Update Your Laptop's Wireless Network Card Drivers
Are you dropping your wireless network connection often in the library or classrooms?
Do you notice that when only a few people in your area are connected to wireless you stay connected but when lots of people are around with laptops your connection drops?
Does it seem that wireless works better at home than it does at the law school?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Errors or drop-outs can be the result of many causes, but the most probable is your laptop's wireless driver. Older drivers (such as anything dated before June 2007) were not written for Microsoft XP 2003 SP3 (not to mention Windows7) or designed to work in a multiple access point environment like our library, classrooms or public spaces, and can cause your laptop to periodically drop its link. They may work well at home or at a WIFI hotspot where only one or a few wireless devices are connected simultaneously, but once multiple points and devices are involved, they can fail...
While our Cisco wireless system is designed to work well in a large, open environment with multiple access points within range of each other and support 100+ users per AP (but we like a 24-1 ratio), your wireless network card must work effectively with it so that data will pass reliable and your link will remain stable. Also, and more importantly to your fellow students, as all wireless systems and APs operate as SHARED user resources, the inability of one wireless network card to communicate efficiently with an AP can degrade the performance of all laptops connected to the same AP.
So what can you do to make your connection more reliable?
1. Check Your Laptop's Wireless Network Card Driver Date - (Click here to see how) Having the latest driver will ensure that your card is working at its optimum efficiency. Once updated check back every few months to your laptop manufacturer's support webpage (Lenovo, Dell, etc.) to see if new updates have been released.
Please Note: Driver updates are different than the automatic Microsoft updates or Norton updates that occur in the background of your OS and usually have to be performed manually. Clicking on the "update driver" button on the driver version display page doen't usually work.
2. Make sure your wireless settings are correct - Having the correct settings will make all the difference when trying to connect to any network. Windows XP (especially Home) can change these settings on its own, which can leave you wondering what happened. Learn what the proper settings are for your laptop and how to reset them.
Here's a few hints:
a. Make sure that on your preferred wireless network list, LAW_PUBLIC is listed FIRST. If not your laptop will scan and try to connect to all network names in the list before it, in order, and most likely one of those is named Linksys or Belkin. In our part of Newark there are 3 networks within range of the law school all called Linksys. If the law school's network isn't listed first your PC will spend time trying to access them... which will slow your connect speed...
b. MAKE SURE your advanced settings are set to the 2nd button "Access point (infrastructure) networks only". This means you want to talk to APs only, and not the laptop next to you.
c. Make sure the law school's wireless network name says LAW_PUBLIC (automatic) and NOT LAW_PUBLIC (manual). Windows XP Home has a tendency to change that setting without notice (which is why it is not the PRO version), and that will block your connection. If that happens delete that preferred network entry and add it back again.
For more info on settings please visit our law helpdesk...
3. Make sure your Windows Updates are up to date. Make sure to turn on automatic updates in XP. This makes updating XP easy, especially security updates Window 7 does this automatically, but it doesn't hurt to manually run it once in awhile...
4. Keep your Anti-Spy and Anti-Virus up to date and run checks often - If your laptop suddenly "feels" different, such as Windows boots abnormally slow, programs run poorly, pop-ups occur or settings change on their own, run an Anti-spy and Anti-virus check. Spyware and malware are the most common cause of computer problems and keeping your anti-spy up to date can help you avoid trouble. If you can, set your anti-spy to auto scan every night and check to see if your anti-virus program is loaded and automatically updating. Sometimes viruses block anti-spy and anti-virus updating to avoid being detected...
5. Bring your laptop to the law helpdesk for a check-up! - When in doubt about any computer issue, bring your laptop to the law helpdesk and ask for help. We can usually spot an issue before it becomes a major problem, and apply a fix.