Smc7804wbra - Problems With Wireless Connection To Desktop

[grahamb]

I've been a generally happy user of an SMC7804WBRA Barricade ADSL modem/wireless router that I bought in late 2004 based on the recommendations here. In my last 2 apartments, it has lived next to the phone line which was a few meters from the PC so I used a wired connection for my desktop (HP Pavillion for the last 12 months, home-build PC from China before that; both running WinXP with all Service Packs and patches). My work laptop (IBM Thinkpad T43) connected via WPA-PSK without any problems.

We moved to a new apartment where the TRUE phone line is in the living room but the computer is set up in the bedroom, 10m down the hallway. Instead of running a long cable for the kids to trip over, I decided we'd go wireless for the desktop. First I bought a Linksys 802.11g PCI card and fitted that to the desktop. That didn't work well so I bought a Belkin 802.11g USB adapter which suffered the same problem: whenever I have the security set to WPA-PSK, the router doesn't assign an IP address automatically. I have DHCP enabled and normally there is no problem with my Thinkpad. When I realised it was the IP address allocation that may be causing the problem, I assigned an IP address manually in the desktop PC. I made sure it was an IP address within the range used by the router but it was far enough through the range that the router would never assign that address to anything else connected to it. With the Linksys card, the problem reduced a bit - it would connect for a few seconds but then drop again. With the Belkin adapter, it gets connected to the router with the assigned IP address but still doesn't get a connection to the internet.

To simplify the connection, I turned off all security and the connection to the router and internet worked correctly (with the Belkin - the Linksys card is disabled and I've not tried re-enabling it to check with that). I tried turning on WEP security but the problem reappeared - I got a variable connection to the router and no connection to the internet. I turned off WEP and also turned off the SSID but the Belkin adapter had difficulty connecting to the router. Turning on SSID and enabling MAC filtering allowed me to get connected with a very basic level of security but it's not as much as I would like. If I add any more security, my internet connection drops...

I know that the internet connection is OK because I can get connected with my Thinkpad and the desktop when security is turned off. I noticed that the Thinkpad seems to take longer to connect to the router in this apartment than it used to but I've got no way of proving it - maybe I'm just more sensitive to the fact that things aren't connecting smoothly!

The signal strength in the bedroom isn't great because of the way the walls are arranged near the router and desktop so the Linksys card may be having problems due to that. The Belkin adapter is on a cable though so I've moved it to a point where it says it is getting relatively good signal strength (3 out of 5 bars when my Thinkpad shows a 'Very Good' connection in the same place) but the problems are still there.

Moving back to a wired connection isn't really an option because I'm also planning to set up a second desktop in another room (which is where the Belkin adapter will ultimately be used). Is anyone else having problems using an SMC Barricade with Belkin or Linksys equipment? Any suggestions on how I can get WPA-PSK security back and still maintain the internet connection? Is it just the modem/router reaching the end of its natural life?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[lopburi3]

Have you installed the latest software for the SMC? It seems to update well so would not fear it too much - even updated OK to a non wi-fi version (operated fine on land lines). That said, I have gone back to using hard lines myself. Had one of two Toshiba laptops not want to make connection on a regular basis from its normal location so bought 20 meter extensions for them rather than use the wi-fi feature (or have to walk around to get the connection established). Have two intermittent use computers in the house that still use wi-fi and they seem to be able to work OK.

I suspect the modem is indeed getting long on the tooth; but it refuses to die.

Could be you have local interference so you might try setting the channel to several set numbers for awhile to see if that helps. It didn't help me but in an apartment it could be your problem.

[grahamb]

Thanks for the suggestions

Have you installed the latest software for the SMC?

I updated the firmware from 0.84 to 0.85 2-3 years ago and that's still the latest one listed on the SMC website.

Could be you have local interference so you might try setting the channel to several set numbers for awhile to see if that helps. It didn't help me but in an apartment it could be your problem.

I thought that may be part of the problem and I've changed to a channel that none of the neighbouring networks are using. It did seem to improve the signal (less interference I guess) but didn't resolve the problem.

May be time for me to start researching modem/routers...

[lopburi3]

Just found an error on my part - thought you were talking about the SMC 7904WBRA rather than the 7804

I recall threads here only on the 7904 model - which is what I have and uses different software. Sorry.