Why does my Dell D600 sometimes drop the wireless connection?

Here are 2 problems I'm having re dropped wireless connections that
others are having as well. I hope someone here can help me solve
them, since the answers will help end the frustration of lots of
folks.

1. When I put my laptop in STANDBY mode overnight, in the morning, it
will not connect via my wireless router unless I first dial-up my ISP.
This does NOT happen if the laptop is in standby mode for a short
period
of time.

2. If I do a re-start, I'm almost always able to connect wirelessly
without first dialing up.

3. Sometimes I lose the connection with the router, even though the
signal strength shown on the machine is always maximum.

Both settings are in residential areas, and I have no reason to
believe there is any problem with the ISP (2 separate ISPs).

DETAILS:

1. This happens with 2 separate ISPs and 2 different routers. That
suggests that the problem is not the router or the ISP, but my laptop.

2. Hardware/Software details:

I'm using a Dell Dimension D600, running XP Home, V2002, SP1. I'm
using
a US Robotics PCMCIA card. When I tried to install SP2 some years ago
I
ran into a conflict of some sort and abandoned the effort.

There must be something that triggers the dropping of the wireless
connection. Anyone have any ideas?

And why is it that dialing up my ISP via my modem, and then hanging
up,
restores the connection?

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 08:44:27 -0800 (PST), ta1xxx@verizon.net wrote in
<d0651313-3817-4dd0-b9ae-39bdaf54c825@s19g2000prg.googlegroups.com>:

>1. When I put my laptop in STANDBY mode overnight, in the morning, it
>will not connect via my wireless router unless I first dial-up my ISP.
>This does NOT happen if the laptop is in standby mode for a short
>period
>of time.
>
>2. If I do a re-start, I'm almost always able to connect wirelessly
>without first dialing up.

Windows assumes nothing has changed when resuming from standby, so if
your connection has timed out, it has to be manually reestablished.

>3. Sometimes I lose the connection with the router, even though the
>signal strength shown on the machine is always maximum.

The signal strength shown isn't terribly meaningful.
The likely cause of your problem is radio interference.
http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Fast_...9_interference

>I'm using a Dell Dimension D600, running XP Home, V2002, SP1. I'm
>using
>a US Robotics PCMCIA card. When I tried to install SP2 some years ago
>I
>ran into a conflict of some sort and abandoned the effort.

You absolutely positively need to upgrade to SP2! SP1 is insecure, and
has many issues fixed in SP2.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

ta1xxx@verizon.net hath wroth:

>I'm using a Dell Dimension D600, running XP Home, V2002, SP1. I'm
>using
>a US Robotics PCMCIA card. When I tried to install SP2 some years ago
>I
>ran into a conflict of some sort and abandoned the effort.

Bad idea. Try SP2 again. Or if you feel that your system is fatally
corrupted, get a Dell XP SP2 install CD and start over.
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150212531703>
SP2 is a prerequisite for several major wireless and networking
updates. My guess(tm) is that this is the root of your problems.
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826942>
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917021>

--
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