Sup homeslices,
I think I might need a new wireless adapter. I have a wireless-N network running on a WRT350N with DD-WRT. My personal PC currently connects to it via a Linksys WUSB300N USB adapter. In general, this adapter has performed beautifully for the three years I've had it, but over the past couple of weeks some strange things have happened:
* When I boot my PC, the adapter doesn't automatically connect to the router. If I pull the adapter out of its USB cradle and plug it back in, it does connect after it reboots.
* Sometimes it disconnects from the network while I'm doing shit, and I have to go through the whole reboot routine again.
* Last night it disconnected, and when I pulled it and plugged it back in again my computer BSODed with a BAD_POOL_CALLER error. This is the first BSOD I've gotten on the PC in almost a year, and the last time it happened was when I was fucking with the board BIOS and overclocking the RAM.
The other weird thing, which may or may not be related, is that I cannot connect to the router's control interface via 192.168.1.1 ... which is odd since it's carrying the network just fine--Princesca's PC has had no connectivity issues (it connects via patch cable though), my work laptop had none last night while I was doing a production install, and my wireless printer appears to be connected fine too. I was going to reboot the router but because I had that work to do last night I didn't want to risk it not coming back up.
Anyway, assuming a reboot of the router doesn't seem to fix the problem, should I go with another USB adapter or a PCI-e wireless card? I assume the PCI-e connection will be faster but I like having the remote adapter connected via a long cord, and worry about feedback via the speakers and connectivity if I plug a wireless card into the board.
Quote from: Caliga on March 11, 2011, 07:58:24 AM
Anyway, assuming a reboot of the router doesn't seem to fix the problem, should I go with another USB adapter or a PCI-e wireless card? I assume the PCI-e connection will be faster but I like having the remote adapter connected via a long cord, and worry about feedback via the speakers and connectivity if I plug a wireless card into the board.
Since you don't want to move the adapter between boxes, get a PCI-e card with a remote antenna. I'd show you an example off NewEgg, but my PyCon connection is kinda shitty.
Hm, I saw some of those the other day but I didn't add them to my newegg wishlist like I probably should have. When I have some proper downtime at work maybe I'll go back on there and cut/paste.
Starting with not being able to access the router config, did you check to make sure you have wireless access allowed? Most routers I've seen have some kind of force option where the config is only accessible with a wired client.
Princesca's computer isn't being affected by the wireless network- the Linksys wired connection implementation almost functions more like a passthrough.
Good thought, but the other night I tried to access via Princesca's PC and couldn't do it either.
Quote from: Caliga on March 11, 2011, 09:32:05 AM
Good thought, but the other night I tried to access via Princesca's PC and couldn't do it either.
Cool. Now we're getting somewhere. Have you tried resetting the router to factory defaults?
Nope. Tonight I first plan on a quick reboot of the router to see if that fixes my inability to connect to its control panel. If not, factory reset is next (which'll suck because there's quite a bit of customization in there, and I'm not sure I've backed its settings up since going to DD-WRT).
Quote from: Caliga on March 11, 2011, 07:58:24 AM
Sup homeslices,
I think I might need a new wireless adapter. I have a wireless-N network running on a WRT350N with DD-WRT. My personal PC currently connects to it via a Linksys WUSB300N USB adapter. In general, this adapter has performed beautifully for the three years I've had it, but over the past couple of weeks some strange things have happened:
* When I boot my PC, the adapter doesn't automatically connect to the router. If I pull the adapter out of its USB cradle and plug it back in, it does connect after it reboots.
* Sometimes it disconnects from the network while I'm doing shit, and I have to go through the whole reboot routine again.
I have these problems too, with a Cisco N-router and N-usb adapter on one of my computers.
Windows has a patch for this, but it didn't solve the problem for me.
It's fucking annoying, but I can't swear it's specific to one brand/model.
