Troubleshooting: Windows Wireless Networking
I’ve had my Compaq Presario 2500 notebook 802.11b wireless networked using my DI-614+ Wireless Broadband Router for three or four years now. The only problem I’ve really experienced is with a certain species of streaming video (Yahoo! Music for instance). I just get the “Opening” dialog forever, then it times out. The problem is most likely related to bandwidth through my cheapy router, but I’m not going to buy a new one, so the case is closed on that.
A few months ago I purchased a used notebook through the PC refresh program of my part-time employer, ADP Probusiness. Getting a wireless-card was a nightmare, and I think because it is installed internally and on the bottom cener of the notebook, the reception is probably not very good.
So everything was running smoothly. My daugher used the Dell Latitude 600 notebook to surf the internet, looking for flash animations related to japanese anime series. Once school started, she also used it to write out homework assignments in MS Word and print them to our HP Color Laserjet 5500. Every once in a while the internet connection would drop. Refreshing the browser usually did the trick to get things going again.
Then one of our near neighbors jumped on the wireless bandwagon. Our PC started dropping our “Excellent” network connection and picking up their “Low” network connection constantly. This is a well documented annoyance with PCs running Windows XP SP1. It is caused by the Zero Point Configuration service, which constantly scans for better networks and connects to them. Problem is, it doesn’t have to be a better network. You can turn Zero Point Configuration off, but then you can’t choose your connection.
Through my researching a solution to this problem, I came up with the following steps you should take to troubleshoot your wireless networking problems, especially those caused by conflicts with other wireless networks in your area:
1. If you are running Windows XP SP1, update to SP2. That alone will likely solve your problem.
2. Make sure your Service Set Identifier (SSID) is unique. Don’t leave it on default.
3. If you are able to, set the channel on your wireless router to an unused channel.
And of course you can always reboot the router, restart the modem, and you should always have your network WEP encrypted.
That said, the way I solved my particular problem was to move the notebook to another part of the house where new neighbor’s stupid default network wasn’t detected. Easier.
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