Wireless Tips – Does your wireless router keep disconnecting or dropping the connection?
Posted on March 31, 2007 at 10:54 am
Make sure to read other posts from the Wireless Tips series!
- How to connect two computers or laptops wirelessly
- How to wirelessly access USB devices using a network USB hub
- How to disable service set identifier (SSID) broadcasting on your wireless router
- How to troubleshoot your Windows XP wireless network connection problems
- Wireless Tips – Does your wireless router keep disconnecting or dropping the connection?
I’ve had a Netgear wireless router for about a year now and it’s been pretty good until a couple of weeks back all of sudden my wireless connection kept dropping or I could not connect to the router unless I restarted the router! It was a royal pain in the butt, but because I’m lazy I didn’t get around to fixing it earlier! If you’re in the same situation, here’s what you can do to fix the problem!
The issue is usually caused by one of two things: the driver for your wireless card or the firmware version on your router (basically the driver for the router). I have found that unless you’re using a really old wireless router, it’s more than likely an old driver for your wireless card that is the culprit. So you have to update the wireless card. How do we do that?
First, you’ll need to go to the web site for the manufacturer of your computer: Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc and go to their support or driver downloads page. Here I’ve tried to get the direct links to those pages for the most common computers:
Dell – http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen
HP – http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers
Sony – http://esupport.sony.com/perl/select-system.pl?PRODTYPE=1,24,26,66,9,70,5,72
Select your system or type it in and find the latest driver for you wirless card. There is usally a section called Networking and underneath you should see a list of drivers. One of them should have the word “Wireless” in it. If you have more than one wireless driver, then you need to figure out which one you have installed on your computer.
You can determine the model number for your wireless card by pressing the Windows key + the Pause button at the same time. This brings up the System Properties dialog. Another way to get to it is to right click on My Computer and select Properties. Once there, click on the Hardware tab.
You’ll see a list of devices with plus signs to the left of them. Click on the one called “Network Adapters” and there will be an entry for your wireless card as shown below:
Now download that driver from the list off the manufactuer’s web site. Usually the wireless card is called something “Intel Pro Wirelss” or “Dell Wireless”, etc. Once you download the file to your desktop, double click on it and follow the steps to install. You might have to restart your computer.
Now you should find that the number of times the connection drops or disconnects is very low. Once I updated my driver, I haven’t disconnected once! Let me know if I can make this better or if it didn’t work!
» Filed Under Computer Tips
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5 Responses to “Wireless Tips – Does your wireless router keep disconnecting or dropping the connection?”
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How to troubleshoot your Windows XP wireless network connection problems Says:
[...] and install the latest firmware for the router. You can read a previous article I had written about updating drivers for your wireless card if the connection is [...]
July 31st, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Still having the same dropping problem, and using the latest driver for my usb wireless network adapter. Any other suggestions??
Two more things to look for if you’re still dropping connections. Most wireless routers broadcast at 2.4ghz. Make sure you don’t have any other devices that broadcast at this same frequency lying around. 2.4ghz cordless phones, baby monitors, wireless alarm systems, etc. You’d be surprised how many wireless devices use the 2.4 ghz freq. I replaced my water sprinkler controller last week and the wireless module for it….you guessed it. 2.4ghz. Didn’t buy it.
Second thing to check is to make sure your encryption key is entered in EXACTLY correct. Seen lots of connections drop randomly because in the encryption key, a “c” was entered as a “C”. Different values. Close but not close enough. BTW, you can’t go by what is stamped on the outside of the router. You have to login to the router and put in the encryption key EXACTLY how it is inside the router.
Lots of fun and games….
I came across this article while having my toshiba laptop drop the connection every 10 min or so and woudnt re connect unless i restarted and this compleatly fixed my problem. I havent had a dropped connection in over a week. Thank you so much for addressing this problem, and giving such exact instructions and links to the web sites. Kudos to you!
Hi, had lots of problem, my wifi connection out of the blue suddenly started to drop the connections almost instantly after i turned it on and guess what helped!? Just retyping the encryption key, it worked like magic , but i wonder how it got changed in the first place on it’s own!