What router will KEEP a connection? I can't even play games now! advice plz WRT54GS

What router will KEEP a connection? I can't even play games now! advice plz WRT54GS

Hello everyone.

I bought a WRT54GS wireless router (I wanted a D-Link but there was none avaiable at Wal-mart and I needed a router fast.)

I was at my old apartment and my roommate set up everything, he didn't use the cd's at all (I tried the CD it also doesn't work, saying some crap about my router not being supported?) Anyways the router worked fine at the apartment (we had 2 computers, 1 wired, the other wireless (mine was the wireless computer)). THe connection would drop SOMTIMES but it was because of my roommmate downloading 2 much stuff but when he wasn't screwing it up because of his torrents I could play online games just fine with no disconnects.

But when I brought it home, it was a different story, i can connect to the router fine but the connection drops on ALL the computers constantly even when I try to download a simple file.

Anywho I'm online but I can't stay online, like another poster said, he gets disconnected from the router about 10 times in an hour.

I'm having the same issues, I cant play any games online now nor can I download anything that takes longer than 5 mins because my router just stops working and resets the connection really fast. Somtimes it does it so fast I don't even notice I'm disconnected unless I'm in a game which it happens within 5 mins of the game I get server lost error.

My question is, do I have somthing screwed up in the configuration or should I buy another router?

I have the latest firmware for the LinkSys WRT54GS and it seems more than I am having this issue.

Any adivce on how I can configure this router to not keep dropping my connections would be great.

I wasn't sure if I should post in someone else's thread or start my own so I started my own, mods if you think this is very similar you can combine the threads.


PS: I have 1 computer wired into the router using Visita, I have 1 desktop using XP using the wireless, i have a xp laptop also using the wireless. These computers arn't running any type of torrents either. The connection willl drop when I'm just downloading somthing simple or playing a game even when all the other computers are turned off! It doesn't matter what computer it is, the router just screws up, weither it be wired or wireless connection. I would like to keep the same firmware and not use a 3rd party if its possible because I talked to tech support and they told me that would screw my warrienty.

My parents actually bought the same exact router as I currently have (LInksys WRT54GS) so I could just take back that one and get a different one if it comes down to it and leave my parents with this one that constantly breaks when I go back to my apartment for the spring semester. (they said it works fine for them because they don't online game or download anything.

UPDATE:
After hours of tech support talk they concluded my router is faulty (they said if the firmware upgrade didn't work then the hardware is bad) but I have a feeling if I opened up that brand new router under the x-mas tree of the same type I'm going to have the EXACT same issues. Oh well, still up for any advice on how to fix this because I really don't think its bad hardware if it was working fine before I brought it here.

THanks guys!

The hardware could have been marginal to begin with..you said it would drop connections at the apt, so I would conclude that the router is bad. I have the slowest dsl available, and I never have any droped connections through my router..and mine is the cheapest one on the planet $29.00 or so.
Replace the router and I think you will be fine.
Doc

a router that will keep a connection.... Linksys WRT54GL.... i have had mine plugged in for over a year without a single problem running the stock firmware.

You might try DD-WRT see if it helps.

Yay, I'm not the only one.

Anywho I'm online but I can't stay online, like another poster said, he gets disconnected from the router about 10 times in an hour.

Click to expand...

Nope, I said every minute and I'm not kidding either I'm confused though, I've been maxing out my connection all night without any disconnects today, but I know for a fact it'll go all screwy again.

Good luck.

Did you have the same firmware at your appt as at home? Maybe the old stuff works better than the new stuff. Companies screw up sometimes.

Other than that I would have no Idea. Wireless internet has so many variables when dealing with connections, its insane. And yet, I am switching over to it for our house because My room is upstairs and the modem is down. Wish me luck!

If your replacement doesnt work, try getting a buffalo and flashing it with tomato/dd-wrt. If that doesn't work, you might have some sort of interference that is messing with the wireless.

GUYS!

I think its fixed it. Okay so after calling my cable company (because LINKSYS was no help) they told me to shut down the computer completely take out everything from the cable modem and router and leave it alone for 10 mins. Then place the cable back in wait 30 seconds, place the power back in wait 30 seconds, then start hooking up the linksys router.

I had to reset the linksys router to system defaults, then clone the mac address, upgrade to the latest firmware and now it works fine! (I think) I can now download things and it not reset but the real test is going to be when I go upstairs and try to join Call of Duty 4 or War in conflict if it can keep a connection without dropping me within 5 mins its fixed! I'll try later today and let you guys know.

So it wasn't the router at all it seems, it was my CABLE modem (which also is a Linksys) which was the issue. It just needed a reset and let alone for 10 mins not just 30 seconds I guess after taking everything off it.

Hope it helps other people.

Interesting...

Customer support that actually helps!

Glad you got it working!

Half my customer support calls goes like this:


Turn your PC Off
*shuts down*
Oay it's off,
No it's not wait for it..
Yes it is ...
Oo.. okay then..


They seem to question me alot >_>

i bet you what the problem was, was you didnt clone the mac address. many cable companies block connections that arent on their mac address list. i know when i tried a new router on my setup, i couldnt connect at all. had to clone it.

no I had it cloned before, the problem was my router couldn't find the IP address of my modem and linksys said oh somthing is wrong with your cable modem, not the wireless router until I told them the modem is also a linksys. Then they said they would call me back which they didn't.

It didn't matter how many times I unhooked everything, when I rehooked it up like the linksys people told me the wirleess router still wouldnt show an IP address just 0.0.0.0 so when I called the cable company they told me to unhook everything and leave it unhooked and the computer shut off for 10 mins after doing that everything was fine.
The Linksys people told me the same thing as my cable company (like clone the mac address, etc) the only difference was the amount of time I kept the thing unhooked and I also shut down the computer. Not sure why 10 mins made it work but 30 seconds didn't oh well I'm just glad Its working!

I think the original problem I had with the router I brought from my old apartment to this one was it was configured to another cable modem (I kept the same settings and everything worked fine so I thought everything was great until I noticed it couldn't keep a stable connection, they then told me it was bad hardware.)

After looking back on it, i bet it wasn't bad hardware at all, I just had to do the 10 minute unhook after setting the firmware back to factory settings thing and I'm sure it would have worked fine.

I now can play online games as well and I havnt had any issues getting disconnected! yay. Now I have to still buy another wireless router for when I go down to my apartment but I might just order the linksys that is working fine at this house unless someone has a better suggestion.

Thanks!

There is no need to clone the MAC.

Common procedure (works with most US cable high speed systems)

Connect everything.

Reset the router to default settings

Unplug the power for the modem, wait 5-10 sec

Turn the modem on, *wait for it to sync up*

Unplug the power for the router, wait 5 sec

Turn the router on

Now you should be able to connect to the router and first thing you need to do is update firmware.

Don't forget to secure your network.

PS what modem do you have (what version, check the bottom of the modem) ?