Limited or No Connectivity

[hlewton]

Thank you. I do believe you're right from what I see happening.

BTW I apologize for not replying to you before. I somehow neglected to do that but wanted you to know that I have already changed the network card once and they are getting hard to find for this laptop because it has some years on it now.

[hlewton]

It sounds like you are losing your network connection. The message "No operation can be performed on Local Area Network while it has its media disconnected." means that the wireless connection has dropped.

I suspect there may be an issue with the Wi-Fi Range Extender/Bridge. Does everything work correctly if you disconnect this and move the laptop so it is near the router?

I have been doing more experimenting. When you posted this I removed the network extender, have not repleced it and still had/have a strong signal without it. Still I get that "Limited or No Connectivity" almost every time I wake the computer up from the sleep mode. So the last few times I took the computer into the room where the wireless router is and it always seems to connect without giving that message. Does this tell us anything because, as I mentioned, even in the room where I want to use it, it shows a strong signal - hardly any difference in signal strength to be honest. For example in the room with the router the signal shows "excellent" strength and where I want to use it it still often shows "excellent" signal strength, sometimes "very good" signal strength, and rarely just "good" signal strength. So I just do not understand why it works well when it is in the same room with the wireless router and not further away.

[StuartR]

I suspect there may be interference causing you to need a very powerful signal to get a successful connection.

[hlewton]

Thank you. I do have one of the types of phones that can cause interference but don't know what to do about it without getting rid of the phones.

[StuartR]

Try changing your router to a different channel, you might be lucky.

[hlewton]

Thanks. I still have warranty including tech support so I'll contact Linksys to see how that is done and give it a try.

[hlewton]

After checking it out I see it looks like it is pretty easy to change the channel. Right now it is set to "Auto." I looked up the frequency that the DECT 6.0 phone is supposed to be using and it appears it is 1.9 GHz which apparently should not be causing interference with my wireless connection but some time back I did read an article saying the opposite. So anyway I seem to have these choices as to what frequency to use 2.412, 2.417, 2.422, 2.427, 2.432, 2.437, 2.442, 2.447, 2.452, 2.457, or 2.462. Do you think I should try setting it at the 2.462 Ghz which I believe is the furtherest from what the phone is supposed to use? I know I can try them all but am just trying to establish the most logical starting point.

[StuartR]

Usually the channel is just presented as a number from 1 to 11, but since you show 11 frequencies then I guess that is what this is. I would try channels 1, 4, 7 and 11 (you may as well start at 11). - In other words YES, try setting it to 2.462

[hlewton]

Thank you. I just set it there so I guess we will see if that helps. As I was setting it I saw that it did indeed have the numbers 1 through 11 next to the GHz settings as well.

[hlewton]

I have been experimenting with different channels and none of them seem to help. Also I have been experimenting with different locations and found out that even when the computer is within 3 feet of the wireless router I still get the Limited or No Connectivity message. I am wondering if that may give any hint to what may be the cause. Like right now the computer is within 3 feet of the router and I had to do a Repair to get it to connect. It stayed connected for about 2 minutes and then gave that same error message again.

I probably should also mention that often times a Repair does not fix it and I have to Disable and then re-enable the network to get a connection. I have even reset the wireless router all to no avail.

[StuartR]

At this stage I think we need to do some testing with other devices to try and understand this. I suspect that either the laptop or the router has a fault.

Does your laptop work reliably with wireless network connections in other people's houses? If so then we can assume that the laptop is basically OK.

Can you get a friend to come round to your house with a working wireless device and see if it can connect to your access point reliably.

[hlewton]

Yes I can and probably already have done this without knowing. My children and their kids all have some devises either smart phones, iPods, or iPads and when they come here, after me giving them my password once, they always seem to be able to get to the Internet.

I looked at the device manager and found that the driver for the network card in that laptop is from 2004. Do you think it would be wise to try to update the driver? In addition I found new network cards for my computer on line and have ordered one. Hopefully something will work successfully.

Not sure if it means anything at all but even when I get that Limited or No Connectivity message the signal strength from my router is still either 4 or 5 bars out of a possible 5. So I guess I'm wondering since that is the case do you still think something could be wrong with the router?

[hlewton]

I got a hold of Linksys support since my equipment is still under warranty. I told her all that was going on and gave her remote access to make changes to the router which were very minimal. She chose channel 9 and something else I think that I missed. Then she had me go to the laptop. There she had me make changes that she thinks will solve the problem. She said my adapter did not support the latest security or something so she changed the Network Authentication from WPA2-PSK to WPA-PSK and the Data Encryption from AES to TKIP. These changes did enable me to get connected but I am not sure how long it will last. I also purchased an adapter that goes into a USB port that once configured should allow me to access the "N" part of the wireless router. She said I should call back and have the help me set it up. Hopefully something will work once all is done.

[hlewton]

I sure do not want to jinx this but thought I would give a brief report. Since the Linksys technician made changes to my wireless router and had me make changes to the wireless network connection in my computer it has been working perfectly. I still will be trying to install that USB device that is supposed to allow me to use the wireless N technology with my computer when I receive it but I will be installing it with another technician from Linksys on the line with me.

If anyone has experience with a devise like I have tried to describe do you know if when it is not in the USB port if the computer will still be able to access a wireless G router?

Thanks

[StuartR]

I don't know the specific device, but I assume that it will appear as an additional wireless network port, and removing it should not stop you using the built in one. You may have to find the switch that turns the built in port on and off.

[hlewton]

StuartR the devise is a Cisco Linksys AE3000 Dual-Band Wireless-N USB Wi-Fi Adapter - 3 x 3 Antenna and I know very little about it. I thank you for your reply though because it gives me something to make sure ask the Linksys technician about. To be honest I never heard of a switch that you describe. Hopefully I may be lucky if the devise itself with its software turns it on or off depending on whether or not it is plugged into the USB port.

[hlewton]

Well it has been well over a week now since the Cisco Linksys AE3000 Dual-Band Wireless-N USB Wi-Fi Adapter - 3 x 3 Antenna was installed and it seems to be working great in conjunction with the network extender that didn't seem to help the wireless G connection. However, I do have a question. With the installation of the Cisco Linksys AE3000 Dual-Band Wireless-N USB Wi-Fi Adapter - 3 x 3 Antenna it seems a new network connecting was established. It is called "connection 2" and the original wireless G connection is still there. I watched it over the last week and both wireless G & N connections seemed to connect to the Internet. I used it that way for the last week but disabled the original wireless G connection yesterday because as I pointed to the icons in the systray showing the Speed: the original wireless G one was always 54.0 Mbps or less where the new wireless N connection 2 was always around 144.0 to 156.0 Mbps. I wasn't sure since they both were connected which speed it would use so I disabled the original one. If there are 2 connections like I described is there any way of determining which speed the computer will use except to disable 1 connection like I did?