Windows keeps shutting down wireless connection

kathradar

December 30, 2011 2:46:06 AM

Hello...

In my house, we have two PC's, one with the router and broadband connection (as well as cable TV), and mine, the 2nd computer with a Ralink PCI wireless adapter. New install of XP SP 3, Ver 2002. I have Ralink running the program, as personally the less I have to do with MS and Windows the better, but also Ralink has more features and options. This is a fairly recent install, with updated driver. On my PC I have Comodo AV (free version), which I thought was the culprit as my connection keeps shutting down, when I load a page, go to a new sight, download a doc,,,really there's no definite pattern except that it's continual and even shuts itself down when I try to do Windows updates!! I have a great signal strength, link quality & low noise and use the password.

It comes back up in about 10-15 seconds, but happens continually. I used to be able to right click the connection icon in the tray and hit "repair", and it would renew my IP address and every thing was fine for about a week or 10 days, then it would start again. Now...it can't even renew the IP unless I have my brother unplug the router, wait, then plug it back in again. Windows won't diagnose the problem because of course they aren't running the Ralink program (they want to run everything). I am so sick of this I want to scream.

I know a bit about computers, but this is beyond me, so please, please someone shed some light on this. Absolutely no viruses or malware...brought it to my Geeks to check it out & that is not the problem, but am strapped for funds to have them try and figure this out, without paying for a house call...if I had it, I'd pay...thank you so much...KK

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treefrog07

December 30, 2011 10:57:06 PM

It sounds like the router and your computer had been working well together at one time, and now they are not. First, I move the ralink receiver to make sure it has the best connectivity to the router. Second, I would enter the router administration and bump up the output to see if that fixes it. If neither worked, I would replace the router.

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kathradar

December 31, 2011 1:33:41 AM

treefrog07 said:

It sounds like the router and your computer had been working well together at one time, and now they are not. First, I move the ralink receiver to make sure it has the best connectivity to the router. Second, I would enter the router administration and bump up the output to see if that fixes it. If neither worked, I would replace the router.

Thanks for your reply, but I have tried all of the above, router has been changed out as has the Ralink PCI unit. It is some configuration or settings within Windows that is off, and I am not going to go messing around with a thousand different things when it could be just one simple setting. Since my first post, have ascertained that it has something to do with Windows not renewing the IP address on my computer. Below is some more recent info I sent to another tech who has a forum, but have not yet had a reply;

Basically, my brother and I share the cost of a cable (DSL) connection, where he has the main connection, router and computer, as he has a TV, does lots of gaming and I don't. ISP is RoadRunner Net Speed DSL. His IP does not appear to be static, from what I can determine (I am certainly no Tech). It is WPA-PSK AES, 802.11 B/G-Mix.

I have a Ralink Wireless G PCI card (with antenna) installed. I use Ralink's program to run it rather than Windows, as it gives many more functions, yet their forum does not even reply to my posts. I've never had this problem before with when we used to have Verizon. I log on with the password. I generally have no problem connecting using Mozilla FF (latest version), but once I'm on, the connection goes out in so many different situations; going to a new page, downloading data, clicking on a link-It comes back up on it's own in 10-15 seconds usually. I am very cautious and don't game or go to questionable sites. At first I thought it was the free Comodo AV program I have (but use Windows Firewall), which is much more than I need, but it still happens with Comodo turned off. Below is what I've checked and tried.

1. There seems to be a 'Public' IP 192.168.0.5, and my internal IP 97.97.77.8.3. Sub Mask 255.255.255.0. When I try to renew my IP address (which I used to be able to do by right clicking on the Network Connection 2 Icon in the tray and hit 'Repair Connection", but it will no longer do that). I get the note that Windows could not repair the connection, check with Administrator. When I was able to this, the connection would stay up for a week or two with no closing down.

2. I tried going to the prompt and typing ipconfig/renew and the message I got was Ethernet adapter Local Area 2: Media state....disconnected. And No Operation can be performed on Local Area Connection 2 while it's media is disconnected. All these messages came when I WAS connected to the Internet and had pages up and a full connection.

3. I have excellent Link Quality, Signal Strength and low noise. I checked in properties for Local Area Connect/TCP/IP settings and both "Obtain IP automatically and Obtain DNS automatically" are checked. I have no viruses or Malware...brought it in and had it scanned apart from Comodo. So if you please can you help me out here, as I am exhausted with my limited knowledge (and funds) to just bring this elsewhere or pay someone to come to my home. Thanks so much, Have a nice New Year.

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