Korean Job Discussion Forums

[murmanjake]

In my school there are two computers and a printer on a network.

One printer is hooked into the router with a LAN cord.

The other computer and the printer are connected wirelessly.

The wireless computer loses its internet fairly frequently. The printer also loses its connection. The computer with the hard connection never loses its internet.

My netbook is also connected wirelessly, and I never lose the internet. I'm not on the network though, as my OS is Windows 7 and the rest are XP.

Is it worth it for me to try and figure this out(the computers are also in Korean) or would this probably be way beyond my limited computer knowledge.

(know next to nothing about networks, but I'm good at following directions, have basic computer knowledge, and have plenty of time and patience)

Thanks for any advice.

Oh and the computers are in korean

[ttompatz]

[murmanjake]

That's what I thought, just follow the wizard.

The problem is there seems to be another program regulating the network, something called RaUI. Could I just delete this and go right through the network setup wizard?

I didn't want to do the wizard when there is already an existing network and risk messing stuff up more.

Plus on top of the computer being Korean, there are a ton of programs running in the background that I have no clue what they are for.

[Skippy]

Some thing to check for. Antennas - how are they placed. Some are supposed to go up and down but I think left to right is better. Blockages my GF found that by simply putting some papers over her modem could affect it. Also what changes. I mean are the computers in a room that has a door. I mean simply just by closing the door it might disconnect the computer.

Also interference. Many wireless modems are set to use a certain range first. So another wireless network could be set on the same range and cause interference or jamming. Heck it might even be your computer. You connect, wireless desktop looses its connection.

http://lifehacker.com/5580636/change-your-wi+fi-routers-broadcast-channel-for-a-stronger-connection

https://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/wirelesstips.aspx

http://lifehacker.com/5657613/why-is-wi+fi-coverage-so-bad-in-my-house-and-how-can-i-fix-it

[crossmr]

Is the other wireless computer and printer in a different location than your laptop? It is more likely that there is something in between them and the wireless access point causing interference. A microwave? a big metal closet of some sort?
it is very unlikely that your laptop being on the network would cause enough interference for them to have trouble.

if it was one device losing connectivity I might suggest a problem with that device. When it's two devices, its unlikely to be a software problem on their end.

It's also unlikely to be any kind of software problem on the access point since you're laptop seems to work fine.

[murmanjake]

ok, thanks, I've started looking into the blockage thing.

The printer and the computer are in the teachers room, and there is a door that is sometimes closed. but my boss claims the computer went fritzy on her the other night with the door open and no one around.

the other thing is my computer is in the same room and further away from the wireless hub.

Now there could be some microwave interference. At my fathers we always had trouble with the portable phone interfering with the wireless, so I'm gonna see if outages match up with phone calls. Although this seems unlikely to me, as we get a ton of phone calls during the day, and the outages don't happen that frequently.

I'll look into changing the broadcast channel today(although there's only one other network in range). I don't think it's my connection, seeing as my computer was away with me that other night when my boss got disconnected.

Oh and the wireless hub doesn't have an antenna. It's a linksys and has "antenna inside."

Thanks for the tips guys, if you have any more ideas keep em coming.

[murmanjake]

Oh another thing.

I think, as I havent witnessed this phenomenon firsthand, from communicating with the desk teacher through my boss, that the computer and printer don't lose all connectivity.

I mean, nothing works, internet, or using the printer, but the computer still claims to be connected to the internet.

Although that program, RaUI, does indicate that there is a problem with the connection.

[crossmr]

The broadcast channel should be set to 1, 6, or 11
you can also check to see if there are other wireless networks in the area. Just scan. if you see a lot, it'd be worth getting a more advanced program to check what channel they're all on and picking a channel away from those.

most likely they usually default to 6. Even if your laptop is farther away it might be at a different angle avoiding any interference. What about in the immediate area where the computer and printer are?

if you are there when it happens, you can start by running a simple ping test. Do you know how to do that?

[murmanjake]

did a ping test on pingtest.net

My computer:
Ping: 23 ms
Jitter: 13 ms

0% packet loss

Work computer:
Ping: 6 ms
Jitter: 1 ms

0% packet loss


Now the work computer wasn't having any problems at the moment. I'll try it again once it starts having problems, but likely i wouldn't be able to use it at all as the internet doesn't connect when the network starts failing.

[balzor]

[crossmr]

Close but not quite. That's an internet ping test. Not a local one it obviously won't work if the machine doesn't work. On windows xp click start then run
Type cmd
Press enter
Type ipconfig /all
Press enter
Somewhere you should see default gateway probably 192.168.something.1
Now type
Ping 192.168.whatever that address was -t
Include the -t
This will check connectivity with the wireless access point. It might come back slow timeout or with lots of packet loss

Has your laptop ever been using the network at the same time that the work computer stopped working?
On windows 7 skip the "run" step just enter cmd in the search bar

[murmanjake]

Yes I've been connected to the network at the same time as the work computer lost connectivity, and I never lost connectivity. In fact not once have I lost connectivity.

Does that Ping test never end? I gave it a shot with my netbook(What's so funny about that?), and the ping was around 1-5 ms and it timed out twice(out of around 30 attempts).

The work computer stayed between 1-4 ms, but I guess that's to be expected if the connection is working.

I should do the ping test again when it stops working then?

I guess it's just a matter of waiting for it to lose connectivity again and then problemshoot from there...

[crossmr]

Yes the normal test only does it 4 times and that isn't always enough. Ctrl-c will stop it. Repeat it when it fails. Also start looking for metal objects and any electronics between the access point and the devices. Also try moving your laptop next to the nonfunctioning one when it happens

[murmanjake]

Ok so just lost connectivity again while I was right there.

I moved my netbook over to an area right over the Desktop case. Did a ping test on both computers.

Mine remained connected, the school computer kept saying "request timed out."

I restarted the school computer, disabled and then re-enabled the wireless(by accident because i was just guessing what the Korean meant) and the problem persisted.

a minute later it came back on, with no identifiable change on the computer or in the area around me having occurred.

The whole time the icon on the taskbar claimed that the computer was still connected, with full bars.

Is there another variable besides location that may be causing the school computer to time out while mine never has a problem?

At the time the connection was timing out, I had my co-teacher try printing something from the LAN-cord-connected computer, and it said "no connection." My netbook was sitting on top of the printer, still connected.

I did notice that the printer is connected with cord to the school computer. So I'm not sure if the LAN-cord-connected computer communicates with it wirelessly(it does say Wi-Fi on the side of the printer), or through the other wireless-connected computer.

[hallazgo]

Not all network hardware is equal. I'm betting you have a cheap wireless on the PC and it's flaking out. Not unheard of to have some malware on the PC, either...

Nothing wrong with the network if your netbook stays connected. That means the router is fine, the modem it connects to is fine and the protocols used between your netbook and the router are fine. That kind of narrows it down to the PC....hardware or malware....