So in my new apartment there is a linksys router that they provide in the gym that is unsecured and free for anyone in the building who can receive signal to use. I get a strong connection, but for some reason at random times when the internet has been working fine all of a sudden it wont connect to any web pages and it'll show its connected "local" instead of "local and internet". I'm using Windows Vista. If I disconnect from the network and then connect again, I am connected to the internet again, so what keeps kind of "booting" me off?

 

some routers boot you off after a certain amount of time.

 

My wireless router at home does the same thing randomly.

 

Linksys FTL!

 

Stop looking at gay porn at the gym...

 

 

I would assume the linksys is password protected in terms of the setup, even though it's unsecured..but is there nothing I can do to try and keep a constant connection? It doesnt seemed timed, sometimes it works for 5 minutes, sometimes for hours...

 

Still happens every day at random times, anyone have any clues where to look or how to fix this?

 

pay for internetting capability?

 

No reason to when its available for my apartment, I just don't know the cause of the random disconnects, it doesnt disconnect from the network, it just says "local" instead of "local and internet" so i manually disconnect and reconnect and it works fine..

 

Without being able to access the router setup, you could try eleventy thousand different things and still not get it to work. Can you get a hold of whoever manages the AP? Also, can you borrow another laptop and see if it does the same thing? If they both do it, it's the AP, if not, it's probably your computer.

 

Just for giggles, when connected point your browser to 192.168.1.1 and give a few of these a try:

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/r...ys_passwds.htm

If you can log in, see if you can tell if the router has a max number of connections, or something else similar...

NOTE: This may violate a few laws...

 

hmmm I'm starting to think this might be a vista problem. Are you running Vista service pack 2? And do you have the latest wifi drivers. to update your driver hit the start button then type "windows update" open windows update then click check for updates and then click optional updates after the check is done. Install all the driver that might be in that list.

 

Isn't the gym for exercising?

 

You have been reported...

 

I am running service pack 2, I just updated my drivers for my networking card, I'll see what it does, it can't be a max limit user type of deal because if I'm logged on already then I'm already a user so I dont see why I'd be kicked off due to max limit user.

 

Are you allowed to use it? If not, do you think someone could be kicking you off as they monitor it? You said you get kicked off at different intervals, so it could be someone actually kicking you off.

 

Definitely allowed to use it, it's definitely not monitored and is for anyone in the building to use who can access it.

 

If you're allowed to use it then why don't you ask the property management why you keep getting kicked off? See if they have any limits/restrictions put on it.

I know for some reason the wireless in the cafe in my office building does the same stuff... there must be a setting that causes your problem.

 

You could also upgrade to Windows 7... I had a lot of problems with Vista, until I upgraded to 7 and all my problems went away.

See if the parental control option is disabled...
Have them reset the router..
Have them upgrade the firmware for the router..

 

Are you using the built-in windows software to handle the wireless connection or are you using a program that's sometimes bundled with the wireless card driver? Sometimes you can download the driver only and other times you get the driver and the management software.

 

I'm using the windows built in wireless program not the driver software utility.

Furthermore, I would ask, but the property management is located 30 minutes away and manages a ton of properties, there is just a maintenance guy here so it's not so easy to get information etc..but for now I'll just live with it, maybe upgrade to windows 7 soon.

Was just hoping maybe someone has encountered something similar and had a solution. thanks guys

 

I did an upgraded from Vista to 7....

 

Mac

 

Like I said, give it a try with another computer if you can. It sounds like it was installed in the gym room and left there for months on end with no attention, so it might be resetting itself, might be having power issues, might not be plugged all the way in and whenever some roid dude drops a huge stack of weights, it loses power for a second and kicks everyone off, etc... Too many variables, but if you can test it with a different computer, you will know for sure if it's the AP or your computer.

 

You could also start pinging stuff when you lose the connection to see where its dying. Ping the gateway first, if good ping the dns server, if good ping an outside IP.

 

Use a phone?

 

It's possible that it's hitting it's max client connections and then dropping everybody. I know it makes sense for the AP to simply deny new connections when it's hit its max (and most do that), but this doesn't always happen. Sometimes the AP simply crashes.

A single Linksys wireless router/AP is only good when a handfull of people will be using it. If more than 10 or so people in your building are using it, this could be part of the problem. Even though its DHCP server can be configured to lease hundreds of IP addresses, this doesn't mean it supports that many wireless clients!

Have you asked around to see if others have experienced similar problems? If they have, then you probably can't fix it on your end.

 

Thanks, I just moved into the building so I really don't know anyone yet. When it's not working and its just "local" (keep in mind it always connects to the network, just not always the internet) if I do a "diagnose" from windows vista it says this:

"cannot communicate with DNS server (192.168.1.254)"
"network diagnostics pinged the remote host but did not receive a response"

 

Sounds like the actual internet connection is spotty and the AP isn't dropping you, just losing connection to the internet (modem is dropping the connection). Nothing you can do. Talk to the building people, they may not know.

 

K thanks, yeah it's a DSL setup.

 

Happens on my Cable modem occasionally, too.

 

Could try try some hard coded DNS servers to see if DNS is in fact dying periodically.