Quote* Last night it disconnected, and when I pulled it and plugged it back in again my computer BSODed with a BAD_POOL_CALLER error. This is the first BSOD I've gotten on the PC in almost a year, and the last time it happened was when I was fucking with the board BIOS and overclocking the RAM.
that, I never had.
Quote
Anyway, assuming a reboot of the router doesn't seem to fix the problem, should I go with another USB adapter or a PCI-e wireless card? I assume the PCI-e connection will be faster but I like having the remote adapter connected via a long cord, and worry about feedback via the speakers and connectivity if I plug a wireless card into the board.
PCI-E with an extension antenna. Otherwise, you may have poor reception because the adapter will be very low on the ground (it depends on the distance of your router from the computer, really, mine is 100ft away and one floor above).
My router is one floor below the PC and about 75-100 feet away, through at least one wall. So I'm not expecting a stellar connection here, but the WUSB300N has until now been rock-solid.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130081 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130081)
Something like this?
Are you 100% sure your router's IP is 192.168.1.1? Have you checked that that's what shows up as your local gateway in your PCs' IP settings? I would at a minimum do a factory reset on the router before you buy any hardware. My guess is that it's more likely a router or Windows issue.
FWIW, I recently had an issue with my "new" (actually an old piece of crap in worse condition than the laptop it replaced) work laptop's wifi connection. Seems like every time the laptop went into sleep mode it would briefly reconnect when it woke up, then totally crap out (seemed like an XP issue). I had PDANet on there for tethering with my phone, and I think that was causing some kind of issue, even if I had the PDANet connection disabled. After I uninstalled PDANet from the laptop everything worked fine.
Quote from: Caliga on March 11, 2011, 12:17:48 PM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130081 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130081)
Something like this?
yes, or the ones Cisco and D-Link sell are ok too.
I guess I'm not 100% sure, spiess, but I don't recall ever changing it and I know DD-WRT defaults to that IP (just like linksys factory firmware). I'll check that when I get home too, thanks.
Quote from: Caliga on March 11, 2011, 01:23:53 PM
I guess I'm not 100% sure, spiess, but I don't recall ever changing it and I know DD-WRT defaults to that IP (just like linksys factory firmware). I'll check that when I get home too, thanks.
Reason I mentioned it is that new Buffalo router I got that came with DD-WRT build 14998 pre-installed defaulted to 192.168.10.1
That could have been something Buffalo did, though.
Update:
This morning I pulled the plug on my router and immediately pulled it back in, which strangely seemed to do a factory reset. :huh:
I had to reconfigure the PPPoE connection but for now I'm back in business.... I think I'll leave everything @ default for a little while just to see how the router behaves. The houses here are very far apart so I'm not too worried about leaving the network unsecured.
Quote from: Caliga on March 12, 2011, 06:13:25 AM
Update:
This morning I pulled the plug on my router and immediately pulled it back in, which strangely seemed to do a factory reset. :huh:
I had to reconfigure the PPPoE connection but for now I'm back in business.... I think I'll leave everything @ default for a little while just to see how the router behaves. The houses here are very far apart so I'm not too worried about leaving the network unsecured.
Good to hear. As for the immediate unplug, replug, it can happen that way- I'm not too familiar with the innards of a Linksys router, but the only reason you wait is to allow everything to discharge- since the router uses so much less power than a computer, I'd expect it not to take so much time to cool down (actually, come to think of it, even the big Motorola digital cable boxes only take 8-10 seconds before everything's flushed).
Well, in my case I didn't wait at all... I literally pulled the plug and then put it right back in. The activity lights were only dark for a split-second. But I guess that was enough...
Quote from: Caliga on March 12, 2011, 06:13:25 AM
Update:
This morning I pulled the plug on my router and immediately pulled it back in, which strangely seemed to do a factory reset. :huh:
I had DD-WRT do that to me once, and I had been having some weird network issues. I wonder the software has something coded to trigger a factory reset if it's been borked.
Yeah, that's a good thought. I double-checked that I have the most recent recommended version for the WRT350N (v24-SP2 08/07/10 mega) while I was at it.
