May 14: Driving Me Crazy!

Many months ago, when I first bought the old server, I decided I would need to get some network connectivity sorted out for it because the noise it makes is ridiculous. Personally, I don't mind it that much, but not everyone feels the same way so it was only fair for it to live in the downstairs bedroom. Unfortunately, it's not much of an office space and it feels even more anti-social spending loads of time down there, never mind being on a computer at the weekends ;-)

First I tried a carefully selected and purchased wireless adaptor because I knew I might struggle to get wireless working under Linux. I was right about that. Then my mate Dave suggested an Ethernet-to-Wireless adaptor which was a simplistic dream for as long as it worked. I've been using that since but the truth is that it drops the connection incredibly frequently - sometimes after 12 seconds (I jest. I'm not timing things that carefully), sometimes after a couple of hours. To be honest, the former is more common. I'm embarassed as a supposed techie how long I've put up with this and just, kind of, you know, hoped it would cure itself, as if by magic. Shameful. It demonstrates I can be incredibly patient, though ;-)

I've reached the end of my tether now and if anyone has any ideas how I might diagnose and fix this problem, feel welcome to venture them now before I start running Cat 5 cable down the staircase.

Thanking you in anticipation!
Posted by Doug Burns Comments: (14) Trackback: (1)

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#1 - Thomas Presslie said:
2006-05-14 03:49 - (Reply)

Try this

#2 - Thomas Presslie said:
2006-05-14 03:58 - (Reply)

Forgot to mention, that I do that cable thing from the router in my hall into my machines in my attick. It's not so bad if you as long as it is not a tripping hazzard. I have recently been spending a lot of time in my kitchen so I have taken it down just now, but there is no substitute for a good cable.

#3 - Anonymous 2006-05-14 04:10 - (Reply)

Teresa Tull from the US said...
I also have a wireless that never stayed connected. I ended up running cable to the wireless router. That works quite well but I drilled small holes through the floor and ran the cable through my basement.

#4 - Pete_S said:
2006-05-14 10:00 - (Reply)

I use to run a four-port Linksys wireless router (fixed cables between the machines in the study/office/den and wireless to where I wanted to sit (which could be in the garden)

#5 - kurt said:
2006-05-14 10:03 - (Reply)

I have an wireless and ethernet-over-powerline network. The EOP works quite well :
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/XE102.php

#6 - William Robertson said:
2006-05-14 18:49 - (Reply)

Does the wireless device have a choice of channels? Wild guess, but I had trouble with my Apple Airport Extreme connection until I found out about changing the channel. Neighbouring wireless systems or household appliances could be causing interference.

EOP sounds cool though.

#7 - Howard J. Rogers said:
2006-05-14 22:08 - (Reply)

Whatever you do, do NOT buy into that Netgear EoP stuff that someone else cited.

That particular flavour of EoP is first generation, claims 14mbps speeds, and delivers more like sub 1mbps.

A new generation is already out that claims 85Mbps, and delivers something near 50Mbps. And a further refinement is in the works that claims 200Mbps, and delivers over 100Mbps -at which point, Ethernet-over-Powerlines will finally be delivering something approximating traditional home wired network performance and will definitely be worth a look.

The 85Mbps stuff might even be worth a look for you now, because it delivers speeds at least as good as 802.11g wireless networking. I've mentioned them before, but http://www.netcomm.com.au/Networking/eop.php look good, though I've not tried them myself. Netgear also have an 85Mbps offering (see http://tinyurl.com/z68ce for details, though whether you'll find any of these with Scottish-style plugs, who knows!!)

#8 - Doug Burns said:
2006-05-14 23:00 - (Reply)

Thanks for all of the tips (and others should feel free to add more). It would be ideal if I could locate the router where the server is because nothing else seems to struggle with it's connection, but there's no ADSL line down there.

I've also considered mains-based networking before but I'm not convinced just how our strange little old Edinburgh place is wired and, as it's rented, drilling holes is out of the question.

I'll keep thinking about it and may just run a cable, but I'll blog about whatever I decide regardless. I have to come up with something, because the current state of affairs is putting me off playing with the server :-(

#9 - Alex Gorbachev said:
2006-05-15 09:33 - (Reply)

I found that fixing my wireless speed on something lower than maximum helps a lot in stability. I usualy keep my WiFi speed at 11 or 5 Mbit instead of 54. Makes the difference.
If I need a high throughput stable connection with good response - nothing to win against cable so I always have one spare.
The biggest problem with cables is my darling as she hates my cables with a passion when I stretch them through the whole flat. :-)

#10 - Doug Burns said:
2006-05-15 19:52 - (Reply)

Alex,

"I found that fixing my wireless speed on something lower than maximum helps a lot in stability. "

Thanks for that. Reducing everything to 802.11b has done the trick (well, I should be careful what I say and keep my fingers crossed, but it's looking good). I can't believe I didn't try that but, who cares ;-) If it keeps me going until I make a firm decision on the way forward, then you've saved me a *lot* of pain. You could say I'm grateful ;-)

Cheers,

Doug

#11 - Doug Burns said:
2006-05-15 21:17 - (Reply)

Spoke too soon :-(

Must have been one of those lucky nights. It's not any more.

#12 - Alex Gorbachev said:
2006-05-15 22:56 - (Reply)

:-(
Does ya neighbour happen to have dinner at that time?
I mean he might be using his microwave during that time.

#13 - UNIXSYSTEMS said:
2006-05-18 19:15 - (Reply)

I used a first generation wireless PCMCIA card in my laptop when I used to sleep in that room and never had a problem with connectivity. I've got the same wireless hub and I've found that the position it's sited in with relation to router makes a big difference. You should move it around a bit to see if it improves. How technical is that ;-)

#14 - Anonymous 2006-05-19 00:36 - (Reply)

CAT-5 just has to be the way to go - I got so fed up running cables around the house, that when we renovated (big, big renovation), I ended up flood wiring the place with structured cabling. 1.5km of cable later, I now have nultiple Cat5e and sat-grade coax runs in every room :-)

I've got a spare ADSL wireless router that you can have if you want to try either...
* replacing the router; or
* operating one of them in bridging mode.


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