my wireless adapter will connect to my router but after about 5 or 10 minutes online... it will disconnect and show no wireless networks in range as opposed to the usual 3 or 4 from the neighbours etc. then upon disabling the adapter or repairing it, my computer will completely restart itself for some reason... the network card is a belkin wireless G f5d7000 v.7021 if that helps at all... i tried reinstalling the drivers for the card but maybe i messed up on a step or something because i baught a new router and the problem still persists. any help would be greatly appreciated
no ideas? any advice or anything? ive heard belkin is a pretty crappy brand for wireless cards but if theres a solution id be glad to hear of it
I've not used any PCI wireless cards by Belkin but i do have a few of their PCMCIA network adapters (models F5D7010 and F5D7011), i rate mine very highly, 100% stable in both Windows & linux. One method you could try is a linux live cd, they're very simple to use and are a quick and easy way to troubleshoot things like this, for instance if the card works fine via the live cd it would seem to point to a driver issue or something of that nature. Just did a quick google and it looks like your Belkin can only do WEP security ie is majorly insecure. One option might be to try and get a refund for the new router and buy a better card, for instance the Linksys WMP54G cards are excellent, they support WPA2 which is infinitely more secure than crappy WEP. The problem could also be digital phone interference, microwave oven even (though of course that's only when the oven is on), it could even be settings on the router(s). Though from your description it could be a software issue. As i say i haven't used your particular Belkin but if it comes with it's own software it's more than likely that the problem lies with said software. What i would do is uninstall the Belkin software if you installed any for that card and try to just control the card thru Windows' own built-in tools. Post back with the model names/versions of the routers and which Windows you are using, but i'll wager it's crappy Belkin software (as opposed to the drivers for the card itself) at fault here. I always find Windows' own tools are the most stable way of running wireless cards, and in fact most of my cards work under linux too where you don't use the software anyway, just the drivers.. edit- example quote i found on google ~
thanks for the reply, im using windows xp sp3, and the router i have is a d-link wbr 2310, my laptop connects to it without problems... also, i have a dlink omni-directional indoor antenna connected to my belkin card to help with my connection as my router is downstairs and my pc is upstairs. i recently decided to disable windows wireless zero configuration, and it gives me about an extra 20 minutes online but still disconnects and restarts my computer when i disable the adapter itself... im wondering, my router is within a 2 or 3 foot radius of my microwave since u mention it; wouldnt that effect the laptops connection to the router as well being that the microwave would interfere with the router and not the wireless adapters?
Only if you're eating microwave meals every 20 minutes . (WZC) Windows wireless zero configuration was what i was referring to before, so you've thought of that side of things, i personally have better luck with that than supplied software (apart from one obscure adapter i have that only works in Windows with the supplied software, WZC doesn't work on that one but linux (it's a dual boot machine) uses that adapter perfectly. But i digress). Could it just be that the signal gets dropped then ?, if this is the pc is the one losing connection and the laptop works ok ?. Spotty wireless coverage is what prompted me to use 2 different wireless setups (see my signature), my folks house has a wireless router on each floor, connected together wirelessly (WDS) and that extends the coverage, as when it was just the downstairs router there wasn't sufficient coverage. But if you're only talking about one desktop PC maybe you can just move the router slightly ?. I saw you mentioned an omni aerial, maybe it's just a subtle lack of coverage. But then there's the restarts, that's not good. I'm not sure what to suggest, you seem to have covered virtually everything (no pun intended), restarts/crashes would lean me towards a driver issue.
i was assuming it was purely a driver issue, it just baffles my mind how it causes my pc to restart... ill try reinstalling the drivers and skip out on the belkin wireless utility software and post an update within the hour
as of reinstalling the drivers my connection hasnt yet been dropped (knock on wood).. i havent triend any bittorrent or p2p software yet to see how they work out as im still waiting on it to disconnect. im almost positive it was just a driver issue because its been online for about an hour now which is rare. thanks for the help.
