Endless wifi problems on home network - switched routers & NIC's

T

tankman1989

Gawd
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
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I have this home LAN that has been giving the same problems for years. It seems to not like any wifi cards from laptops or desktop systems but works with phones and tablets. I have tried 5 different routers (3 WRT54Gl's, a Netgear 3600-NAS and an Asus 66RT - or something similar). I

I get the same thing on 3 different laptops and one desktop when trying to connect with a multitude of wifi cards (these cards work on other networks). In all cases the wifi card seems to see the network but dynamic IP doesn't work and static IP has to be assigned. Once assigned I can ping the router but not past the router. The other machines that use dynamic IP on CAT5 connections all work with no issues.

The only thing that has stayed the same on this network is a desktop that is running Win 7 and the modem (and 2 8port gigabit switches connected to the router). I have a strong suspicion that there may be something "nasty" (well maybe some kind of spyware installed by "free" games/puzzle installs) on the Win 7 desktop but Av scans (Eset) say all clear. I just know the users habits and from past history, has shown opening things th3y shouldn't in emails and browser links.

I have spend MANY hours trying to figure out what is going on, changing routers and NIC's but the wifi is always buggered. How is that possible and not effect tablets or phones? The modem is for DSL if that matters.

Wifi encryption is WPA2 Personal AES 256 and mixed mode.

Anyone have any ideas or insight on why this might be happening?
 
Have you tried running on different wifi channels? You could have some local interference or saturation on the band/channel your trying to use.
 
To both. I have tried different channels and unless there is saturation from 200 yards away (closest building) then I doubt it - It is a remote location. There is only one other wifi signal within range and it is hit or miss at a single bar strength.

I have connected with my smartphone and tablet (and guests devices as well) with no problem. They were Samsung and apple devices if that matters.

I have tried on a laptop with no luck but then went to MY home router and it worked fine (and on other networks).

I've tried changing metrics to auto and setting at 1, 2, 3, 4, and setting all other NIC's to a higher number (like 10, 11, 12, etc) so that it would look at the wifi first. I've also tried ipconfig /release followed by /renew and no love.

When I was doing System admin I came across situations like this once in a while and I'd replace a device to get around this. I've done all that with the exceptions mentioned above.

Could it possibly be that it needs a defined primary and secondary DNS (as it doesn't accept dynamic IP)? I've often just set the DNS as the router IP as the routers often function as the DNS (or a pass-through to the proper DNS). Would taking the DNS indicated in the modem status page and putting it in the IPv4 settings possibly help? I just can't get past the idea that this is somehow modem related...
 
Hello,

First post :) have been following the forums for almost 10years but never created an account...
Anyway back to topic, I've faced similar issues... what was happening was that wifi clients would get a bonus DNS assigned now and then... really annoying...

The only solution I found to work so far was to set a non default DHCP span... example 192.168.122.14x and up and not set the gateway to 192.168.xxx.1
Since then, problem gone...

fyi, I tried 3 different brand routers and used non easy to guess PW for wifi. Weird thing is that all WAN device didn't have this issue, only wifi devices.

If you haven't tried this yet, I suggest you give it a try :)

Good luck,
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try.

One thing I didn't mention is the IP address that is pulled when the NIC is set to dynamic under Windows IPv4 settings. The IP always pulls a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx Which is the standard error IP that means DHCP ain't working. IMHO, this is why I set a static (even after router & machine reboots) IP. IDK if DNS could effect this somehow (like bypassing the router server somehow...)..
 
Also, is there ANY possible way that malware on the desktop could be hosing up the wifi on the router? It seems a stretch (especially since the desktop doesn't have wifi and is connected via CAT5). I can't see why any malware would do this and how it would go about implementing such constant and consistent interference without being noticed on the network.
 
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