Computer issue with wireless internet

[Craig D Peltier]

I have an issue that came up on my laptop recently. I have a wireless router ( belkin) that for the past two years I get a strong wireless signal to my laptop. All of sudden its low connectivity strength and instead of showing 5 green bars it shows 2 red. I went to my connection and hit repair but that did nothing. I moved it about 10 feet away and that didint help either.
I have rebooted, and I ran Trend Micro virus protection.

My wife on her laptop gets good reception.

Most recently my Dell Inspiron laptop when booting up says " Battery not recognized" and it says it wont charge ( although it does). When searching this issue I find its quite common. Some people update there bios and that works, I havent done that yet. I also went to battery strength meter in control panel and its there.
Do you think this has anything to do with my low connectivity? How may I get my strong signal back?

[Ron Cole]

If your wife's computer works, then it's likely your computer. First go to a public hotspot and see if you get a good signal. You don't have to actually connect so any will work, just looking for a signal. If it still doesn't work, then your wireless is probably broken. If its an external, replace it, if it's internal, disable it and get an external (or a new laptop if that's a good enough excuse... ;)).

[Curt Harms]

Dropped connections, disconnect/reconnect etc.? I might go to speedtest.net and check latency & download speeds. Compare them to your wife's machine. Do you really have a connection problem, or is the signal strength meter inaccurate?

[Craig D Peltier]

Well I went to another wifi ht spot and got excellent strength. Came home and laptop hooked up with mine and it was full strength. Its weird because days it was showing low strength ( and it was). Hope this morning its okay still. Maybe it needed to get out :)

[Travis Porter]

You may also have something in the home or nearby neighbor that is causing interference. Certain cordless phones, other wireless devices, even the microwave could cause an issue.

[Craig D Peltier]

Its weird , now its very low again for past two days. Wifes is fine in the same room. I'm dumbfounded. On my wired PC speeds are 14mbs.
Even though my laptop tells me that the battery isnt recognized anymore due to it being able to charge ( it says its at the end of its life) Hard to figure after its 2 years old and its plugged in %85 of the time. Maybe if I take battery out to check if the battery has anything to do with my low speed.

[Myk Rian]

Make sure it is actually connected to your network. It might have picked up a neighbors.

[Scott Donley]

Make sure it is actually connected to your network. It might have picked up a neighbors.I was just about to ask the same thing:D Once in a while I have one of my laptops connect to my neighbors even though my router is stronger .

[Ron Cole]

It might be worth checking to see if you an access port to the wifi card. I'm not terribly familiar with laptops, but if its plugged in, it might have come loose. If you can get to it, you might just need to reseat it.

[Bryan Morgan]

What channel are you running your wifi on? You should list any nearby networks and note which channels they are on. For maximum distance and reliability you should use channel 1, 6, or 11... these are the only channels that are non-overlapping. Pick whichever one has the least amount of other detected networks on it. Also, check your antenna positioning and make sure they are pointed straight up and nothing is near them that would shield them. There are directional antenna helpers you can build from cardboard and tinfoil as well, as long as you only need to use the network in one particular direction. :)

If you are feeling tech savvy and depending on your router model, you can load alternate firmware which allows you to crank up the output signal strength.

[Bryan Morgan]

You may also have something in the home or nearby neighbor that is causing interference. Certain cordless phones, other wireless devices, even the microwave could cause an issue.

2.4 ghz cordless phones have been reported to cause problems with wireless networks which are also 2.4 ghz. I don't think the actual frequencies overlap though, and I've never actually witnessed this myself. New R/C toys run on 2.4 ghz as well. Any kids get any new radio control gadgets? Again, I think the frequencies are a little different. Wireless networks go from 2.401 to 2.473 if I remember correctly.

[paul cottingham]

Wireless phones are notorious for this.

[Craig D Peltier]

Make sure it is actually connected to your network. It might have picked up a neighbors.

Its connected to mine. Thw wifes laptop ten feet away has a great connection. This only started recently.


It might be worth checking to see if you an access port to the wifi card. I'm not terribly familiar with laptops, but if its plugged in, it might have come loose. If you can get to it, you might just need to reseat it.

