Need Help with Laptops and Internet Access
rlashier
Newbie

I have been having difficulties during the past week with my internet access.  I had been using FIOS for a couple months with few problems.  Initially, I thought the problem was related to thunderstorms that passed thru our area a week ago, and wondered if the router had been damaged during the storms.  But now I suspect it may be a more pedestrian issue with the computers' settings.

I have the Actiontec M1424WR router.  With the power on, the power, internet, coax, and wireless lights are glowing and green.  I have tried rebooting the router, and have used the various "fix my connection" and optimizer tools available from online support here. 

We have 4 PCs in the home, all with wireless adapters.  Two are desktop PCs, the other two are an HP (XP) and a Dell (Vista) laptop.  I am generally able to get internet access on the desktop PCs, since these have linksys wireless adapters with the linksys utilitiy installed, and I have a profile created in the linksys utility that usually works fine with the desktop units.

But there is no such utility for the laptop units with their built-in adapters, and I must use Windows services to connect to the network and the internet.  I can sometimes find available networks with the Windows services, and connect to the network manually.   But many times, the SSID for our network will not be listed as avaialble, and at other times, the Windows service says that I have a network connection, but it will not connect to the Internet.  And even when connections are made, they will intermittently be dropped.

Is there anything I can do to make the network and internet access for these laptops once again reliable? 

Thanks,

Rich

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Re: Need Help with Laptops and Internet Access
BrianMcD
Specialist - Level 1

You may be getting interference on the laptops based upon there location in your house and other outside sources.

Try logging into the Actiontec and changing the Wireless Channel to 11 and if all of your devices a 802.11G changing the Wireless to G Only.

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Re: Need Help with Laptops and Internet Access
BrianMcD
Specialist - Level 1

You may be getting interference on the laptops based upon there location in your house and other outside sources.

Try logging into the Actiontec and changing the Wireless Channel to 11 and if all of your devices a 802.11G changing the Wireless to G Only.

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Re: Need Help with Laptops and Internet Access
rlashier
Newbie

Brian,

Thanks for that advice.  This morning, not even my desktop PCs could connect by a wireless connection, and I am only able to respond to your note because I was able to connect on my laptop via ethernet.  I rebooted the router first, but that did not solve the problem with the wireless connections.  I will try your tip to set a fixed channel for the wireless communications, as I see that has worked for some folks with similar problems.

Seems odd that we had few connectivity issues for a couple months, but only started having these issues last week after severe thunderstorms.  Maybe the router is the issue, but oddly, it does work some of the time!

Rich

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Re: Need Help with Laptops and Internet Access
VZ_Brian
Contributor - Level 2

Here is the possible scenario:

Your router was configured correctly, and all was working well. 

Thunderstorms knocked out power, and your router reverted to it's original setting ("automatic channel selection").

Now you have intermittent connectivity due to the change in configuration. 

When you go into your router to change the channel, check to see if there is an option to "keep current channel settings after power cycle".  If so, check that box. 

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Re: Need Help with Laptops and Internet Access
rlashier
Newbie

Thanks, Brian.  I appreciate the support you offer on this forum.

I will try that tip on keeping the channel setting when I return after Labor Day weekend.

Rich

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