MI424WR Reb I Gigabit router droping wireless connection with laptop
DrewO
Newbie

I have the Actiontech MI424WR Rev I router with firmware 40.19.22 which it came with.  The connection on my HP Pavilion dv7 using Vista 64 bit professional.  The wireless connction to the router keeps dropping - I need to disconnect and then re-connect to it.  I have also had a problem with my wired PC where I needed to unplug the router and plug it back in so that I could get out to the internet.

The prior MI424WR Rev C worked perfectly for years and years.  But - I wanted the faster 801.11n speed to I purchased the Rev I Gigabit version.

I have reset my card through Windows yesterday - but - I am still having problems.  I use the Acronis True Image Home backup software.  Anytime I try to run a verify of my backup - bang - my signal is dropped - the backup verify stops - I disconnect and then reconnect - it starts up for a while and drops again.

After a day or 2 without trying to perform a verify - the signal is still dropped.

I have no idea what to do next.

I use the WPA2 AES as my security to the router.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Re: MI424WR Reb I Gigabit router droping wireless connection with laptop
jmw1950
Specialist - Level 2

My personal suspicion is that you really have several  issues, The Acronis software driver behaves like a hardware device (and in fact shows up as one when it is running). That leads me to suspect there may be a conflict between the Acronis device driver and the wireless card driver. You have not mentioned what version of True Image you are using. Is it the latest, and have you contacted Acronis?

The dropping of the Wi-Fi connection is generally the result of one of two things happening. Signal interference (is the card in laptop a true 802.11n dual band card?). If it isn't, the 2.4 Ghz band is rife with sources of interference. That is less of a problem with dual band units because the 5Ghz band has more 'real estate', and few users, but still possible.

The other issue is that it may be a power management issue. Do you lose the connection when running of the AC adapter, or only on battery, or both. If it works on AC power but drops on battery, it is probably a power management issue, and you may have to tweak the power management settings. I have  seen many battery powered devices time out for inactivity with surprising speed on wireless networks. It is a way of maximizing battery life (and inconveniencing the hell out of the user). 

As to the wired pc, that's fort of a chicken-egg problem. It is hard to tell which end the problem is on. When you cannot connect to the internet, is the connection light on the ethernet port on? Will it connect if you just unplg the ethernet cable and re connect it without unplugging the router? In other words it is hard to tell whether it is a software issue, or a hardware issue. Generally the negotiation of the initial ethernet connection (capability and speed) is generally firmware on the ethernet card and port on the router. 

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with the encryption settings.

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Re: MI424WR Reb I Gigabit router droping wireless connection with laptop
JDoe5
Specialist - Level 1

The last time I ran into a WiFi sistuation like this it was a faulty WiFi card in the notebook.  I replaced it and the notebook worked properly ever since.

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