I will look into this. My wife did drop luggage off of cart at airport. Her Laptop dies in the process. Mine seemed fine, it was in another bag but maybe it jolted it. The battery was already having the issue of not being recognized while on vacation.


What channel are you running your wifi on? You should list any nearby networks and note which channels they are on. For maximum distance and reliability you should use channel 1, 6, or 11... these are the only channels that are non-overlapping. Pick whichever one has the least amount of other detected networks on it. Also, check your antenna positioning and make sure they are pointed straight up and nothing is near them that would shield them. There are directional antenna helpers you can build from cardboard and tinfoil as well, as long as you only need to use the network in one particular direction. :)

If you are feeling tech savvy and depending on your router model, you can load alternate firmware which allows you to crank up the output signal strength.

I dont know but wifes is fine.


2.4 ghz cordless phones have been reported to cause problems with wireless networks which are also 2.4 ghz. I don't think the actual frequencies overlap though, and I've never actually witnessed this myself. New R/C toys run on 2.4 ghz as well. Any kids get any new radio control gadgets? Again, I think the frequencies are a little different. Wireless networks go from 2.401 to 2.473 if I remember correctly.
No new phones , no electric gadgets. Last Saturday I took ti to breakfast and it had full wifi there. Then I took it home it had full wifi. One more time it did too and then bam very low connection speeds again. even if I bring it close with no walls. Now im not sure of I kept it at breakfast if ti would fo done the same thing after a few hours etc.

[paul cottingham]

Have you check for virii or spyware? They can cause this sorta things as well. Also, if there is a neighbour with a boosted signal, that can cause these problems as well. And it can be random, affecting you, but not your wife. If you can borrow a spare card, disable the internal one, and see if the new one works any better.

[Craig D Peltier]

Have you check for virii or spyware? They can cause this sorta things as well. Also, if there is a neighbour with a boosted signal, that can cause these problems as well. And it can be random, affecting you, but not your wife. If you can borrow a spare card, disable the internal one, and see if the new one works any better.
I will do another trend micro virus search. A full scan. The lite scan always turns up 10-20 minor threats it removes on both pcs , spyware.

[Bryan Morgan]

Have you check for virii or spyware? They can cause this sorta things as well. Also, if there is a neighbour with a boosted signal, that can cause these problems as well. And it can be random, affecting you, but not your wife. If you can borrow a spare card, disable the internal one, and see if the new one works any better.

I've never heard of a virus messing with a wifi signal. They will flood your available bandwidth depending on the malware type, but I've never heard or seen one actually decreasing signal strength.

In my experience the most likely cause would be other networks around you. You can download a program called Network Stumbler and that will show you all the other wifi in your area. If theres a bunch of networks on channel 6 or whatever, switch your gear to a different whole channel. When I setup Cisco wireless VOIP phones I always have to do a site survey and make sure to setup the equipment on the least used channel.

There is a small chance your wifi antenna in your notebook is broken. They are in the half with the monitor and the actual wifi card is inside the keyboard half. Actually that reminds me, most notebook internal wifi cards have a plug that goes to the antenna. They are just press fit and could pop out... Might just be a matter of opening a panel on the bottom of the machine and pressing the plug back in..... anyway, my original thought was that the antenna being in the monitor part of the laptop there is a cable that flexes every time you open and close the lid. In rare instances (I think maybe two times I've ever seen in my entire life... and I do this stuff for a living :)) the cable has broken. If the machine is still under warranty they will repair it. Its not too hard to fix yourself (if you can get a replacement flat cable) but the parts are tiny and you have to really take your time.

You can always pick up a cheap USB wireless adapter and give it a shot. I think they are only a few bucks these days... or if your notebook has a plug for an external antenna (tiny brass circle, ~2mm in diameter) you can get one fairly cheap as well.

If all this doesn't work and you need that higher speed you can always get an additional access point or repeater.

At any rate, how fast is your internet connection? If thats all you use wireless for and the wireless connection to your router is faster than your max internet speed its not really an issue, save for latency if you are gaming on it.

