I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router - the main machine it
is hard wired to is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Windows Vista - there are
4 XP machines that use it on and off as well as a Dell wireless printer. The
network connections are notoriously finicky. Once in a while it will drop
completely - more often than not it is slow or inconsistent or will briefly
drop and then come back - for all of these symptoms, unplugging the router
and plugging it back in clears it up for a while. Any ideas on causes or
cures?

It's a problem with the Linksys router. I'm guessing you have a newer one,
probably version 5 or 6. They are known to be finicky like that. You may try
going to the Linksys site and see if a new firmware is available. There is
also a third party firmware available (DD-WRT) which works GREAT, but with
that version of router, it's a pain to install.

I have a WRT54G (version 5) and a WRT54GL (which runs the Linux based
software), both running DD-WRT, and it improves the reliability quite a bit.

--
Dustin Harper
[email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
[url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]

--
"JPCostaSr" <JPCostaSr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FE321F1E-3CA0-44F2-A2DC-4622F883E3AC@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
>I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router - the main machine
>it
> is hard wired to is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Windows Vista - there
> are
> 4 XP machines that use it on and off as well as a Dell wireless printer.
> The
> network connections are notoriously finicky. Once in a while it will drop
> completely - more often than not it is slow or inconsistent or will
> briefly
> drop and then come back - for all of these symptoms, unplugging the router
> and plugging it back in clears it up for a while. Any ideas on causes or
> cures?[/color]

Thanks Dustin - glad to know it was not just me... your assumptions are
correct, its a couple of months old. On the firmware side, Linksys does not
seem in any way interested in updating the software for this machine so the
third party idea is interesting to me. I am a fairly competent user, what
does "pain to install" mean. If there are clear set of directions I am
pretty much up for it.

JPCostaSr.

"Dustin Harper" wrote:
[color=blue]
> It's a problem with the Linksys router. I'm guessing you have a newer one,
> probably version 5 or 6. They are known to be finicky like that. You may try
> going to the Linksys site and see if a new firmware is available. There is
> also a third party firmware available (DD-WRT) which works GREAT, but with
> that version of router, it's a pain to install.
>
> I have a WRT54G (version 5) and a WRT54GL (which runs the Linux based
> software), both running DD-WRT, and it improves the reliability quite a bit.
>
> --
> Dustin Harper
> [email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
> [url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]
>
> --
> "JPCostaSr" <JPCostaSr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:FE321F1E-3CA0-44F2-A2DC-4622F883E3AC@microsoft.com...[color=green]
> >I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router - the main machine
> >it
> > is hard wired to is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Windows Vista - there
> > are
> > 4 XP machines that use it on and off as well as a Dell wireless printer.
> > The
> > network connections are notoriously finicky. Once in a while it will drop
> > completely - more often than not it is slow or inconsistent or will
> > briefly
> > drop and then come back - for all of these symptoms, unplugging the router
> > and plugging it back in clears it up for a while. Any ideas on causes or
> > cures?[/color]
>[/color]

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:14:03 -0700, JPCostaSr wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router - the main machine it
> is hard wired to is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Windows Vista - there are
> 4 XP machines that use it on and off as well as a Dell wireless printer. The
> network connections are notoriously finicky. Once in a while it will drop
> completely - more often than not it is slow or inconsistent or will briefly
> drop and then come back - for all of these symptoms, unplugging the router
> and plugging it back in clears it up for a while. Any ideas on causes or
> cures?[/color]

Cures? I'm running essentially the same setup with all Linux systems and
zero problems.

First off, here is the site for the firmware. [url]http://www.dd-wrt.com/[/url]
And to install it on the Version 5 or 6, there are just a few more steps:
[url]http://scorpiontek.org/portal/content/view/27/36/[/url]

The Version 2.4 isn't available for the version 5/6's yet (they only have 3
MB RAM, and the image is too big). So, you will have to run the 2.3 Micro
version. I'm running that on mine and it works like a champ.

It makes it a bit more stable and gives you a lot more features. I love my
router after flashing it, and everytime I recommend the WRT54G routers, I
tell them to get the WRT54GL (more RAM, runs Linux) and flash it to DD-WRT.

--
Dustin Harper
[email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
[url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]

--
"JPCostaSr" <JPCostaSr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8638C49F-3536-4EF7-A056-EF793C7B56C4@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> Thanks Dustin - glad to know it was not just me... your assumptions are
> correct, its a couple of months old. On the firmware side, Linksys does
> not
> seem in any way interested in updating the software for this machine so
> the
> third party idea is interesting to me. I am a fairly competent user, what
> does "pain to install" mean. If there are clear set of directions I am
> pretty much up for it.
>
> JPCostaSr.
>
> "Dustin Harper" wrote:
>[color=green]
>> It's a problem with the Linksys router. I'm guessing you have a newer
>> one,
>> probably version 5 or 6. They are known to be finicky like that. You may
>> try
>> going to the Linksys site and see if a new firmware is available. There
>> is
>> also a third party firmware available (DD-WRT) which works GREAT, but
>> with
>> that version of router, it's a pain to install.
>>
>> I have a WRT54G (version 5) and a WRT54GL (which runs the Linux based
>> software), both running DD-WRT, and it improves the reliability quite a
>> bit.
>>
>> --
>> Dustin Harper
>> [email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
>> [url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]
>>
>> --
>> "JPCostaSr" <JPCostaSr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:FE321F1E-3CA0-44F2-A2DC-4622F883E3AC@microsoft.com...[color=darkred]
>> >I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router - the main
>> >machine
>> >it
>> > is hard wired to is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Windows Vista -
>> > there
>> > are
>> > 4 XP machines that use it on and off as well as a Dell wireless
>> > printer.
>> > The
>> > network connections are notoriously finicky. Once in a while it will
>> > drop
>> > completely - more often than not it is slow or inconsistent or will
>> > briefly
>> > drop and then come back - for all of these symptoms, unplugging the
>> > router
>> > and plugging it back in clears it up for a while. Any ideas on causes
>> > or
>> > cures?[/color]
>>[/color][/color]

If you are running with SSID Broadcast disabled,enable it. This might help.


"JPCostaSr" <JPCostaSr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FE321F1E-3CA0-44F2-A2DC-4622F883E3AC@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
>I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router - the main machine
>it
> is hard wired to is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Windows Vista - there
> are
> 4 XP machines that use it on and off as well as a Dell wireless printer.
> The
> network connections are notoriously finicky. Once in a while it will drop
> completely - more often than not it is slow or inconsistent or will
> briefly
> drop and then come back - for all of these symptoms, unplugging the router
> and plugging it back in clears it up for a while. Any ideas on causes or
> cures?[/color]