Networking disconnects periodically (Is the issue Windows 7, router, or media player?)

Originally Posted by CommonTater

I'm putting this in a separate message because it's not really germaine to our troubleshooting... but it might shed some light on your problems.

My home network consists of my HTPC (ASRock ION 330), my homebrew system (AMD X2), my smarter half's system (same as mine), my son's homebrew system (Intel Core i7), a netbook we all use (Aspire One), a "family machine" (same as mine) in the basement that's used mostly for music, and a number of assorted laptops that "guest in" on wireless.

The HTPC is on XP/sp3 as is the Netbook. My son's system is on Ubuntu. The rest are on Win7 Pro.

1) I could not get Win7 to work on the HTPC or Netbook ... even though both are supposedly rated for Win7. The htpc in particular crapped out badly, wouldn't play FLAC or high bitrate MP3 without burbling and was dropping frames like crazy on 1080p. Both work perfectly on XP.

2) The machines that are on Win7 would not work on "Ultimate" but reverting to "Pro" got them more or less working. There are still issues that we can't fix but I've managed some workarounds for the time being.

3) On the Win7 machines the multimedia playback positively sucks. With even moderate bitrate AVI files, video frame dropping is common, motion is jerky and CPU usage is ridiculous... 50% of an X2 (64bit dual core) processor to play a movie... I don't think so.

Looking around the web it becomes apparent that most "Audiophile" and "Videophile" sites are still treating XP as the operating system of choice for multimedia and I'm forced to agree. XP does a far better job of multimedia providing better playback on Atom processors than Win7 does on AMD X2 processors (1.6 vs 2.8 ghz)... The video quality is better. The sound quality is far better. CPU usage is way down...

But for our discussion the netbook is most relevent... I've done 80gb transfers between the netbook and my backup drive (attached to my machine on USB) without a single problem... many times. This is over 802.1 Wirless, probably very much like yours. When I tried Win7 in it... The wireless was pathetic, slow and re-connected constantly.

Now I'm wondering if you aren't in the same boat...
My solution was to revert it back to XP and all is well.
I don't know if I'd recommend that for you, but it might be something to think about.

In regards to your first post, i did try uninstalling the driver and restarting. It did install the driver again, but did not fix the problem. I also did that "size" suggestion command. I will get my hands on another Windows 7 laptop tonight, so that should tell me some more. I will also try to transfer a larger file through hardwire. I have an Avatar remux video file that is probably about 50GB. I will see if this will transfer throught hard wire.

As for as the most recent post. I have never tried XP on my network, but it may be an option. I just upgraded to Win 7 Ultimate, and I'd hate to downgrad to XP. But I will try to find a laptop with XP and try it out.

Originally Posted by JTOUPS1214

In regards to your first post, i did try uninstalling the driver and restarting. It did install the driver again, but did not fix the problem. I also did that "size" suggestion command. I will get my hands on another Windows 7 laptop tonight, so that should tell me some more. I will also try to transfer a larger file through hardwire. I have an Avatar remux video file that is probably about 50GB. I will see if this will transfer throught hard wire.

50gb... Wow... check your free space first!

If your monster file transfers on hard wire, we have a confirmation it's a wireless problem...
I would also like to see how another win7 machine does...

As for as the most recent post. I have never tried XP on my network, but it may be an option. I just upgraded to Win 7 Ultimate, and I'd hate to downgrad to XP. But I will try to find a laptop with XP and try it out.

There are some who will tell you that Win 7 to XP is an upgrade --just like with Vista-- and when it comes to multimedia performance, they're probably right.

I ran a single installation of Win2000 from 1999 when it came out, then a single installation of XP from mid-2005 when the family arm twisted me into upgrading. (Apparently protests of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" fell on deaf ears)

I started out with Win7 Ultimate x86, bought 6 copies, for the whole family... had nothing but stupid problems on top of idiotic problems. I returned the unopened copies in exchange for Win7 Professional and believe me, it's MUCH better. There must be something about the added code in Ultimate that makes it flakey. Several of my customers have had similar problems and each time downgrading to Pro got them up and going.

Originally Posted by CommonTater

50gb... Wow... check your free space first!

If your monster file transfers on hard wire, we have a confirmation it's a wireless problem...
I would also like to see how another win7 machine does...



There are some who will tell you that Win 7 to XP is an upgrade --just like with Vista-- and when it comes to multimedia performance, they're probably right.

I ran a single installation of Win2000 from 1999 when it came out, then a single installation of XP from mid-2005 when the family arm twisted me into upgrading. (Apparently protests of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" fell on deaf ears)

I started out with Win7 Ultimate x86, bought 6 copies, for the whole family... had nothing but stupid problems on top of idiotic problems. I returned the unopened copies in exchange for Win7 Professional and believe me, it's MUCH better. There must be something about the added code in Ultimate that makes it flakey. Several of my customers have had similar problems and each time downgrading to Pro got them up and going.

Well..............................
I just took a computer with Window 7 home premium and did a 3gb transfer back and forth WITH NO PROBLEMS!!

In the meantime (on my computer) I have that large transfer happening (40+ GB) I'm doing this wired, and it should be done in about 2hrs. I've completed about 10GB so far.

