SIGNAL STRENGTH CONUMDRUM

[edwardudell]

Hello,

For many months my laptop has had no problem picking up a signal from a wireless router about 30 feet away. But today signal strength low, until Imoved my lap top to within 10 feet of router, then signal strength becomes "good". Meanwhile, another laptop 80 feet away from router has no problem picking up signal. Why is this happening all of a sudden?

Thanks for any help.

 

[RealBeast]

Probably some interference on the 2.4GHz range -- run inSSIDer (free program) and see if there are other networks on the same wireless channel. You can change your wireless router channel to another that is not being used nearby.

 

[edwardudell]

Realbeast, thank you for your reply.

I downloaded and ran inSSIDer. No other networks seem to be on my wireless channel. So I guess that's not the problem.

Could it be that my laptop is suddenly receiving the signal less well than it did, and then falsely reporting that as a weak signal? And in reality, the signal is perhaps not weak, but the receiver in my computer suddenly got weak? As I mentioned, there is another laptop in the house that seems to be having no problems picking up the wireless signal, even when that other laptop is a lot farther away from the router than is my laptop.

 

[RealBeast]

Other than just a problem with the wireless adapter on the problem computer, it could be other sources of radio interference. But since you moved your laptop near to the router and the other picked a signal up at great distance, it may be a problem with the adapter on the problem computer. If you run inSSIDer from the problem machine, what strength signal does it show for your network?

 

[edwardudell]

Realbeast,
I don't see in inSSIDer 2.1 where I can check signal strength.

 

[RealBeast]

In the bottom panel of the display, the 2.4GHz tab will show the network signal strength for each channel. Also in the top panel, the RSSI will give you the relative signal strength for each network.

 

[edwardudell]

In the bottom panel, the vertical axis says the amplitude is about minus 80 -- and along the horizontal axis, my network goes from below 1 to about 4. Not sure if that's to do with signal strength.

 

[RealBeast]

Those are radio channels 1-3 and that is a pretty weak signal if you are anywhere near your wireless router. Does your other computer show a stronger signal?

 

[elvisruns]

I've got the same problem right now and found this thread. Both mine and wife's laptop sitting about 3-4 feet apart, and are about as remote from our router (ASUS RT N56U) as we can be - radially about 45-50 feet, with four walls diagonally in between. Neither of us had any problems with web page loading, and suddenly about two weeks ago mine just gets hung up trying to load pages. Sometimes it will load them after two or three minutes, but often it just sits unable to load. Reception bars in the lower right went from 4 or 5 down to 3. My wife's laptop hasn't experienced any degradation of signal, and I've had to move closer to the router. Not sure what happened that the signal loss is only on my end. I've tried a few one-by-one changes with the router - channels, switching from 2.4 to 5, etc. Nothing seems to have improved.
I also see that inSSIDer isn't downloadable unless you go in for $10/month. Is there another program that will do the same or do I need to focus on my network adapter (Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2200). I've updated the driver, and that hasn't helped either.

Thanks for any ideas.