Wireless network problems

[jakeydoo]

I got a bit of annoying problem with my wireless network which is hard to explain, but ill give it ago.

In our house we have about 4 laptops and one pc computer connected to our wireless router which is a Belkin high speed wireless G router. We also have a main computer connected via cable to the wireless router.
Our ISP is Virgin Media with 10mb connection.

The problem is that when anyone is on the internet doing general browsing etc. the connection will suddenly stop working to all devices and won’t load any more unless you take the power wires out of the modem and router to reset it.
Although the internet browsers has stopped loading pages etc. if am on Windows Live Messenger its still connected and am able to talk to people which means am still connected to the internet.

This problem can happen on all laptops and my computer 3 or 4 times a day with different internet browsers.
I only seem to get the problem when loading videos and it will stops loading, as you can imagine this is very annoying, and not too sure what’s the problem.

I hope someone can help me in this problem.

Thanks

 

[Gorman]

The problem is that when anyone is on the internet doing general browsing etc. the connection will suddenly stop working to all devices and won’t load any more unless you take the power wires out of the modem and router to reset it.
Although the internet browsers has stopped loading pages etc. if am on Windows Live Messenger its still connected and am able to talk to people which means am still connected to the internet.

This part of your description makes it sound like a DNS issue. DNS is what translates URL's (www.google.com) into the actual IP of the page (209.85.299.99 for me at the moment). This is done for obvious reasons, imagine the adverts, visit us at 194.24.251.180! Not very memorable.

Live does not use URL's so would not be affected if DNS goes down. It is most likely your router causing the issue. If you dont want to replace it you can just set a static DNS server on each device, Open DNS is good, 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220.

If the problem goes away you know its definately DNS.

 

[jakeydoo]

Is this easy to do, setting the DNS as static? As am not really up on networking too well, would it be a case of changing some setting on the router and on each on the computers?

 

[Gorman]

On each machine enter the network and sharing centre, then adaptor properties. Under IPv4 select enter a DNS server and add those address'

 

[Rakk]

Bizarrely I get something very similar about once/twice a day at the moment.
And yes I have a Virgin 10mb connection and a Belkin router (only a few months old) as well.

Though admittedly when mine goes, nothing stays connected, and in fact, my PC can't even see my router anymore, until I unplug it and re-plug it back in, so it might not be the same thing.