PS3 Kills Wireless Laptop Connection

Hi All,

I just just got a PS3 and it is connected to my network via my Linksys
wireless router. Every time I turn on my PS3, my wife's Thinkpad
laptop loses it's connection. This also happened when my Nintendo Wii
was powered on but I have since ditched the Wii. Any thoughts on what
might be the cause? Due to the fact that the Wii did the same thing,
I am assuming it is either her laptop or my router.

DBS <deansmith@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>I just just got a PS3 and it is connected to my network via my Linksys
>wireless router.

Any particular Linksys wireless router? Model and hardware version
from the serial number tag.

>Every time I turn on my PS3, my wife's Thinkpad
>laptop loses it's connection. This also happened when my Nintendo Wii
>was powered on but I have since ditched the Wii. Any thoughts on what
>might be the cause?

Yeah, but I'm lazy tonite. How about connecting to your unspecified
model Linksys router with a web browser, and looking at the "Log"
page. It should have some clue as to why it disconnects.

>Due to the fact that the Wii did the same thing,
>I am assuming it is either her laptop or my router.

Are any of these devices setup for a static IP address? If so, kindly
change the device to a DHCP assigned IP address.

Did you check for firmware updates from the Linksys web pile? If not,
please check for updates as such weirdness is often caused by firmware
bugs.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Linksys WRT54G - I will try updating the firmware.

DBS <deansmith@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>Linksys WRT54G - I will try updating the firmware.

Which hardware version? It's on the serial number tag.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

what about any B vs G issues ?

What does the Wii or PS3 want to use,
and what does the disconnecting laptop want to use ?

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> DBS <deansmith@gmail.com> hath wroth:
>
>> Linksys WRT54G - I will try updating the firmware.
>
> Which hardware version? It's on the serial number tag.
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

> I am assuming it is either her laptop or my router.

Likely. How is the IP address setup on the laptop? If it's being set as
static and that address conflicts with the Wii and/or PS3 then you've found
your problem. You can't have more than one device on the network using the
same IP address. And neither can any of them use the same address as the
router, of course!

I found out how to fix the issue for anyone who is interested. Follow
the instructions found on this page.

http://maikelv.be/blog/2007/10/27/ps...tion-2/#more-9

On Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:44:18 GMT, "P.Schuman"
<pschuman_no_spam_me@interserv.com> wrote:

>what about any B vs G issues ?

The 802.11b versus 802.11g issues (also known as 802.11b
compatibility) will only cause a slowdown. When running an 802.11g a
client running 802.11b will cause the wireless router to poll for
802.11b clients, thus slowing down file transfers for 802.11g.

>What does the Wii or PS3 want to use,

Both prefer 802.11g. However, if the signal is lousy, if you have
lots of interference, or have misconfigured your wireless router, you
may get stuck with 802.11b speeds.

>and what does the disconnecting laptop want to use ?

Dunno. No maker, no model, no numbers, no clues.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 10:47:11 -0800 (PST), DBS <deansmith@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I found out how to fix the issue for anyone who is interested. Follow
>the instructions found on this page.
>
>http://maikelv.be/blog/2007/10/27/ps...tion-2/#more-9

Nice. Yet another broken DHCP client or possible DHCP protocol
incompatibility.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

> Nice. Yet another broken DHCP client or possible DHCP protocol
> incompatibility.

Heh, just ran into that with my networkable thermostat. Seems it can't
handle a DHCP lease that has more than one gateway router.

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 22:45:03 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
<wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> Nice. Yet another broken DHCP client or possible DHCP protocol
>> incompatibility.
>
>Heh, just ran into that with my networkable thermostat.

I didn't know anyone had such a thing. Might be useful for my
mountaintop sites. Got a link?

>Seems it can't
>handle a DHCP lease that has more than one gateway router.

