Strange wi-fi Windows 7 connection problem

[singlecoil]

We have four computers at various places in the house all of which access the internet through a BT Home Hub. All are running W7. For some reason the newest and most expensive of them (more than the other three put together) has decided to stop automatically connecting to the hub. And the hub doesn't even show in the list of available connections, although my three of my neighbours' routers do. Then every now and then it will appear. Then it appears to connect, but not properly.

When it's doing this it shows as connected in the list of connections available, signal strength very good, but no internet access. Except very occasionally, when it appears to be properly connected with 'internet access' but the pages load really slowly, while the computer next to it is banging them out in almost no time.

Windows trouble shooter is as useful as it usually is, I've tried resetting the router, all other computers still working fine.

Any ideas as to what I could try next?

Thanks in anticipation.

[grumbledoak]

I would start by looking at the "environment" with InSSIDer on that PC. Or physically move the PC.

http://www.inssider.com/inssider/

[Crafty_]

Don't know if this will help, but try using a USB wifi adapter.

I have a media machine in the lounge and bought a tiny USB adapter that looks a bit like this:


Its rubbish and will give very poor speeds even thought the machine has line of sight to the router. If I pull the machine out of the cabinet it does improve but not much.

I binned it and replaced with one like this:


works great.

The point being it could be the laptop has a crap wifi adapter in it. Might be worth double checking the driver is up to date first though. I'd also check that your router is at least 2 channels away from the neighbours ones, just in case (for whatever reason) the new laptop is more susceptible to interference.

[SteBrown91]

before buying anything i would ensure all wifi/bios drivers etc are all up to date by going to the manufacturers website.

Could just be an iffy driver thats since been replaced.

[Efbe]

watch out there isn't a wifi button just below the screen. There is on the mrs' laptop and it's annoying as funk.

Replacement Wifi cards are cheap and extremely easy to replace though. Laptop or desktop.

[singlecoil]

I should have said, it's a desktop with a wi-fi card. It's since connected to the internet but is ridiculously slow (most of the time, with occasional bursts of normal speed). According to Windows the driver for the card is up to date. This problem is recent, up til a short while ago it was working perfectly, and I'm not aware of anything else having changed.

[grumbledoak]

If it has a sticky out aerial, just moving it through 90° can make a massive difference. InSSIDer will show the signal strength as you do this.

[singlecoil]

I've still got a problem.

The wi-fi signal is good, it has external antennae which I've tried in various positions but in all of them it shows 4 bars as opposed to the working perfectly W7 computer next to it which has an internal aerial and shows 2 bars.

But it's as if the signal, once it's inside the computer, is being seriously degraded. There's a little bit of internet that gets through, but a YouTube video that streams easily at 480p on the other computer continually buffers at 240p on the one with the problem.

Anything else I can try?

[furtive]

Not really a solution to the actual problem but as it's a desktop why not get some powerline ethernet adaptors (or connect it directly to the hub if you can) instead of using wifi?

In terms of an actual solution, check the wifi card manufacturers website for the latest driver rather than relying on Windows to find it for you.

May be worth uninstalling the driver, rebooting and reinstalling the one downloaded from the manufacturer (download it first, for obvious reasons!)