I don't have a problem trying out windows home premium....if you think that will fix it. I only downloaded Ultimate because that was easily available. I'm sure I can find home premium and try that.

Let me know what you think..............

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner... The BBS was offline when I tried last night.

It's very encouraging that the other machine succeeded in your tests.
We now know with reasonable certainty, the problem is the wireless on your laptop.

Next the fun part... What to do about it?
What brand wireless is it? (Device manager will tell you)
Are the drivers up to date?
Are you using AV software and which one?
etc.

Your thought of going down to Home Premium might make sense.
However I would suggest you try Professional... then you get the Media Center and Workgroup networking.

If my memory serves me well, I think my network adapter is INTEL. Would that be possible? I'm not at home, but I'm pretty sure that is it.

I'm made sure numerous times that I was up-to-date! I used driver software and have also went to the wireless adapter website.

What do you mean by which AV software I use? (Audio Video) How would that affect me networking to my media player?

Also, My 50GB transfer did in fact work through the hard-wire!

I really do think it is something within my computers wireless settings.........
PS: This is my laptop: http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/...5641Rsp2.shtml

AV == Anti-Virus ... Norton is a particularly bad one.
The suggestion was that you disable it and try a transfer or two to see if that's it.

If the hardwired transfer worked and knowing the other computer worked we now know for certain it's an issue with your laptop's wireless.

Excellent trouble shooting... now we know exactly what to concentrate on.
It could be Wireless related settings... in particular is flow control enabled in the Wireless Adaptor settings?

That's a nice laptop by the way...

Originally Posted by CommonTater

AV == Anti-Virus ... Norton is a particularly bad one.
The suggestion was that you disable it and try a transfer or two to see if that's it.

If the hard wired worked we know for certain it's an issue with your laptop's wireless.
Excellent trouble shooting... now we know exactly what to concentrate on.
It could be Wireless related settings... in particular is flow control enabled in the Wireless Adaptor settings?

That's a nice laptop by the way...

Sorry for the confusion! I had Norton 360 when I had Vista, but when I switched to Windows 7, i removed it and downloaded AVIRA free. If there is a certain AV you suggest, I'm more than willing to try it (whether it's free or not, i'll find it and try it.)

I will look again today, but I want to say I tried to do the following (below)
But I want to say I did not have this option under the wireless driver.

To enable flow control for your network adapter

• On your computer, click the Start button , click Control Panel, type view network connections in the search box, and then click View network connections.
• Right-click your network connection, and then click Properties.
• On the Networking tab, click Configure.
• Click the Advanced tab, and in the list under Property, click Flow Control.
• Under Value, choose an option to enable flow control (choose the Rx & Tx Enabled option if it's available), and then click OK.

Originally Posted by JTOUPS1214

Sorry for the confusion! I had Norton 360 when I had Vista, but when I switched to Windows 7, i removed it and downloaded AVIRA free. If there is a certain AV you suggest, I'm more than willing to try it (whether it's free or not, i'll find it and try it.)

I use the (free) A-Squared emergency kit which installs on a USB dongle. The joy is that it's not a full time scanner so it's not going to interfere with anything. You run it when you think you need it... Emsisoft Free Emergency Kit

For the moment you should disable ALL AV software even the Windows Firewall and run another test...
If it works we then know it's one of the AVs and you can re-enable them one at a time until it screws up and voila! problem solved.
It the problem persists it pretty much has to be the wireless adaptor...

BTW are you using any special software to do these transfers or are you using Windows drag and drop?

You mentioned flow control.....I do remember reading up on this, and I want to say I did enable this. Is this something you do through a command prompt?

Actually you change adaptor settings from Control Panel -> Device Manager ... locate your adaptor and right click then Properties -> Advanced tab. (You may want to keep track of this as we may be in there again....)

Originally Posted by CommonTater

I use the (free) A-Squared emergency kit which installs on a USB dongle. The joy is that it's not a full time scanner so it's not going to interfere with anything. You run it when you think you need it... Emsisoft Free Emergency Kit

For the moment you should disable ALL AV software even the Windows Firewall and run another test...
If it works we then know it's one of the AVs and you can re-enable them one at a time until it screws up and voila! problem solved.
It the problem persists it pretty much has to be the wireless adaptor...

BTW are you using any special software to do these transfers or are you using Windows drag and drop?

I will give that a shot....disable firewall, and make sure I have no AV running! I hope that works, but my luck it will be the wireless adapter.
I'm not using any special software to transfer. I just locate my media player through the network....copy movies from my desktop and paste them into the harddrive on the media player.

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Actually you change adaptor settings from Control Panel -> Device Manager ... locate your adaptor and right click then Properties -> Advanced tab. (You may want to keep track of this as we may be in there again....)

Am I locating the wireless adapter? I believer there is also the LAN ethernet adapter in there also, correct? If so, i want to say I could not find the advanced tab under my wireless adapter. But i will look again!

Originally Posted by JTOUPS1214

Am I locating the wireless adapter? I believer there is also the LAN ethernet adapter in there also, correct? If so, i want to say I could not find the advanced tab under my wireless adapter. But i will look again!

Another path to the same thing is through Control Panel -> Network and Sharing -> Adaptor settings. Right click the wireless and select Properties then Configure -> Advanced