Do you mean more than one *default* gateway? Setting up more than one
gateway to remote offices is fairly common, but that's handled by the
router. Windoze and Linux both handle multiple gateways, but I've
only used that for automagic fall back when the main router goes
comatose. Unless you have more than one route to the internet (in
which case you'll need some kind of routing protocol such as RIP,
OSPF, BGP, etc, I don't see any need for more than one default
gateway. Also, all of the cheap routers I can easily access only
allow one default gateway in the DHCP server config. I'm too lazy to
slog through the RFC's to see if they allow more than one default
gateway via DHCP.

Whatcha doing?



--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

>>Heh, just ran into that with my networkable thermostat.
>
> I didn't know anyone had such a thing. Might be useful for my
> mountaintop sites. Got a link?

Sure, proliphix.com. I've got this an NT20e.
http://www.proliphix.com/NT-Basic.aspx

This one has not only it's built-in temp sensor but supports two more. I've
got one outside and one in another part of the house. There's even a script
to pull the data into an RRDtool monitoring database. I've not yet
configured that. The unit hosts it's own web page for status and control.
That and it has a programmable API for integration with home automation and
other programs.

It's not inexpensive compared to standalone units. They also have more
commercially-targeted units (but I've not used any).

> Unless you have more than one route to the internet

Yes and I have routing set up for it. I don't really "need" anything to be
smart enough to deal with multiple routes. I've found some devices really
don't like being handed multiple gateways from an Windows DHCP server (the
thermostat being one). But this isn't a problem as those devices each get
their own DHCP lease reservation set up; which is explicitly configured for
just one gateway. Yes, you're right, most SOHO routers do not have this
flexibility and most situations wouldn't require it.

> Whatcha doing?

Balancing between some inbound services using a static DSL connection and
the dynamic IP FIOS connection.

-Bill Kearney

"Bill Kearney" <wkearney99@hotmail.com> hath wroth:

>
>>>Heh, just ran into that with my networkable thermostat.
>>
>> I didn't know anyone had such a thing. Might be useful for my
>> mountaintop sites. Got a link?
>
>Sure, proliphix.com. I've got this an NT20e.
>http://www.proliphix.com/NT-Basic.aspx

Thanks. However at $360/ea, I don't see one in my future.
<http://www.smarthome.com/3053t.html>

>There's even a script
>to pull the data into an RRDtool monitoring database.

No SNMP. So do they just scrape data off the web page?

>> Unless you have more than one route to the internet

>Yes and I have routing set up for it. I don't really "need" anything to be
>smart enough to deal with multiple routes. I've found some devices really
>don't like being handed multiple gateways from an Windows DHCP server (the
>thermostat being one). But this isn't a problem as those devices each get
>their own DHCP lease reservation set up; which is explicitly configured for
>just one gateway. Yes, you're right, most SOHO routers do not have this
>flexibility and most situations wouldn't require it.

Well, there's another common setup that some DHCP clients find
difficult. I frequently have LAN devices that I do NOT want their
traffic to appear on the internet. Network printers that call home
regularly is the most common example. So, I set the default gateway
to either blank or to the network printers own IP address. No problem
with a static IP setup, but with DHCP, it requires that the client
allows a static gateway IP, but a dynamic DHCP assigned IP and
netmask. Batting average is about 50% on print servers and network
printers. For those that won't, I have to setup a filter rule in the
router or use a static IP address. Not a big problem, but it bugs me.

>> Whatcha doing?

>Balancing between some inbound services using a static DSL connection and
>the dynamic IP FIOS connection.

Load balancing between two radically different speed network
connections is always fun. You could cheat and use a load balancing
router such as:
<http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_list.php?pl1_id=3&pl2_id=>

With Windoze, there's no internal load balancing with multiple default
gateways. It looks at the router metric, picks the cheapest, and
sends everything via that route. If you want to change gateway, you
have to tweak the route metric. I don't think any commodity network
appliance firmware can do even that and is limited to one gateway.

Thanks much.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558