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Why is my wi-fi bouncing hard between strong and weak signal?

Submitted by dead_elvis on July 20, 2006 - 7:33am. Other Technology

I've had a linksys 802.11b wireless router for a few years. About 9 months ago, the signal started cycling up and down from strong to weak and back again, probably 5 seconds or so per cycle. It never did this before. The problem is that of course at the lower end of the cycle, if I'm far enough away, it means the network gets lost, which means my range is severely cut down (basically, I'm limited to being in the same room). I've changed channels (thinking it was interference), fiddled with every setting under the sun, the unit's been unplugged and reset, can't figure it out. It's strange that it never did this before. I thought maybe it was my laptop or card but just got another and same problem. Any ideas what's going on?

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Smiththers's picture

have you tried updating the R

Submitted by Smiththers on July 20, 2006 - 11:33am.

have you tried updating the Router's firmware yet?

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martakz's picture

Whats the model number of the

Submitted by martakz on July 20, 2006 - 8:52pm.

Whats the model number of the router? I recently installed a third party firmware on mine and with that you could increase the signal power.

(Btw, anyone know if its possible to use a wireless router as a glorified wifi card - to connect to another wifi network?)

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I did the firmware update, bu

Submitted by dead_elvis on July 20, 2006 - 9:11pm.

I did the firmware update, but no change in the problem. Model number is BEFW11S4, ver. 2.

I'm a little wary of solving the problem by boosting the signal, as I don't want my signal going farther than it needs to. The range isn't the problem, the problem is that the signal fluctuates so much. What's such a mystery is that it started doing this all of a sudden, with no particular changes in the household that I can recall (such as adding various appliances that might interfere) and it's behaved this way in two different residences.

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mmphosis's picture

outside interference

Submitted by mmphosis on July 20, 2006 - 9:51pm.

Perhaps, some external radio waves are interfering. An electric motor, radio transmissions, the neighbour's refridgerator? I lived near a railroad and the railway switch would interfere with things in the house. ie. remote controlled lights would go on and off.

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If I had to guess...

Submitted by bin_jammin on July 21, 2006 - 3:27am.

I'd say you have a bad capacitor on the device, something that would normally regulate signal strength, that has now gone bad. Can you take it apart and look for a popped cap?

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I have noticed that it runs r

Submitted by dead_elvis on July 21, 2006 - 10:02pm.

I have noticed that it runs really hot, and over the years I've been careless about setting things on top. It seems logical that a component might have failed. I doubt I'm going to go digging around inside though, doesn't seem worth it for a cheap router.

» "One day I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I have no idea."

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