Looking for Windows or OSX network diagnostic tools to fix internet dropping

December 20, 2008 10:01 AM

Looking for Windows or OSX network diagnostic tools. Our internet connection will drop wireless every 10-15mins...

Our internet connection will drop wireless every 10-15mins, forcing any user in the house to either 'repair' in Windows XP, restart in Windows, or turn Airport On/Off in OSX. This almost always works, but has become obviously annoying.

I have bought a new router, with the same results. Charter (cable company) has come out and said our line quality at the box and cable modem is plenty strong(not that I believe them, but that's what they claim). We use 2-3 computers daily, with Vista, XP, and OSX all with the same issue.

I've upgraded firmware on modem and router. Any other suggestions for software or solutions to try and figure out the issue?

Tech Specs:
Router: DLink WBR-2310
Modem: Linksys BEFCMU10 Ver 2

posted by dpollitt to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I'd start by trying to determine if wireless is going away completely (ie, the AP is just wigging out completely) or if there's something happening at the TCP/IP layer instead. Are any of the boxes hardwired, and if they are, do they lose internet connectivity at the same time?

That everyone in the house is getting smacked at once is odd for sure. For the Mac, I'd look in /var/log/system.log to see if anything useful shows up there.

Are you using any sort of security? Is there a possibility that you've got a neighbor with the same SSID and channel?
posted by jquinby at 10:15 AM on December 20, 2008

Here's some things you could try:

Change the wireless channel in case you're getting interference from something
Set the router to G only (not G+B)
Temporarily unplug all wireless phones to see if they're interfering
Get the updated drivers for all your wireless adapters
Make sure your router password isn't the default password
Enable WPA (not WEP) security
posted by sharkfu at 10:44 AM on December 20, 2008

I'm not sure how to answer your first question. I do not have any machines hardwired currently, but when I have done that in the past, it didn't seem that they had the same issue. If they did I think the internet might have only dropped for a few seconds then started back up right away so it was pretty unnoticeable, unlike wireless where you have to restart the connection once its dropped.

I am using wireless channel 1, WPA, TKIP/Personal, auto channel scan, wireless G mode. No special router firewall settings or software firewalls besides Windows Firewall.

I'm testing hardwire connection to OSX right now to see if I can see it drop.
posted by dpollitt at 10:48 AM on December 20, 2008

I would guess that the problem is in the wireless router.

To test the external connection, you really need to split the router and modem apart. I'd hook up the OSX box straight to the cable modem. Once you can get to the net, open a Terminal session and ping you default gateway for a while. I'd use this command.

"ping -A UR.GA.TW.AY" where "UR.GA.TW.AY " is the ip address of your gateway. The -A means "Beep if you don't get a packet back before you send the next one." Note that's a Capital A, -a means "beep on every reply", which isn't what you want.

Ping for an hour. If you here beeps, you're getting packet loss. If not, the cable modem and internet connection are fine.

Given that you have multiple workstations, and they all have the same problem, that would leave the wireless router as the most likely source. First, see if there's a firmware update, if so, apply and try again. If the probem reoccurs, buy a new router.

Personally, I no longer use Dlink, Belkin or Linksys routers. I know guys using Cisco 600 and 800 series routers, and others using the Apple Airport Extreme. What they've found is they don't have these sorts of problems anymore. Yes, they are more expensive. I've also found that they don't fail nearly as much, so over the long haul, you spend less money.

Then again, this is one of the things I do for a living, so I don't want to spend time doing the same stuff at home. Just me.
posted by eriko at 11:24 AM on December 20, 2008

Tools: Ping is always your friend. On the mac, AP Grapher is very handy for detecting wireless dropouts and noise bursts -- make sure you graph signal, noise and signal-to-noise.

On a packet level, tcpdump comes with OS X and is free, Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) is available on almost every platform. However, these are powerful tools aimed at network admins and network developers, they require a pretty solid understand of network protocols to use well.

When the network dies, quickly run ifconfig (in the Terminal of OS X) or ipconfig (on the command line in Windows) and see if you still have an IP address. If not, or if it's changed to 169.254.XXX.XXX, then you have a problem with DHCP. If so, two things: 1) You have two DHCP servers on your net, this is wrong, or 2) Whatever is doing DHCP for you is broken, most likely this is the wireless router.
posted by eriko at 11:29 AM on December 20, 2008

I think youre confusing two very different concepts:

1. Internet connectivity.

2. Network/LAN connectivity.

Number one is your connection to the internet. It is not your wireless. It is not your router. It is the line provided by your ISP. The best way to test this to to get off the wireless and plug in with an ethernet cable and try to surf or ping a site.

If the drop outs happen while plugged into the wired connection then its your ISPs problem. It is not a wireless issue.


If the drop outs dont happen when you use wired then it its a wireless problem. The easiest thing to try is a different wireless channel. There are three non-overlapping wireless channels in wifi 1, 6, and 11. If you are 6 then try 1 or 11. Search your home for cordless phones and other devices. These often interfere with wireless. Unplug them and see if it continues.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:46 PM on December 20, 2008