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View Full Version : problem with Laptop+ Router (each works well individually)


eisanm
10-24-2005, 06:24 PM
Hello,

I have a networking problem. I will try to describe it.

I have a d-link di-604 router (4 ports, NOT wireless), which normally works well, connected to our ADSL modem and to 3 stationary PC's and/or laptops (the other people change their computers from time to time).

It's connected 24/7 to the internet and the connection is always stable.

I also have a laptop, a Dell Latitude c500, with which I have been trying to play poker lately.

When I connect my laptop to the router, using the same cable and port as with my stationary computer, strange things happen. (I did turn off the laptop & router before changing any cables).

I can use the internet and everything seems to work just fine, but then after a while (it usually takes 20-30 minutes) I no longer have internet access. This is true for all the computers and not only the laptop itself, so it must be a problem with the router, caused somehow by the laptop (since everything works well otherwise).

If I reboot the router, by pulling its power cable and reinserting it, everything will once again work fine for a while, then disconnect just like before.

Rebooting the laptop will not help at all in the same situation.


Other interesting things:
The laptop works well when directly connected to another PC (with just a cable, and no router/switch). I've played games with it, and transferred files this way without trouble.

The laptop also works well when connected directly to the ADSL modem (again, without any router in between) and I can use the internet without interruption this way.

My laptop uses winxp professional, whereas my stationary pc (using same port/cable) uses win2k. Could this be a problem? I've had the same problems when connecting the laptop to the 4th port of the router with its own cable.
The other computers use anything from win98 to winxp repectively.


My description ends here. I think I have got it all written down.

Does anyone have a suggestion or idea as to what might cause this problem and how to solve it?

I think an interesting thing especially is the fact that just rebooting the router will reset the connection and make it work for a while. I can do this as many times as I want by pulling the cable and reinserting it and it will keep working for a while. I feel that it cannot be good for the router to do so, however, and it also won't help when disconnected from a poker table even if it takes at most 60 seconds to do on every disconnect.

Oh, yes I might add a few more facts.

I have owned this laptop for about one year and until now I used to never connect it to the internet, so therefor I have no security installed and I have nearly never performed a virus scan or similar thing on it.

It was bought from ebay by my father and came with windows etc installed and I have never cleaned it since. So just about anything could actually be inside my laptop without me knowing it.

I performed a virus scan online at:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
which found nothing.

I then performed a scan for spyware at:
http://www.zonelabs.com/
which found the following:
(please look it up if you intend to help me)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b98/bfjak/spyware.jpg

Quite a lot. I don't know if these are dangerous but I sure don't want them.

send_the_msg
10-24-2005, 07:00 PM
since the problem is almost certainly in the router, i would start by reloading the firmware on it. type 192.168.0.1 into your webbrowser and find the firmware tab and i think they should have an option to reload the original firmware from when you bought it.

send_the_msg
10-24-2005, 07:04 PM
http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=966&question=DI-604%20/%20DI-614+%20/%20DI-624%20/%20DI-754%20/%20DI-764%20/%20DI-774%20/%20DI-604_revE%20/%20%20DI-614+_revB%20/%20DI-624_revC%20/%20DI-774_revB%20/%20DI-704UP%20/%20DI-714P+%20/%20DI-624S

that link should help you out

eisanm
10-24-2005, 08:00 PM
Hello again.

Thank you for the replies I got so far.

I've been looking around for a few hours now, mostly by searching these forums for similar posts, things about internet security, and then following links from these posts.

I've performed 3 different online scans for virus/spyware,
downloaded Zonealarm (the most basic, free version) and Ad-Aware, run both of them.

Ad-Aware let me remove all the spyware that the online Zonelabs scan detected, and also found some other things.

Now when I run the scan it only finds a few tracking cookies, which are probably re-put there because of the sites I'm currently visiting.

I have now been online for about 72 minutes without interruption, which is a longer time than ever before with my laptop, so I feel very positive about it.

I will try using it to play poker again and see if it works. If it starts having problems again I will get back here.

I'll have to surf actively for at least a few hours to know how stable my connection actually is, so for that purpose poker is perfect. But now it's late at night and I have to sleep.

So I'll try if I can find the time tomorrow.

eisanm
10-25-2005, 01:58 PM
Today it crashed again, so obviously it was not fixed as I thought yesterday.

Since then I have also been able to upgrade the firmware of the router and now I'm trying to use it again.

We shall see what comes next.
Someone suggested that I take my laptop to a friend's home and connect it there, and see if it works. If it does, then I need to change my router. If not, then I need to do something about my laptop and its network card.

FouTight
10-25-2005, 02:06 PM
Seriously dude, I could probably help you, but that other dude is going to have to fix that damn link so I can read what you are asking, i'm not going to spend time reading all of this mess with that damn link.

eisanm
10-25-2005, 02:14 PM
It's a link to a firmware update for the DI-604 router.
I couldn't download the firmware on that specific link since I'm in Europe, but through that site I found the European site where I got a European firmware update.

What about the link, anyway? It's not a big part of this problem, is it? And I could click it, so why can't you?

No offense here, I just think I don't really understand your reasoning as to why the link has any effect on your ability to help me out.

Thank you anyways,

eisanm

FouTight
10-25-2005, 03:10 PM
I can't read your orginal post with any amount of ease because his link is like a mile and a half long.

eisanm
10-25-2005, 04:13 PM
I'm still not sure what you mean, but here's a link to my original post if you have trouble finding it.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=3763415&page=0&view=c ollapsed&sb=5&o=

It's on the first or second page of the Computer Tech forum,

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=techhelp

eisanm
10-25-2005, 04:16 PM
I've upgraded the firmware for the router as I said earlier. Since then I have had less problems but still it does disconnect, it just seems to take longer time before it does. As an example, I've been able to use the internet for up to 60 minutes several times now, before getting disconnected, whereas earlier it usually took 20-30 minutes.

Anyway, a friend suggested that there may be a hardware problem with my network card and he suggested buying a new PCMCIA Ethernet card for 25$-35$ something.

I am considering this since it sounds like a fair and time-saving solution, when compared to other possibilities.

Another option is to take my laptop to a friend's home and connect it to his router (a different brand) and see if it works there or not.