My Wireless Router: Why is it DOING this?!

[TerranRich]

I need some help...bad. I've called up the manufacturers of the wireless router. All I get, every single time, are Arab guys with horrible accents that I can barely understand who assume my problem is solved when I connect online.

Basically, my router is hooked up to my high-speed cable line. Off of the router is a Voice-Over-IP broadband router. I do not believe that is the problem. My Internet connection will work perfectly, at a very high speed, for about 10-30 minutes. Then, the speed will rapidly degrade until, finally, nothing. You know those two flashing computers in the taskbar icon? The left one is on when data is sent and the right is on when data is received. In the end, only the left one is on, and the right is blank forever, until I reset my router, which consists of turning off my router, then my cable modem, waiting a minute, connecting my modem, waiting until it's done initializing, then finally powerng up my router, then VOIP phone wired router.

I know it has something to do with the router. It's almost as if the router just gets tired of sending out data and gives up until I reset it. The other computer upstairs, which also receives it wirelessly, does the same thing, so I know it's not just my laptop. And the phone works fine, so it can't be the VOIP router or the cable modem itself.

Basically, I have it set up like this:
Outside cable -> Cable modem -> Wireless-B router -> VOIP wired router -> Phones
And my laptop and the PC upstairs receives directly from the router.

This happened even before we installed the VOIP phone line, so it can't be because of that addition. I've narrowed it down to just the router. We've tried replacing it with another brand (NetGear) but that wouldn't even be recognized by my computer's card.

If it matters, I have a Linksys Wireless-B router. Please, if anybody can help, you'll be saving my sanity. I'm ready to try anything I haven't already tried. Thanks!

PS: Another note: I rarely restart my laptop. I instead put it into Standby or just leave it running at night. I doubt that would matter, but it's worth noting, I'm sure.

[BOYD1981]

i recently had a similar problem when i got a normal combined router and modem.
i discovered it was because i was still running my software firewall as the router has it's own hardware firewall.
if the router has a hardware firewall see if you can disable it, but only if you have a software firewall running aswell. although it's most likely if it does have a firewall you won't be able to disable it as manafacturers seem to think everyone is stupid.

[TerranRich]

I don't have any software firewalls running at all. I know that Win XP SP2 comes with a new firewall feature, but upgrading to SP2 causes my Internet to not work at all, no matter what. Took me a hell of a long time to figure THAT one out.

I'll try disabling the router's firewall, if applicable and if possible, but I doubt that's it. Anyone have any other ideas?

[SSH]

Are you sure that both your computers haven't been hijacked and are sending 99% of the world's spam?

I'd check your router's config page and see if there's a way to reset the router via that. Also: can you conenct to the router's config page when the rest of the connection goes down?

I'd also be worried that a different router doesn't get reconginsed by your computer. I mean, 802.11 is 802.11... the computer shoudlnt even need to know who makes the router.

Also, have you tried connecting to the router with a cable rather than wirelessly, doe shte problem still occur?

[TerranRich]

Problem still occurs while wired to the router. And I cannot access the config page while having the Internet access problems. So it seems to be part of the whole deal. I'll check out the router's config page when I DO have access to see if I can reset it that way. Other than that, I have no idea what else to do.

[SSH]

Have you tried using a different Ethernet card on your PCs?

And seriously, run AVS, Avast, Spyboy S&D and Adaware on both PCs just to make sure that they don't have some nasty infection

[Haddas]

What IP are you getting? Is it the routers own? 213. something... does it work if you do ipconfig /release and /renew? I doubt that works for you, but it works for me

[TerranRich]

ipconfig never works for me. I've tried it. And the IP I'm getting under the Wireless Network Connection Status window, which is "Assigned by DHCP" is 192.168.1.101. It's always been that way. I use 192.168.1.1 to access the router's setup menu. The Channel is set to 6 -- does that matter? I also recently upgraded the firmware, though it was a few months ago, so I'll check again to see if there are any other newer updates, though I doubt it. I'm posting from home, so it's working for now. In about 10-15 minutes it'll just stop responding, unless it's "one of those days" where it'll be fine all day, never losing any download speed.

