Cable internet connection through router drops when adding a laptop

Geryth

Honorable
Feb 18, 2014
6
0
10,510
I have this weird issue that I can't seem to resolve, and linksys wants me to pay them for support since my product is out of warranty, so I was hoping to get some help on this. I had a DSL internet connection that I had setup on this router and it worked perfectly fine for years. I recently just changed ISP's to a cable provider.

I made all the router setup changes outlined in this linksys kb article: http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/ukp.aspx?pid=80&app=vw&vw=1&login=1&json=1&docid=0ff4c94586a345d082828ec2161aaecf_3686.xml

And it worked just fine. My host computer connects to the internet from the router without issue. All of my wireless devices connect to the router without issue (2 androids, a kindle, a wii, and a ps3).

But when I connect a laptop, the internet connection drops dead. I have to wait 2-5 minutes for it to restore but most of the time it doesn't restore at all and I have to powercycle the modem and router to get my internet back. I've done this by connecting wirelessly with the laptop and wired directly into the modem, and both have the same results - the connection drops.

It's weirder though because when I wire in the laptop, and the connection dies, and I power cycle, the connection is restored - even for my laptop. When I start using the internet on my laptop (loading a youtube video for instance), it'll work for 30 seconds to 1 minute and the internet will then cut dead as usual. If I powercycle and restore the internet, it'll be up and running just fine until I start putting traffic through the laptop before it'll die again. Very odd to me.

Mid-post update: I'm at work with said laptop and my wife is texting me saying she's having issues at home now without the laptop, the connection lasts 20-30 seconds and drops dead on each powercycle so maybe it wasn't specifically the laptop causing the problem. I've googled and read all I can on this, and I don't see where setup is the issue at this point.

I found this post that sounds really similar to my issue: http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-45038-internet-disconnects-when-2nd-user-is-on

The top answer there says to use a crossover cable to connect the modem to the router. Would that help me in my situation you think? I don't want to spend money if I don't have to. . .

Any ideas?
 

Geryth

Honorable
Feb 18, 2014
6
0
10,510
More info:

Router is a Cisco Linksys WRT54G2 router (firmware is up to date. . .because there's not a single firmware download available from the linksys website)

Modem is a Cisco DPC3208.

I think my issue is that I just have too slow of a router for this connection. My speedtest results go as high as 55mbps, my DSL modem was only 6mbps.

When I set up the router and the modem, everything worked just fine. My wireless devices had internet connection, and my wired computers had internet connection. The reason I thought my laptop was the problem was because everytime I powercycled the modem and router to restore connectivity, I was testing the connection on my laptop by loading up a 20 minute youtube video at 1080p, and after 1-2 minutes the connection would drop. I found this to the case on any device, not just the laptop, that if I started putting heavy traffic the connection would drop. If I didn't do anything requiring heavy traffic, such as web-browsing, the connection remained strong and stable on all devices and would last for hours or however long it was until a device started downloading or streaming something large. I don't think there's anything wrong with my router setup, and I don't think there's anything wrong with setup on any of my devices, it's just that this router can't handle 30-50mpbs running through it for more than 2 minutes straight.

So, I've purchased a new router which hopefully will be delivered here by Friday or Monday, and I'll let ya'll know if that made any difference. For now my old ISP is still delivering connectivity so I'm back to my old setup which is working as fine as it always had in the past, and I'll revisit when my new router comes.