Linksys router question

[Sailormilan2]

I have a 4 year old Compaq V2000 (2615US) notebook that I connect to the internet with a Lynksys WRT54G wire/wireless router. The router and notebook are seperated by two walls and a distance of about 12'.

Lately the Compaq won't pick up the router, but will pick up the neighbors. My router has a stronger signal, but it still picks up the neighbor's router. If I tell it to manually search for mine, it will, and then it will connect. But then it it often loses the signal, and reconnects with the neighbors.

Am I looking at a Lynksys router problem, or is the modem care/wireless card in my lap top going bad? Unfortunately I recently purchased a "replacement" wireless card for my laptop, but once installed it was unable to run it, as it couldn't locate drivers for it. So, I am back to old original card.

I did get one of the newer Lynksys routers(Lynksys Wireless G WRT54G2) and attempted to set it up, and had nothing but trouble getting it to work with my laptop, and eventually gave up.

[skale240]

Best thing to do is to reset the router to factory defaults and temporarily run the wireless network wide open with no encryption. You also want to go into your wireless network settings and remove previously connect wireless networks (yours and your neighbors). I'm assuming win xp? you want to test connecting your router to eliminate any settings that may be causing the mishap. right click my network places and go to properties. right click your wireless connection and go to view available wireless connections. on the left click on change the order of preferred networks. in that box remove your previous wireless network name and your neighbors. Once thats done, get a pen and on the back of the router where the reset is, use the tip of the pen and press the button for about 10-15 secs. Your router should now be reset back to how it came brand new. now you might want to power down your cable modem and router for about a min, then power up the cable modem first, wait another minute then power up the router. once thats done connect to your wireless network, should be reset to linksys. test it out for a while and see if you still get dropped connections. if not, set the encryption on the router and test again. you should be all set from there.

[lazyworm]

WRT54G needs to be restarted quite often.
Have you tried unplugging it, count to 10 and then plug it back in?

[gravedigger]

Routers don't last forever. I get about three or four years out of one. Then I go buy a new one.

[skale240]

wait before you buy a new, pls flash the firmware on it. common problem is the firmware is out of date. I've had to flash a couple the same style routers before.

[Ricky-Ray]

wait before you buy a new, pls flash the firmware on it. common problem is the firmware is out of date. I've had to flash a couple the same style routers before.

x2. Check and see if there's a newer version of the firmware for the router. Also check and see if there are newer drivers for the wireless network card too. Sometimes just downloading the new updates will fix it.

[Corbin Dallas]

x2. Check and see if there's a newer version of the firmware for the router. Also check and see if there are newer drivers for the wireless network card too. Sometimes just downloading the new updates will fix it.

Agreed. Also, find out what channel your neighbor is on and put your router on a different one.

[Sailormilan2]

Thanks to all. I reset the rounter(via reset button), and turned it and the modem off for about 10 minutes. Then, I wiped out the saved networks(included the neighbors), and then after rebooting the modem and router, got the computor reconnected on line. So far, so good. I've spent the past hour or so updating drivers to just about everything. Hopefully everything is fixed now.

[skale240]

sweet! glad it all worked out!

[JDay]

What you should do is flash DD-WRT onto the WRT54G. This will make it run much better. You should also make sure the wireless channel is set to 'auto' and if you still have signal issues you can get the high-gain antenna set that Linksys makes for that router. I see you have it working now so you should really flash DD-WRT onto it, it runs much better than the stock firmware and has more options.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

[JDay]

Routers don't last forever. I get about three or four years out of one. Then I go buy a new one.

I'm still using my trusty WRT54GS V1 that I bought back in 2004. It works perfectly fine running DD-WRT. The nice thing too is that when I finally have a need to replace it, I'll still be able to use it as a wireless repeater or as a bridge to get internet access in areas that have a weak signal.

[JDay]

Agreed. Also, find out what channel your neighbor is on and put your router on a different one non-overlapping channel.

If you set it to a channel that overlaps you'll still get interference. This is why I set mine to auto, it'll also change the channel to the one with the least interference when things such as microwaves, radar guns pointed at your house and cordless phones are in use.

[6172crew]

If you set it to a channel that overlaps you'll still get interference. This is why I set mine to auto, it'll also change the channel to the one with the least interference when things such as microwaves, radar guns pointed at your house and cordless phones are in use.

Yep, 1, 6, or 11 preferred.