# [SOLVED] Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting



## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

Some of you may remember my name from the PS3 posts I had a while back. I completely abandoned the PS3/internet connectivity issues due to it going unsolved for about a year now.

How lucky am I to be asking more questions about my internet.

--

I just moved to a new house recently. I can understand that it will take a bit for the family to set things up like reliable internet connectivity and what-not. But perhaps there is something that I can do relatively quickly to fix this. Perhaps it is problematic software on my computer?

Here's what is happening:

The internet disconnects. A lot. Sometimes it's once per 7-minute YouTube video, and just recently it was a record-breaking sixteen times within 20 minutes. I read some things about it being a problem with Adobe Flash player, because most disconnects happen during YouTube videos, but I can't get an update for it... the internet does not co-operate.

We are renting the house, and we will soon find out whether an ethernet cable is an available option. If it is, the thread will quickly be abandoned.

A very important thing to note: YouTube is the most problematic. I have actually never had a disconnection issue during gameplay with games such as Minecraft (I own a server and watch the firewall carefully), Gotham City Imposters, and Counter Strike (source and/or G.O.) I have tried disabling one, both, or neither of my Flash plugins built into Google Chrome (by going to 'aboutlugins') and both plugins don't seem to keep me watching videos very long.

So the underlying question: My internet is being stupid and wants to prevent me from watching YouTube videos, but not from playing games and doing other internet-intensive things. What is YouTube doing to make my connection to the router so awful? My adapter is an estimated 40 feet from my router and the connection goes through a wall and I still maintain about 15Mbps.

Thank you very much.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

if all devices are wireless 


> We are renting the house, and we will soon find out whether an ethernet cable is an available option...........
> 
> ......My adapter is an estimated 40 feet from my router and the connection goes through a wall and I still maintain about 15Mbps.


it maybe wireless interference - post an xirrus - see below 
or possible a DNS issue - in which case on one of the PCs - try google open DNS and see if the issue stops - see how below

some more details 
How are you connected to the ISP (internet provider) Cable/telephone 
whats the make and model of the modem / router you have 

how are the device connected 
if wireless , please post the following xirrus 

*------------------------------------------------------------------------*
* Run Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector  
Download and install*
If you cannot access the internet with this PC, then you will need to copy the program across to the faulty PC
Save the file to a USB flash drive or other removable media. Plug it into the working computer with internet access and copy the file and install the program. 
You will now need to take a screen shot and copy that back to the working PC and attach the screen shot in a reply on the forum here.

Wi-Fi Inspector | Xirrus
Direct link to the program is here Wi-Fi Inspector Confirmation

_{If the above link does not work heres another link Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector | PCWorld}_

Then run and install the program - on a wireless enabled PC/Laptop
if you get an error - You need will need to have NET Framework installed for the WiFi Inspector to function.
On windows 8 - (i do not have windows 8) but, it would appear that, When you first try to run, you may get a message that .net framework is needed, and included in that message is a link to download/install.

Run the program 

A user guide is available here http://www.xirrus.com/cdn/pdf/Xirrus-Wi-Fi-inspectorguide-1-2-1-RevB-6.aspx

post a screen shot of the program running.
if there are a lot of networks showing can you click on *"networks"* top lefthand area - so we can see all the network information.

*post which SSID name is yours, its located in the list, under network "Adapter Name" (1st column) 
*
To post a screen shot of the active window.
1) hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application (Start> All Programs> Accessories> Paint) and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. 
OR
2) if you are using Vista/Windows 7 you can use the "snipping tool" which is found in Start> All programs> Accessories> Snipping Tool

To upload the screen shot to the forum, open the full reply window ("Go Advanced" button) and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here.
Full details are available here TSG Posting a Screenshot - TSG Library of Knowledge

Note:
For a reliable (or robust as the Xirrus user guide says) wireless connection you need a signal of about -70 dBm or better. "A desirable signal level for a robust Wi-Fi connection will be green".
note: the signal level is a negative number, so for example -88 is worst and -40 is better

If you are using the Mac OS then use iStumbler 99 or
if you want to optimise base station position and signal strength / dead spots use
AP Grapher - Mac OS X AirPort Stumbler and Wireless Graphing Software which has a graph function to monitor signal
*------------------------------------------------------------------------*

*------------------------------------------------------------------------*

* Google public DNS *

Google public DNS
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

Theres also a link on how to setup those DNS IP address up on a PC
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

