I agree with you all, I think its definitly something external to the PC's (surely had it been a Windows update the forums would have been inundated, and as to the Laptop drivers, I have not updated their drivers at all - (I only tend to do the important Windows ones))

Regarding positioning - I have had this router since I moved here, and it's been in exactly the same place with the same things round it for all that time.
I put a LCD TV on the wall 4 metres away from the router about a week before it all went wrong, but I actually took this down again and moved it well away to see if this cured the problem - (it didn't)

The council replaced a streetlight 4 weeks ago (again too early) but it's 300 yards away!

The next step is to speak to my neighbors I think.

Thanks Mike for the info on the WRT, I have the autotuning disabled on my desktop PC, as Live messenger will not work, but have not thought about it for the laptops - will try and post back.

Thanks again to all - and yes Anne, it IS driving me mad!

Well - it's sorted!

In a fit of desperation I turned off the power circuit in the house, (running the router from an extension lead from the cooker circuit!) and guess what - it only worked immediatly!

From here it was turn off every socket, and turn them all on one by one again until it didn't work. (The offending one was the media plate behind the TV)

As with most peoples I guess, there are massive ammounts of wires in this area, and well the process of elimination tracked it down to a faulty TV Booster (I changed this, and everything is back to normal - and is still back to normal this morning.

I would like to thank everybody for being so supportive in this. I have learnt a lot, and if anybody else picks up on this, I hope it helps them.

(It was your post about the washing machine, Anne, that triggered me into thinking about domestic appliances other than AV senders)

Again Thanks - Dave

Brilliant and glad to hear everything has now been solved.

Hooray!!! Medals are awarded for finding problems like that.

This thread is full of information for somebody troubleshooting wireless issues ...

I'm glad my "washing machine" problem helped you out Dave .. and to think I wasn't going to mention it

Now the problem is cured, I want to use better wireless security.

I have been using WEP (which I'm advised is better than nothing, but WPA is better)

I have 3 WPA alternatives: WPA Personal
WPA2 Personal
WPA2 Mixed
which should I use and how do I set it up - please?

Thanx - Dave

Try WPA2 Personal and see how you get on, because all Wireless Network Adapters connecting to the Router will also need to support that encryption protocol. After changing the security in the Router, all existing wireless "profiles" saved in the various computers will need to be removed and then you must go through the procedure to "Connect" again, when you'll be prompted to enter the new encryption "key".

I'm not sure exactly what options you have, but is there WPA2-PSK with TKIP encryption? If so, use that and make up a "key" of between 8 and 63 characters.

I have been onto Linksys, and done a firmware update on my router (Linksys WAG200G).

I also changed the encryption (with help from Linksys support who phoned me and talked me through the firmware upgrade and the encryption setup)

I have options as shown:



I am using the one in green WPA Personal, as I'm not sure what AES is, (and this was the one that the guy from Linksys suggested at the time). Both Laptops DO connect to this, and i did have to delete all the previous wireless networks, and reconnect to the "new" one, and as you say, once I entered the key, they both connected.

I'm also not sure if the network adaptors in the laptops (mine is the oldest at 2 years old) will be compatable. Is there any way to tell? ...or do I have to enable WPA2... and see if I get a connection?

Basically I want the most secure connection I can get. If my Linksys WAG200G is not good enough for that then I would go and buy that Belkin N, which I know did have the setting WPA2 personal - PSK was there I seem to remember as was TKIP.

Not sure if the Linksys has PSK (pre shared Key?)

Thanks - Dave

Now you're getting into areas that are certainly way over my head. I use WPA-PSK with TKIP encryption and if that isn't secure enough then it's too bad.

You could try "WPA2-Mixed" with TKIP encryption, but things gets more complicated with AES which, I think requires a key of 32 ASCII or 64 Hexadecimal characters, but you can also get into the realms of RADIUS servers dynamically allocating encryption keys and I don't pretend to begin to understand what that's all about.

As WPA is more secure than WEP, then I'll stick with WPA, because if I go to WPA2, it looks as if I'll have to use AES (which sounds complicated, as if you don't know Mike, I'll leave well alone!)

Thanks - Dave

(Everything still OK btw) (you need a fingers crossed emoticon on here!)

There you go Dave

And it's now in the emoticon gallery:

Oh WOW!

Thanks!