# [SOLVED] Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem



## gton (Jan 18, 2011)

This is regarding a Dell Inspiron (sorry I don't know the model no. as it's not my laptop, but it's roughly two yrs old and running vista)

For about 2yrs the wireless connection has been fine apparently, but now has become intermittent and constantly drops out. Other devices such as my htc desire have no problem connecting at all so it's definitely related to the Dell. I suspect it may be a hardware problem with the wireless card but I want to rule out any software causes first if possible

I have tried the following...

- unchecked the 'save power' button in the wireless card settings

- made sure the wireless card is enabled in the BIOS

- reset winsock

None of this has made any difference. Someone has suggested running ipconfig /release. However even after researching this I'm struggling to get my head around it. I'm not sure if I need to run ipconfig /release and then after that run ipconfig /renew? And whether I need to reboot between those steps or even if I need to do both of them?

I've run ipconfig /all on the laptop and get the following results if these are of any use? Thanks in advance

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig/all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ***-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-5F-35-41-A7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4d85:154c:3a1c:612d%12(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.3(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 18 January 2011 15:16:00
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 19 January 2011 16:07:41
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet
Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-23-AE-06-EF-B7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{307D6B8F-EF3E-4B4C-832D-EED52DC72
222}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{6F4EEFEA-CC69-4702-A402-F749397E2
426}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 6TO4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
C:\Windows\system32>


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## gton (Jan 18, 2011)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

Update

Ran /release - this worked and the script ran properly etc

However when running /renew the following error message keeps coming up

an error occurred while renewing interface wireless network connection

no operation can be performed on a LAN while it has its media disconnected

Even so after this ran /flushdns and this worked too. Nothing has changed after a reboot (as expected because as I said /renew wouldn't run)


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

you would run ipconfig /release and then renew to get a ip address again. You don't have to reboot.

Though you have a valid ip address and all settings look good.

Do you have the same intermittent wireless results if you go to a friends wireless network or a local hotspot [coffee shop]?


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## gton (Jan 18, 2011)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

Thanks, in my second post just above yours you can see I did try the ipconfig routine, however I got an error message (in bold in my post) when trying to run ipconfig /renew.

I'll be able to try the laptop on a different wireless network tomorrow. Definitely worth ruling out I know. However like I said other devices connect fine to the current network which makes me suspect it's the laptop.

Thanks


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## gton (Jan 18, 2011)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

Problem remains the same on different networks having tested it.

My brother (who's laptop it is) took it to a computer shop and they said wireless card was fine, likely problem was corrupt windows files. So next step is to get the factory disks i think, unless there may be another cause? I'm also going to try reinstalling the wireless driver incase that makes a difference.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

Hi gton,

Try to uninstall/reinstall the Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card from Device Manager. To reinstall the driver, make sure that you download the most recent driver from the manufacturer's site.
It won't hurt to update your router's firmware to the latest if you have not done this yet.

Test your connection after, if it didn't improve pls. install and run Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector.
Click on the 'Show Networks' to display all wireless networks on the xirrus icon on your desktop of if you have one running in a corner. Tap the Printscreen key on your keyboard, open up Paint then choose Edit from the Menu and select Paste, then SAVE it. Upload and attached it here, click on Go Advanced and locate Manage Attachments Tab and attached the file.

Please post an update.


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## gton (Jan 18, 2011)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

Thanks,

Problem is now solved. 

After I got my brother (who's laptop it is) to reinstall the wireless driver, he couldn't connect to his network at the password stage as he'd forgotten the key.

He rang Virgin (ISP) and after an hr or so of trying to connect while speaking to their tech guy, it seemed that there was a Virgin Wireless Manager on the laptop that was potentially conflicting with the windows software. There were two accounts on the Virgin manager for some reason and after deleting the settings for the old one then connection is now fine.

So I'm not sure whether it was a combination of the two things or if in fact it was the conflicting software all along...(as I didn't speak to Virgin myself I only got a very vague version of what happened), but it seems this software was constantly directing it to different settings which would explain why it couldn't connect to any other network or hotspots also.

Either way problem is now sorted. 

Many thanks for the suggestions given


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: Intermittent Internet, Wireless Connection Problem*

Thanks for posting back with the resolution.
Glad that things are all sorted.

You're Welcome.


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## SunTzuTech (Nov 3, 2011)

I went through all of those suggestions, nothing worked.

What did work:

telling windows not to manage the wireless, booting and verifying the the native Dell 1397/Broadcom attached to the AP, and then told windows to manage the wifi again. Since then, the constant disconnect/lose WEP key settings every 60-600 seconds has disappeared.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback.


SunTzuTech said:


> I went through all of those suggestions, nothing worked.
> 
> What did work:
> 
> telling windows not to manage the wireless, booting and verifying the the native Dell 1397/Broadcom attached to the AP, and then told windows to manage the wifi again. Since then, the constant disconnect/lose WEP key settings every 60-600 seconds has disappeared.


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