Computers:Fixing my Router

Ok, so I have comcast high speed internet, and I have a linksys router hooked up to it for wireless. But it constantly loses its signal and I have to unplug the power cord and reconnect it, or I can't get online. Any suggestions on how to go about fixing this? I've already tried repairing it through their website.

I have had similar problems. I used to have to go reboot my router like 5 times a night. Now I got a new laptop and I have to do it maybe once a week. No idea why it happens, but I'm pretty sure it's the wireless card more often than it is the router.

Are you using WIFI? If so mine does that too. I think it's rebuffing the signal or something.

It sucks and it's frustrating but it doesn't take that long. Maybe like a couple of minutes.

What kind of router? Linksys is a brand name that makes many, many routers. A model number helps troubleshoot.

Where is the router located in comparison to other electronics/appliances?

What kind (Brand and model) of computer?

What Operating System?

What kind of NIC or Wireless device are you trying to connect to the router with (if you give me the brand and model this will probably be answered unless you are using a homebuilt)?

How old is the building you're living in? (no i am not stalking you, construction of older buildings that use plaster for walls prior to drywall, sometimes put a steel netting to support the plaster, like rebar and sometimes you have to move the router away from the wall)

And what does he mean by "losing its signal"? Is the computer losing the wireless signal from the router, or is the router losing the wired signal from the cable company?

Router number WRT54G2 V1. The weird thing is, Version 1 doesn't show up as an option on LInksys' website.

The router sits on top of my computer tower, as does the modem.

My computer was custom built, not sure what information you'd need: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor, Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Motherboard, Memory: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Memory, Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB SATA 3.0gb/s, Power Supply: Antec earthwatts EA430 ATX12V v2.0 430W power supply, Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16

It was built primarily for gaming (I need to update it this year)

Windows XP professional with service pack 3

I'm not sure what you mean by NIC or wireless device.

My building is quite old. To be honest, I'm sure it has crap in the walls, as it is a plaster walled building built probably sometime during the 50s.

As far as losing its signal, the connection for the internet goes modem->router->computer. My computer is not actually using wireless, it is hard wired. The wireless is primarily for my Wii and my DS and visitors. So when the router has an issue I actually cannot get online from the computer, ie losing my wired signal. Thanks for your help guys. I love computers, but really, I know very little about them.

Maaaann, i bet that power supply is ripe red hot when you're gaming.

You don't really "lose" a wired signal. A component at either end of the signal is going bad. The WRT54G is a pretty rock solid router with a lot of firmware enhancements. I don't think the router is your problem.

If i were to shoot from the hip, and assume that you have a cable connection, which means you have a cable modem that you're cable modem is hiccuping and kicking your router is actually doing nothing wrong. I would imagine your getting 404 Errors and coming up with screens that look like this:



You're not actually losing a wired or wireless signal, you're modem for the most part, in layman's terms is shitting it's bed.

The worst thing most people do when they get high-speed cable internet is actually take the company's modem. Cable modems cost about 50-60 dollars brand new. You end up, in some cases, paying up to a dollar a month for a cable modem from the company that for the most part, was someone else's problem until they finally took it out of service and "refurbished" it.

So in order to troubleshoot the problem, there is a couple things you can do.

1) Remove the router from the connection. Connect your computer directly to the cable modem and see if you are suffering the same results. If you are, then it's more than likely your cable modem or your onboard LAN, not your router.

or if you want to get more technical, you can leave the router inline and run Ping Checks, IP Configs and Traceroutes from the command prompt or from the basic setup page of the router.

Gaming over wireless?

And if all that fails, I've learned to blame Comcast. Once in a while I have problems with their DNS servers. There's no point in calling them about it, though, because whatever customer service person you reach will be clueless and tell you there's not a problem on their end.

"You lying bastards! I can see my DNS query, and your servers never send a response!"

I'm confused, because I had the modem for months and then got the wireless. It worked for a while and then started crapping out randomly. I'm frustrated as well, because I think I'm having power supply problems (the computer turns off during high stress times ie Left 4 Dead, bioshock defragmenting etc. Not Spore though.)

you're overclocking your power supplies capabilities. You've got too much power being demanded to run, and not enough to actually run it. You're gonna end up frying your motherboard if you keep running those games.

Who built that computer, and why did they overlook such an obvious problem?

it's not that uncommon. Cases being sold now come with mediocre power supplies as part of the "deal" and are usually the most overlooked device in the computer, as in no one pays attention to them.

Some power supply companies also got into this habit of funky math, where something like a 430 Watt power supply is truly only like a 390-400.

If you build a gaming rig, you usually over estimate a power supply and put one that is a little bit too big in. Having too much power is much better than not having enough.

xfinitex what you are running into is, you're components, like your video card, motherboard, processor require more power to game. When the computer is sitting idle or your just surfing the net, it's probably fine. But when you put the load of a game on the components, they're all battling for power and there just isn't enough there, so your system just shuts off.

I try not to bash other people's work, but whoever built your computer definitely neglected that power supply. I run a 680 Watt Power Supply. I am powering a bit more than you, but it's overkill. I took the one that came with my case and put it in an older woman's Dell.

I would gamble to say that whoever built it, neglected cooling too, and you're only dealing with a stock heat sink and fan and only one or two case fans. Heat only creates more of a problem when it comes to power.

I have seen a lot of custom builds in the repairs i do. Some of them are.....sketchy? The person had a good idea of what they were doing, but the application just wasn't good. They cut corners to sell the computer for a cheaper price, like power supplies. When someone comes to me wanting a gaming computer built, the first thing i tell them to do is give me a budgetary number, if that number is insanely low, i tell them it's not possible.

Antivirus and firewall are both Norton Corporate Edition.

So what power supply would you recommend?

AVG is horrible! I had the same issues with it. turns out it installs some kinda monitor program in your registry that plays all kinds of hell with your network connections. I loved that it could tell me where attempted firewall breaches were originating from and offered to send an alert that noone would read to the violator's ISP.....but having it shut my system down every other hour wasn't worth it.


sooooo. I got nothing really to add. just commiserating.

Never had any problems with AVG, myself. Four years.

Yeah I knew I was dealing with two different issues, and I've taken a break from gaming til I get a new power supply (my steam stats are suffering due to this). But the connectivity is the one thats pissing me off the most. Any suggestions? And on the note of power supplies, does anyone have a suggestion for a good gaming one?

Zone Alarm and AVG (and Norton) both do web filtering (Link-scanner/Webshield, whatever pretty name you want to give it). What you were running into was them conflicting with one another. They're separate systems but they conflict with each other in that aspect. If you had removed Zone Alarm, AVG would have run alright, and norton would have run better.

If you're on a public access network, you're better off running Zone Alarm. If you're on a personal router that has restricted access, run AVG, you are behind a hardware firewall on your router. AVG (Free edition) has no, or very limited firewall protections.

Or run whatever the hell you want, that's just a suggestion, you seem intelligent enough to make the decision on your own.

Any anti-virus you install, at least any good one, puts some type of monitoring software in you're registry, that's where most viruses are planted, it kind of has to monitor it.

"Have you tried plugging in the computer? Is it turned on?..."

Did you actually try DevilsReject's recommendations?

Troubleshooting... It's a process. The only way you can skip go is when you go to jail (and you won't get your $200 either). Don't just assume it's one thing until you've worked your way up the chain. If you have a problem with your modem, blaming your router won't fix anything. Try connecting your computer to it (the modem) like DevilsReject said and see if you experience a loss of service (give it a chance to fail, try to log your connectivity if you can). If that's not it, then we can move on to the router...