UPDATE:

http://weblogs.asp.net/kdente/archive/2004/03/26/97256.aspx

I found the above link. Could it be the cordless phones?? I'm going to try wireless encryption, if it's available for my router.

[Squinky]

Have you tried using a different Ethernet card on your PCs?

And seriously, run AVS, Avast, Spyboy S&D and Adaware on both PCs just to make sure that they don't have some nasty infection

What is AVS, I googled and got nothing. I've got all the others including using avg for viruses and trend micro online for the ones avg misses. I can't ever seem to be free of crappware though....

[RickJ]

Rich,have you tried disabling the wireless portion of the router?  Perhaps someone else is accessing the internet through your access point?   Are you able to dump a log from the router to see what's going on?  Maybe you could try to find a free packet sniffer if you are not able to get enough info from the router.   

[TerranRich]

Oh yeah, I also have Microsoft Anti-Spyware, Spybot S&D, AntiVir, AdAware, all running at different points during the day. I don't have spyware/adware/viruses, trust me. It seems to be working fine now. After tinkering with the WEP setting, I screwed it up so that I couldn't even access it, and has to physically reset the router via the little button on the back (instead of unplugging it, which was the method I'd been using to reset it, given to me by both my cable company and the router company). Any other suggestions? In case this happens again.

RickJ: Disable the wireless portion? How would I do that, and could I use the wireless feature at all? That's why I got it after all.

Dump a log? Packet sniffer? You're disgusting, RickJ.

[SSH]

Have you tried using a different Ethernet card on your PCs?

And seriously, run AVS, Avast, Spyboy S&D and Adaware on both PCs just to make sure that they don't have some nasty infection

What is AVS

See this link here

[RickJ]

RickJ: Disable the wireless portion? How would I do that, and could I use the wireless feature at all? That's why I got it after all.

You can disable it from the setup page and no you wouldn't be able to do wireless stuff if it were disabled.  But doing so may have shed some light on the problem so that a suitable soultion could be found. 

Dump a log? Packet sniffer? You're disgusting, RickJ

Hehe... well then just to make your stomach turn ... here are a couple of sniffers I found.  Try them out and let us know which one you like best.  :

• http://www.ethereal.com/
  
• http://www.snort.org/
  
• http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Products&p=whosthere
  
  Here is a larger list
  
• http://www.insecure.org/tools.html
  
• http://lists.gpick.com/pages/Packet_Sniffing.htm
  
  And here is a discussion about restricting wireless access to your computers
  
• http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/17/1832214&from=rss
  
  *** Edit ***  misspelled  URL, 

[TerranRich]

Well, it did it again, so the problem has not been solved...not even alleviated a little bit. I don't really want to restrict wireless access anymore than it already is. And I'm hoping the final answer isn't "Buy another router."

[RickJ]

And I'm hoping the final answer isn't "Buy another router."

Yeah, me too because I think I have the same router. 

Anyway, see if you can get the above "whosthere" program to work.  I was reading about it and it seems like it's simple to use and since you presumably have a small network you ought to be able to know if other people are using you access point.    Supposedly the program also allows you see a "Get the F*#k off my network" to any parasites you may find.  Just make sure it's not your mom on the other end.

[TerranRich]

Well, I tried that Who's There program. I saw about 10 IP addresses, I have no idea what to look for. Besides, nobody can really access my Internet until they're sitting in my driveway. Our next-door neighbors are too far away to reach the router. So I know it can't be outside access.

[RickJ]

10 IP addresses?  How many computers are on your network?

[TerranRich]

Just 2 or 3. I don't know if it was reading which IPs *I* was accessing, or which ones were accessng my router.

A positive note: Since I reset my router through its button AND reset it through the power, it's been fully functional for over 15 hours now. Maybe that was all I needed?