Troubles wirelessly browsing the net.

[Cbstiles]

Hi, I'm currently having some troubles with my laptops connection to my (and seemingly other) wireless networks and I was wondering if someone here could help. The problem seems to be with my laptop and not the network because other computers connected wirelessly to the network dont have the problem.

The main problem involves browsing the internet. About 30-50% of the time when I type in an address and try to connect to the website my internet explorer (aswell as firefox) displays the screen that says "Internet explorer is unable to display the webpage." When I am able to connect to the sites, the connection seems to be far slower than it should be (Things like Youtube videos come up really slow). Also, sometimes instead of connecting to a website a google search for that web address will come up. I am not sure if the problem is only effecting internet browsing because I have yet to of tried things like games over the wireless network. I may just have an overall slow connection, but I cant really tell.

I've made sure that I have an excellent signal and a strong connection to the network whenever trying to browse the internet, but the problem still persists. I've also tried placing my computer in the same position as other computers (that dont have any problems with the network), but that didn't work. When I connect by ethernet cable the problem seems to go away. One thing I've noticed is that, under my "Network and Sharing" folder, the name of the network I am connected to changes pretty often to "Identifying..."

I'm sort of wondering if this is a problem that is common with Vista's and hoping that it will be fixed with their next major update. I tried getting help from Dell's tech support.... but I couldnt seem to get them to understand that they hadn't fixed my problem. Can someone here please help me? Please let me know if any other information would be useful. Thank you.

[CujoRbd]

do you have any security software, or else any security/encryption options for your wireless card? these might be causing the inconsistency in the connection.

have you got all the vista updates so far? i know there were a couple, like this one that helped with some wireless internet issues.

check out this doc too, as it contains some good checks to make sure everything is all configured right.

[Cbstiles]

I'm pretty sure I have all the updates for vista that have been made available. Windows automatic update should take care of that right? I do have security software. I have the standard windows firewall aswell as McAfee. Even with these turned off I still experience the problems though. As for the security/encryption options; I'm not too sure about that, I know that i have a password that i need to plug-in in order to connect to the network, but im not sure about much more than that. Thanks for the info., ill have to read that document tomorrow.

[Keymaker]

Try here first.

You may have lechers on the network. Is the WIFI connection using WPA encryption with a strong password?

The router may be in a bad spot or you have interference problems. Which means try changing the channel or placing the router somewhere else.

What kind of router do you have? Is it necessary to use wireless over not using a network cable?

Configuration of your NIC's are a plus too. Look into packet bursting, long preamble and CTS protection.

Oh, the Windows firewall isn't something I would rely on. Better to look into Zonealarm or better yet Comodo.

[Keymaker]

I noticed that you were using Vista. You can try disabling IPV6 in the network controller. Go to the control panel | Network Connections, find your wireless network adapter and right click | Properties and unclick the option for IPV6. Click OK.

[Cbstiles]

I'm pretty sure I dont have any leechers on my network. When I look at the list of computers connected to our network it only shows our own computers. I think if there were leechers it would also slow down the connection to the internet for our other computers too, right? We do use a long password in order to connect to the network.

I've tried changing the channels and moving the router, but that doesn't seem to change anything.

We use a 2-Wire router/hub. Most of the time it is neccessary to use wireless unless I am in the same room as the router.

What are NIC's, packet bursting, long preamble and CTS protection?

I actually use McAfee firewall.

I've tried disabling the IPV6, but that does not seem to have had any effect so far.

Once I get Hijackthis downloaded I will run an analysis. Thank you.

[Keymaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cbstiles

What are NIC's, packet bursting, long preamble and CTS protection?

-Frame bursting

An approach to increasing the speed of 802.11g-based wireless networks by unwrapping short 802.11g packets and rebundling them into a larger packet to reduce the impact of mandatory gaps between packets. Frame bursting is sometimes called "packet bursting."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame-bursting


-Preamble
The radio preamble is a section of data at the head of the Physical Layer Convergence Protocol that contains information that the device and client devices need when sending and receiving packets.


The 18 byte ("long preamble") preamble is used to signal "here is a train of data coming" to the receiver. The 802.11b standard gives an option of reducing the size of the PLCP preamble to 9 bytes ("short preamble"), this significantly increases the throughput performance at higher data rates.

One downside to the PLCP is that the PLCP preamble and header is always transmitted at 1Mbps, regardless of the transmission rate for the rest of the data. This means that the transfer time is constant at 192 Usec (microseconds) for the PLCP with long preamble. The short preamble version does a little better, transmitting the shorter preamble at 1Mbps and the header at 2Mbps, shortening the transmit time to 96 Usec.


-CTS Protection

When an 802.11 station has data to send, it listens to the channel. If another 802.11 node is transmitting, the station waits until the channel is free. Compare this to meeting attendees who politely try to avoid speaking when someone else has the floor. In a large meeting, you might raise your hand and wait to be called upon. In CSMA/CA, this is done by exchanging short Request-to-Send /Clear-to-Send (RTS/CTS) packets between a station and AP when data exceeds a threshold. RTS/CTS adds considerable overhead, but can sometimes increase throughput by eliminating lengthy retransmissions that would result if "hidden nodes" sent data simultaneously, colliding with each other.

Sources:


http://www.jiwire.com/glossary.htm

http://www.wifihowto.org/?mo=HowTo;Item=24

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtar...116650,00.html

If you go to the properties of the wireless network card (NIC) you will get a brief explanation as well. There is where you enable these options. Should also go to the router's options and enable as well. Once again, what kind of router do you have? Can you access the router's configuration?

I also need to know if your using WEP or WPA encryption. If it is WEP, forget about that long password. It is useless!

This may be a Vista issue with file sharing causing the trouble. I'm not sure. It also may be malware on the computer. That's where you run a HijackThis scan. Then you need to use tools to remove such infections.

[Cbstiles]

I went to the Wireless network card properties, but I wasent able to find any of the options you suggested I enable. I also was unable to find them in the routers options. I have 2-Wire router and I am able to access its configuration.

My router uses a WEP encrytion.

I'm pretty sure it isent malware because i recently had a pc restore performed and I was having troubles with my connection right after that.

[Keymaker]

Then it may be a TCP stack mess up.

http://www.zimbio.com/Windows+Vista/...otocol+Windows

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/0...a-2003-and-xp/

[Cbstiles]

Oh wow, that last thing you sent me seems to have done the trick. I dont seem to be having those problems anymore. I'll probably need about a week to determine whether or not the problems are gone, but now it is browsing the net great. Thanks alot Keymaker.