This morning my adapter connected without needing a reboot when I turned the PC on, and I didn't have any dropped connections yesterday. I guess I'll hold off on a new adapter for now. I do think I want to go to a PCI-e card w/antenna eventually anyway, tho. I assume it's got to be a faster connection.
You've got a peak transfer rate of 300MB/s with a Wireless-N device, so you're not likely to see any noticeable improvement in speed with a PCIe device; USB 2.0 is capable (on paper) of 480MB/s, while it typically hits a max effective speed around 320MB/s- either way, you're not likely to be using the full bandwidth without having a bunch of USB 2.0 devices transferring data on the same bus at the same time.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on March 14, 2011, 10:28:47 AM
You've got a peak transfer rate of 300MB/s with a Wireless-N device, so you're not likely to see any noticeable improvement in speed with a PCIe device; USB 2.0 is capable (on paper) of 480MB/s, while it typically hits a max effective speed around 320MB/s- either way, you're not likely to be using the full bandwidth without having a bunch of USB 2.0 devices transferring data on the same bus at the same time.
I think it's possible he might see a more reliable connection. USB can be flaky on occasion, and it's always nice to have an external antenna, particularly when you can replace it with a bigger one.
Adapter is back to misbehaving. One thing: I still have not reconfigured DD-WRT and I stupidly didn't back up my earlier config (which included things like MAC filters, QoS, etc.) I plan on doing all of that this weekend. If I'm still having issues, I'll have to conclude either the router or adapter needs replacing. I really like my router, though (WRT-350N).
You should know that most Linksys routers, and D-Link as well, are known to overheat.
Although I have a small problem with my Linksys USB adapters, my router problems ended when I installed an air conditioning/heating system in the office to maintain temp between 16 C and 22 C. Since then, I never had to reset my router.
You could try cooling the router with a small exterior fan, to see if it's better that way.
EDIT: I also saw this:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/6159
QuoteUse four empty 35mm film canisters with the lids removed. Place the router's feet into the canisters to lift the router about two inches off of the shelf or other surface. This extra room allows for both better airflow.
Interesting... hadn't thought of that. However, my main issue is with just this wireless connection, and 90% of the time it consists of the connection not working on system boot where I gotta do the whole unplug adapter then replug adapter trick.
Quote from: Caliga on March 25, 2011, 05:00:03 PM
Interesting... hadn't thought of that. However, my main issue is with just this wireless connection, and 90% of the time it consists of the connection not working on system boot where I gotta do the whole unplug adapter then replug adapter trick.
Try cooling the router first. You will see how your USB adapter handles itslef then. I know that since I solved my router issues, I only have problems with my USB adapter now, instead of all computers linked -wirelessly or not- to this router. Just like you, I have to unplug the adapter and unplug it. Annoying, but not critical as it's only my HTPC machine.
I made a couple of changes to the router last night, including turning down the Tx power, and then I dusted it off. This morning my PC booted and I didn't have to pull and replug the adapter to get a signal. :cool:
Do you still have problems with the USB adapter? If found that disabling support for USB mouse in the computer BIOS solved my problem yesterday night.
No, since I reconfigured my router I haven't had a single problem. :cool:
Quote from: Caliga on May 12, 2011, 09:20:29 AM
No, since I reconfigured my router I haven't had a single problem. :cool:
aside the TX power, what did you change?
My changes weren't successful :(
I don't remember what else. :blush:
oh well. I'll write Linksys tech support.
Are you using DD-WRT?
Quote from: Caliga on May 21, 2011, 03:40:13 PM
Are you using DD-WRT?
No. The original firmware of the router. It's still under warranty until the end of the summer, so is the USB adapter.
What do I gain by using DD-WRT?
Well for me, I gained Tx control, QoS, a bandwidth meter, much better MAC filtering controls, and when my router goes down due to a power failure I no longer have to hard-reset it to get it working again, which I did with the default Linksys firmware.
I already have most of these things... Would be useful for my other routers, though. I'll see.