This could be due to radio interference.
Try changing the channel from 6 to another one - but not 11 or 1 as your neighbours are using those.

To do this you need to access the Router Software.
Open IE then type 192.168.1.1 in the address bar ( This is the normal address for Linksys routers )
You need to search through and find the channel setting to alter it.
Obviously you will need to test it for a while - try the extremes first.

 

It would be odd for the other networks to be the effect since there are only a couple of them near beaglebean, I have multiple networks near me I have my wireless channels set to 9+13 and 36+40 and when I'm sat at the furthest point in the house from the network they show 40dbm and 50dbm respectively.
Plus the channel is set to 6 already so the channels aren't overlapping anyway and won't get any better if it is set to anything else as moving one channel either way (so 5 or 7) will put his network signal frequency nearer other networks.

It's got to be something bigger like a radio transmitter or other similar signal transmitter, it sounds to be intermittent since beaglebean couldn't replicate the signal dropping so likely whatever was causing the interference previously was turned off at the time, as a side note those signal measurements in the screenshots look fine to me anything 50 or below will show as a full signal in Windows from my experience and around 50-60dbm will show as 4 bars and so on.

The main computer obviously won't be affected because it's wired, if it has a wireless card could you try connecting to your router with it and see if that gets affected? That will make more certain some sort of interference rather than the laptop wireless card.

Also did you or any neighbours recently get some sort of radio based device that you know of?

 

Does your main computer have a wireless card in it. If so have you tried setting it up and removing the ethernet cable? If it works then the problem is the wireless connection in your laptop. If it fails to work and is configured properly then the issue is probably with the router itself. A while back Lynksys was purchased by and rebranded as Cisco so it seems that this is not a particularly new router.

Does this laptop connect to other routers properly such as public wifi? What "other devices" have you used and are all the connections wireless?

 

Hi I will try that later today. I am pretty sure it has a wireless card but it's always been hooked up with the cable.

I bought the router two years ago almost exactly. Could be time for a new one.

I've never had the laptop out of the house so I've only connected it to my own wifi....the other devices I have used with my wifi are my blackberry and my PS3. Both work totally fine as well as my other laptop which connects wirelessly and sits right next to this one. Although I rarely actually have my blackberry and PS3 on the wifi...very rarely. The other laptop that has no wireless troubles is hooked up constantly.

 

This is not meant to negate any of the advice given above. However, it may be a good idea to take the laptop to your local Starbucks or some other public wifi and make certain that it works. It seems that the router is not the issue.

 

Woodyblade

I wasn't suggesting that they were interfering. I said it could be "Radio Interference" thinking wireless phones or similar.
I am well aware that channel 6 is nowhere near the frequency of 11 or 1.
I suggested not to use 11 or 1 as a precaution.

beaglebean
if you have not tried changing the channel it will do no harm at all to give it a go.

 

O.k. I will try changing the channel, probably tomorrow.

I will say this even though it may make me look nuts.....since downloading this program, whenever the program is on I have no wireless trouble. When it's off, it goes back to business as usual with the fluctuations and barely any connectivity. When I notice its really bad and this program is not running, when I turn this program on, it goes right back to excellent, and holds at excellent the entire time the program is running with hardly any fluctuations. I've been watching this happen for three days now since earlier in the thread when I downloaded it. wtf? I've noticed this to be true so much so, that yesterday while playing an online game I noticed I had no connectivity. I turned the program on....boom excellent and held there the entire time I played (with that program going in the background)

 

Hi,

Try this:

Start ......type in ....cmd ...........ENTER
At the prompt type:
ping 8.8.8.8 -t -l 2 ......................ENTER [ there is a space after the last 8 and after -t and -l (this is a letter not a number one )]

This will constantly send 2 bytes of data to Google DNS

Minimise it with the - in the top right and leave it running.

Do not open the software that you say keeps your connection live.

Does the connection drop with this running in the background?