Random weird fault - any ideas?

[Scrotie]

I have a Belkin F5D7230-4 router and a Micradigital USB adapter (cheap Tescos jobbie).

Sometimes the computer will connect to and show internet pages, and other times it will not. Obviously it's decided to work at the moment, or I wouldn't be typing this.

When the computer is started and I start Firefox, it will quite often say "Page not found". However, there is a clear and strong connection to the right network, connected with the right PSK key, and the computer believes that it is connected. Nothing is amiss that I can find: the adapter is working properly and I can't find any faults. Still the bloody thing won't connect. What's weird is that sometimes you can leave the computer for 10 minutes, come back and it will connect. Other times it won't connect however long it is left for.

I have another computer which connects reliably to this router every time, so it probably isn't the router, no?

There's obviously something wrong which is causing this - what do you reckon I should check here to try and solve this problem?

[TVRWhoa]

do you have a firewall like zonealarm ?

I've found before that if the network connection was made before zone alarm came up all o.k. if after then couldn't connect.

Try disabling all your firewalls etc and then try and log on.

[GreenV8S]

I don't know those part numbers but I guess it's a wireless DSL router and USB wireless adapter?

Getting the wireless link up is the first step in establishing an internet connection, but only the first step. You also need to get an IP address. This can either be fixed (configured locally on the PC) or assigned dynamically via DHCP. The configuration interface for your wireless adapter should be able to show you whether you have got an IP address. Alternatively you can use the command 'ipconfig' in a command prompt window.

You also need to be able to send packets to and from the internet which means you have to have a default route set on your PC and the DSL connection between your router and your ISP has to be up. The ipconfig command shows you what the default route is. The router probably has an admin interface that you can use to see if the DSL connection is up. Routers can be configured to bring the connection up when it is needed so there may be some initial delay. If everything seems to be up then you should be able to send and receive packets. You can test this by running the command 'ping 64.233.161.147' from the command prompt window. This will show whether you can communicate with one of Google's servers. The final step is to be able to do DNS name lookups. Run the command 'ping www.google.com', this does a DNS lookup in addition to trying to reach google. If that all works then open a browser and type 'www.google.com' into the address bar and you should see the google home page.

[Scrotie]

Thanks both of you - help much appreciated: it's driving me nuts!

TVR - I've tried disabling Zonealarm (good idea - occurred to me as well!) but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Bugger.

Green - sounds very plausible. It's working fine now, and I've tried the tests at the command prompt you suggest. All comes up OK. So why has it connected now when it wouldn't yesterday morning when nothing's changed. Is it losing the IP address somehow do you think?

Thanks for this. I might not smash the computer after all...

[greenlandy]

It's not getting it's IP address that's why you can't connect. when dchp fails windows will assign one like this 192.168.123.197 which won't go through you router. Run ipconfig when you can't connect and jot down the ip address.

[lordgrover]

Assuming your ip address is dished out by DHCP, you can force it to refresh in a dos box with the following commands;
ipconfig /release all
ipconfig /renew

[victormeldrew]

... or go to Network Connections, right click the network connection and select Repair. If you have a little network icon in your system tray you can right click it there and do the same. The option to have the icon in the system tray (which would be pretty useful for you!) is in the properties dialog; Network Connections (from Control Panel), right click your network connection (it's probably Wireless Connection not Ethernet COnnection) and sel;ect properties. Check the "Show Icon in System Tray When Connected" box.

I have the same router, and also have a problem with losing connections. First thing you should do is pull up the config page of the router (default address is 192.168.2.1 ) and make sure it says "Connected" in green at the top right of the page. When mine does this is generally isn't, and the fault lies not with the router, its the cable modem overheating (NTL 250). Power cycling the cable modem clears the problem for me - and I now have the modem mounted vertically to help keep it cool.

Edited by victormeldrew on Monday 25th September 09:12

[GreenV8S]

Scrotie said:

So why has it connected now when it wouldn't yesterday morning when nothing's changed. Is it losing the IP address somehow do you think?

Those tests were intended to answer that question, but of course you have to run them when the problem is occuring.