How to set XP here
How to Use Google Public DNS on Windows 7 and Windows XP

Then once you have set up those DNS entries 

* Flush & register DNS *

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* then press *Enter* to open a command prompt box (A new dialogue box - black with white font, will appear on screen ):
In the command prompt window that opens, type the following commands:

*Ipconfig/flushdns
ipconfig/registerdns*

If you receive the message 
*The requested operation requires elevation.*
Then please open the command prompt as administrator 
Start> All Programs> Accessories and then *right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" *to open a command prompt.

now type the command again 


* Open DNS on windows 7*
DNS Addressing - How to Change in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums


------------------------------


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

The Wifi has not been disconnecting at all recently. If it picks up again I will re-open this thread or start a new one. Thank you very much for the fast response, etaf. I didn't make any specific changes, none that I can remember.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

:4-cheers: thanks for letting us know


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

A bit of time has gone by and I have had time to experiment, research, and see if the problem persists. I think it goes without saying, or typing, that the problem does indeed persist.

I have read through a couple forum threads describing other peoples' problems. I even saw a thread about someone whose WiFi would disconnect him whenever a window took up his entire monitor. Luckily, that isn't my case.

I have seen other threads about people whose CPUs get too hot and for some reason the WiFi adapter is affected by it. I have tried setting the computer to never turn off the adapter, even in the case of power efficiency.

I went to YouTube, loaded up a nice, freshly uploaded 720p video, and began to watch it as my Task Manager was running in the background, so that I could see the history of my RAM and CPU power. The RAM was pretty steady.

So I click play, listen as the character in the video says 'hello', and the WiFi disconnects.

The history shows there was a spike in usage of my dual-core CPU up to about 60% per core. (Does this seem high to you?)

Interesting.

I watch the history as it slows down, then bumps back up slightly for a moment to automatically reconnect to my home network, then all goes silent. Drifting nicely at about 8% CPU usage due to various background processes and an idle instance of Google Chrome.

Refresh the page, bump up to about 60% CPU usage, WiFi crashes again, at the same time in the video. About two seconds in. Processing power shifts around for the reconnect process and all is well once again.

Here is the image of the CPU usage during the few tests: View image: Crashy Crashy
I can remove the link once people are done observing it, if the forum would like.
The two graphs are my two cores.

If anyone can notice something about this information and point something out to me, that would be much appreciated.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

Hi, interference on the wi fi channel could be your problem:-

Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal - How-To Geek


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

have you tried google open dns ?
would you post the xirrus screen shot 

does the PS3 work all OK ? or also disconnect ?

make and model of the PC - so we can look at a driver update


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

Tried the Google Public DNS, disconnected after a couple seconds on another troubled video.

If a YouTube video was uploaded in the country I am in, would it load faster than if it were uploaded in, say, the UK?

Going to try Xirrus.


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

Ran Xirrus, really like it. I'm going to use this in the future. Hopefully after this thread I shouldn't have to.

Xirrus: View image: Wifi Inspector
I censored the DNS names to be sure.

I'm going to switch my DNS back to normal (not google) and see if Xirrus looks different, and if it does I will upload a picture of that too.


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

Xirrus before, during, and after Google DNS look the same, however in the top window under 'addresses', the DNS setting is different. That is all the change I noticed, including the rate of disconnection from my router.


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

PS3 disconnects every 30 minutes or so and does not come back until restart. It has been doing that for about a year, no change at the new house.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

so all devices disconnect

i assume the top one is yours - no need to sensor the ssid here really

a signal of -69 is not going to gie a reliable signal - also i notice on the graph a step change - can you explain if you actually did anything

can i suggest you now run inSSIDer as that often shows up an oscillating signal 
inSSIDer – Discover The Wi-Fi Around You | MetaGeek
post a screen shot graph of just your wireless selected

you do need to improve the signal - i suggest try moving the router a few feet - if it has an external aerial try moving that by 90 degress often small changes can make enough difference 

do you have anything connected to the router by cable if not - can you connect something by cable and see if that disconnects - would be useful to isolate to just a wireless issue


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

I am on my phone in a restaurant using 3G. I will try turning my router.
I remember the step change add a moment when it disconnected, when I checked back it stepped down.


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

I installed inSSIDer, laughed at the clever name for a bit, the tried it out.

When I run the program, my internet access is still listed as enabled but I can't load anything in Chrome. I try to go to Google and it doesn't do anything, and I watch the little loading circle spin in the corner.

