Hey guys, Im having some really annoying problems with my laptop and the internet connection. Every now and again the connection will drop for any period of time, sometimes just a couple of minutes, sometimes hours. It stays connected to the wifi, but it says no internet access. I know the internet is ok as i can browse on my phone whilst my laptop is saying no access. And everyone else in the house dont have these intermittent problems.

Anyone have any ideas?

Phones tend to be better at picking up weak wifi signals than laptops.

Try moving your router on to different frequency, in your typical street most routers will be on channel 1

if you have an android phone download the Android app Wifi Analyzer it will let you see what channels your neighbours are using pick free one such as channel 8 and see what happens. It will also let you find wifi weak spots in your routers coverage.

I may also be a DNS proble try setting your router or laptop to use to the Google DNS server pair 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 see http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

what laptop+operating system+wifi driver do you have?

[Edited on 13/10/11 by monkeyarms]

Cheers trident, downloading the app now. How do you go about changing the channel the router is on?

Its wierd because the whole signal is not dropping, the taskbar is still showing the network on 4 bars, but it had the little yellow alert triangle thing in front of it, and when you hover over it, it says the network, but then under the network it says no internet access.


Monkeyarms: Its an acer 7535 running windows 7 and the control panel is saying Atheros AR5B91 Wireless Network Adaptor.

Ok, make sure you have latest driver for wireless adapter.

I was just asking as I see a few people with old laptops that struggle on wireless, the it is a different kettle of fish to sort

ok ive updated the driver now so hopefully that will help

Also change the wifi channel on the router, my netbook sometimes plays games and i found changing this sorted it out. I think my router has 14 channels, just pick any of them and trial.

this doesnt sound like a wifi issue, more an ADSL/connection problem

like you say, your wifi is staying at 4 bars, but the yellow warning triangle warns you of no internet connection - as such you have a perfectly fine wifi connection.

its sounds like your ADSL is dropping out - next time it happens, have a look at the router, it should have a light on it that reports if the internet is working, alternatively try a cable for a few hours - if you still have problems you can guarentee its not your wifi

have you restarted the router lately?

yeh i dont think that it is the wifi as such, and think its more a problem with my laptop for whatever reason.

Mike, is there anything i can do if it is an ADSL problem?
And i have restarted the router every now and again when the connection drops.

If as you say in your first post, your phone and other computers are ok when the laptop disconnects, then this points to the laptop being the problem.

I would try using the laptop wired and see if that works, if it does then it narrows it down to a wireless problem.

Then I would try booting from a Linux live CD to see if the wireless works, this will establish if the hardware is ok.
Try Linux Ubuntu it is very easy, download, burn to cd then boot from cd. It is tempory and simple. Surf the net for a while to see if it is stable.

If the above shows that the hardware is faulty then some of your options i would guess are -
buy a usb wifi dongle
attempt to get laptop repaired
buy a new laptop
use wired connection

If the above shows the hardware is OK then options could be -
hunt on internet for better drivers
try windows drivers not 3rd party ones
Install and use Linux