[X4U] Intermittent wireless connection problems

[Stroller]

On Dec 20, 2004, at 3:24 pm, Mark Philip wrote:
> I'm using a Pismo 400 with airport, connecting to a Linksys Wireless B 
> router, enroute to a cable modem. Running on Panther.
>
> When using the wireless connection, sometimes the Pismo loses wireless 
> connectivity - this happens about once in 3 days of use. I'm not able 
> to ping the router during the failure. I have to physically power down 
> and up the wireless router to fix the issue. The wireless router is 
> also connected by Ethernet cable to an old iMac, and when the Pismo 
> has the wireless problem, the iMac is still able to connect to the 
> Internet.

Hihi,

I find wireless routers generally a bit flakey like this. I use Netgear 
ones exclusively, and find that whilst sometimes they'll give no 
problems for months, other times they'll need rebooting twice in the 
course of a week.

You don't say what the signal strength is when you're using the Pismo 
wirelessly - how many bars show up in the Airport icon in the menubar? 
I prefer KisMac for measuring signal strength, because it actually 
gives a strength in terms of dB - IME below 20 is pretty weak, but 
usable; 40 or 50 is excellent. It could be that you are receiving 
interference from a neighbour's wireless network, and KisMac would show 
you this.

When you loose the internet connection on the Pismo, have you tried 
moving it next to the Linksys (so that signal strength is guaranteed) 
and then making the connection again from the Airport icon? Have you 
tried using the iMac to connect to the Linksys' web-based admin 
interface & seeing what the "status" page(s) say? Finally, check the 
firmware version of the router & see if there's an update available 
from Linksys' website.

HTH,

Stroller.