[Craig D Peltier]

Thanks for the info. When I open my Del Wireless WLAN utility. It shows the networks around. Theres 5 others. Mine is very strong others are red except one. On that utility tab theres a diagnostic test, I ran it and it said it was running fine. It discinnect me from the network and then puts me back on , when it added me back on it was full green again but when I first logged on it was 2 red bars only.Its weird to me. I will open the back and look for wifi card. Does it look flat like the size of a small graham cracker?



I've never heard of a virus messing with a wifi signal. They will flood your available bandwidth depending on the malware type, but I've never heard or seen one actually decreasing signal strength.

In my experience the most likely cause would be other networks around you. You can download a program called Network Stumbler and that will show you all the other wifi in your area. If theres a bunch of networks on channel 6 or whatever, switch your gear to a different whole channel. When I setup Cisco wireless VOIP phones I always have to do a site survey and make sure to setup the equipment on the least used channel.

There is a small chance your wifi antenna in your notebook is broken. They are in the half with the monitor and the actual wifi card is inside the keyboard half. Actually that reminds me, most notebook internal wifi cards have a plug that goes to the antenna. They are just press fit and could pop out... Might just be a matter of opening a panel on the bottom of the machine and pressing the plug back in..... anyway, my original thought was that the antenna being in the monitor part of the laptop there is a cable that flexes every time you open and close the lid. In rare instances (I think maybe two times I've ever seen in my entire life... and I do this stuff for a living :)) the cable has broken. If the machine is still under warranty they will repair it. Its not too hard to fix yourself (if you can get a replacement flat cable) but the parts are tiny and you have to really take your time.

You can always pick up a cheap USB wireless adapter and give it a shot. I think they are only a few bucks these days... or if your notebook has a plug for an external antenna (tiny brass circle, ~2mm in diameter) you can get one fairly cheap as well.

If all this doesn't work and you need that higher speed you can always get an additional access point or repeater.

At any rate, how fast is your internet connection? If thats all you use wireless for and the wireless connection to your router is faster than your max internet speed its not really an issue, save for latency if you are gaming on it.

[Bryan Morgan]

Thanks for the info. When I open my Del Wireless WLAN utility. It shows the networks around. Theres 5 others. Mine is very strong others are red except one. On that utility tab theres a diagnostic test, I ran it and it said it was running fine. It discinnect me from the network and then puts me back on , when it added me back on it was full green again but when I first logged on it was 2 red bars only.Its weird to me. I will open the back and look for wifi card. Does it look flat like the size of a small graham cracker?

I've seen the cards a little bigger than a postage stamp to about the size of a business card. People are often intimidated by the insides of their computers but as long as you pay attention and are gentle with everything you will be fine. Just make sure whatever you do, unplug the machine first and also take out the battery. You shouldn't have to remove the entire back of the case, just one of the small covers. Behind them you will typically find you RAM modules, a hard drive, and any extras like wifi adapters. Look close and make sure everything is plugged in tight. For the wireless card itself, it will either have the whole card pressing into a small "socket", the card will be clamped/screwed in and a small plastic "plug" with a bunch of wires will be going to it, or a combination of the above. The antenna can also be a separate wire, usually a little thicker than the rest and pressed into a small brass "socket" If everything is tight and you still aren't getting the signal you want, if your laptop has an external antenna connector you could try that, or just pick up a cheap USB wifi adapter and give it a shot.

Heres a couple gut shots I found of different internal adapters, notice the antenna wires with the brass ends:

DO NOT follow the writing on this image, its just a pic of a Dell for reference:

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/images/dell-inspiron-8600-wireless-card.jpg

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/images/Dell-Latitude-D500-disassembly/remove-motherboard-08.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y7xFGh9f2ak/SV8lI_fKG8I/AAAAAAAAAGs/cbt-zo-QYwQ/s320/miniPCIe.JPG

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/images/HP-530-Notebook-PC/remove-top-cover-06.jpg

http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/2272.jpeg

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/directron/laptopdiy12.jpg

This one is under the keyboard:

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/images/Fujitsu-Lifebook-S2020.jpg