So I close inSSIDer and everything works perfectly again.

Go to YouTube,
Load up a video,
crash.

I can't show you any oscillating lines because with the graph open I can't access the internet, therefore create the stimulus that would cause it to crash. When I sit there, over the course of about a minute, it stays even at -67 for most of it but for about 10-20% of the time it will bounce from -70 to -65 and around those parts. Most of the time it is at -67 though.

Has anyone heard of issues involving Steam? I'm not participating in any Beta through steam. I'm trying to remember all the things that I did before this disconnecting happened. It was about three or four days after I moved and set up the computer.

Let's see what you can come up with from this information, etaf. I thank you for your continuous support.


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

I'm going to bed.

I don't know if it helps, but I just thought of it.

Since I got the new modem, things have been different. They were minor changes, some of them difficult to work around, but nothing effected my computer. I re-opened the ports to random things like Minecraft servers, and went on about my business.

My phone (or at that time iPod touch) would disconnect after about 30 minutes. My phone still does this.

I have the Sony Ericsson XPeria PLAY. (No, anyone who gives a crap, I didn't get it for Minecraft. I thought the gamepad was ballin' before I saw Minecraft on it. Only after I got the phone did I **** myself when I saw Minecraft.)

In the middle of YouTube videos or downloads, the internet would just stop. It wouldn't give me any warnings at all and would just load and load and load. At the main page of YouTube, if a thumbnail to a video was loading, it would have the spinning circle. If I wasn't connected to the internet (as I tested) it would let me know and tell me there was an issue with my connection to the internet. Fair enough. So I sit there for literally an hour constantly tapping my screen to make sure the phone didn't fall asleep. Nothing happened.

So I go into the settings, reconnected to the WiFi (which I knew would always work) and instantly the thumbnails popped up. Shortly thereafter, about 30 minutes into a pretty long video, the little gray bar would stop, and when I hit that point in the video everything would stop. No loading thumbnails, the comment section could not be extended, or anything.

The only work-around that I found was an app called "WiFi Fixer" that would allow me to more easily and quickly disconnect, scan for, and reconnect to my WiFi and begin watching videos again.

Maybe that's useful information.

I have things to do tomorrow, excuse me if I don't give you any more status updates.

Good night.


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

Grabbed mother's computer (laptop) and ran upstairs with it, loaded up YouTube and everything went fine even at 720p. (I don't expect 1080p streaming from where I am.)

Yup. Something is wrong with the adapter or my computer. Next step is to try another adapter. Tomorrow.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

can we see an inssider or xirrus from the laptop to see the signal strength
and compare in same position of your pc

i will review you previous posts and answer later


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

I haven't been doing much on the internet today but it hasn't disconnected since I switched to an older adapter. I mixed the cradle of each adapter with each adapter, and found that BOTH the cradle and the adapter that I was using before had a short in the current and would disconnect often. I tried using only the new adapter and cradle and the cradle for that adapter has a short in it as well.

Currently I have the card in the front of my computer and it seems to be working fine, regarless of the 85% decrease in speed. Hell, if I can load 480p videos without getting a giant error message from YouTube, I am completely satisfied. I will have to try out gaming connectivity later in the week or this upcoming weekend. But for now, it has been working like a dream.

I can't give you an inSSIDer or Xirrus on the laptop, it is my mother's work-oriented laptop that is monitored. If I so much as look up a YouTube video with cursing on that computer she gets in trouble.

I'm going to buy a USB extender cable and try to stretch the card across the room and closer to the router later.

Thanks.


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## aanwar (Nov 3, 2012)

I think the solution is by going to device management and expand network adapters. Than right click your wireless usb device and properties. Go to power management tab and uncheck allow this device to go to sleep. Try it and let us know. Thx


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## Entelgen (Jul 8, 2012)

*Re: Wifi - Extremely frequent disconnecting*

On my phone at the moment but I tried that and it didn't work. The new adapter is fine for now.


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## SunilDe (Jul 18, 2013)

I had frequent disconnects with my (6 year old) Netgear ADSL+ Wireless router. I assumed the device was going bad - it didn't handle my 10 devices very well. I got a brand new ASUS one and saw all the same issues all over again.

I'm guessing it's because I had a LAN cable running from my router to another room (15m of cable away) which was draining the power. I'd get disconnected more and more often as more devices 'logged on' to my network.

I disconnected that cable (and have connected a usb wi-fi device to that machine) and it appears to be running well now.


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