I just happened upon a link to a Wired.com article about wireless connections using Windows XP while I was browsing AnandTech. Seeing as how we do, indeed, experience strange, unexplained connection issues with our wireless network and we’re all using XP I figured it was definitely worth a read.
Here are the symptoms of the problem: A Wi-Fi-enabled computer running Windows XP is working fine one minute, pulling up Web pages and processing e-mail. Then, for no reason, the connection drops, websites fail to come up and the e-mail flow stops. The small wireless connection icon in the taskbar says the signal from the access point is strong, so the problem isn’t that the user wandered out of radio range. The icon even shows that the computer’s Wi-Fi hardware is sending information to the access point—it’s just not getting anything back. And manual attempts to re-establish the connection through XP’s built-in wireless configuration tool won’t do the trick. Even more bizarre, the connection sometimes comes back on its own.
Holy, crap! That’s exactly the problem we’ve been encountering and cursing for what seems like forever! Gee, thanks again, Microsoft!!
Posted Sunday June 6, 2004
in Real Life by Chris Curtis
This is an older entry and as such, it may be by a guest author or contain formatting problems / extraneous code. If you notice something wrong with the entry, please use the Contact page to let me know the entry title and issue.
Uhh....that stinks. As I was reading it, I was waiting for the big stinger where they tell you how to fix it.
If it’s any consolation, my Apple Airport base station will do that if my cable modem times out. (At least that’s what my cable modem lights appear to show happening.) It picks itself up after a while, but it’s much easier to reset my router and force it to do it on demand.
By Derek Jones on June 7, 2004 at 09:00am link