D-Link DI-524 Browser Connection Timeouts

Scenario: Laptop running XP SP2, fully updated, with integrated Broadcom 802.11b/g card connects fine to home DI-524 wireless router, but suffers from intermittent browser timeouts (both IE 6 and Firefox 2): browser tries to connect to site, but returns "page cannot be displayed, the connection has timed out." Same result for multiple sites/pages for a few minutes, then will return to connecting fine; no errors.

Desktop computer connected to same router via Ethernet cable has no problems (yes, at the same time the laptop is exhibiting the problem - it does not appear to be an ISP connection problem). Same laptop can connect to another DI-524 wireless network in a different location without any problems. Both routers appear to be configured similarly (dynamic PPPoE for the WAN). Routers are slightly different versions (mine is E1, other is C1), so they both have different firmware versions.

Question: is/are there any particular settings I should focus on? (Rather not have to try a 1:1 comparison for each and every setting, but will obviously go that route if all else fails.)

Based on above and research so far, I'm pretty sure it must be something with the DI-524 router settings, since the same laptop does not exhibit the same behavior when connected at the alternate location using same model router.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Hi there, you have not mentioned how far you are form the AP and what signal strength you are getting. From what you are saying it sounds like you are loosing signal. This can be due to interference or distance from the AP. You could try the free Netstumbler tool to check for other Wifi networks in the area, and it will tell you your signal strength as well.
Good luck
Dale.

Thanks very much for your response!

Signal strength is consistently "Very Good" to "Excellent" - I'm typically within 25-30 ft of AP thru a wooden floor. Netstumbler (thanks for suggestion - actually ran across it yesterday) shows -59db or so and decent signal. It detects 2 other networks, both fairly weak (-70 db or greater). Even tried shutting off (unplugging) the base station of wireless phone (2.4 Ghz) & changing channels (auto/6 -> 11) on AP, but no significant difference.

One idea I ran across had to do with encryption method, so I changed WPA/PSK to WPA2-Auto/PSK - still evaluating, but can't detect any significant diff so far.

Hiya langr, I am new to this site .. I stumbled across it when searching for help for my Di-524 .... seems I am having the same problem ... I am only about ten feet from router/ap ... yet I am constantly having to click the REPAIR button on my laptop's network connections ... I am also running the same windows you are I have Cox broadband and was wondering if it was due to Cox constantly changing IP numbers ... cox gives you a dynamic ip rather than static .. could this be the problem? I would appreciate any help any can give ! Thanks

Well the first thing is your 2.4GHz phone will not help at all. I haven't worked with the DI-524 for a long time but I remember it having drop-out problems, alot.

First thing I would check is the firmware revision in the DI-524. If it's out of date with the current one change it. Then see how it goes. You may need to save all of your settings first in the router.

wizz

Time for a status update: still haven't completely solved the problem, but (I think) performance has improved - at least I'm not getting as many (actually relatively few) connection timeouts.

The only significant change I made was to change the router's IP address (it had been 192.168.0.254; changed to the standard 192.168.0.1). That seems to have cleared up the majority of the problem, but I'm not sure why.

I have noticed fluctuations in connection speeds, 54, 48, 11, and a few in-between over a span of a few minutes, even though signal strength has remained strong (4/5).

If anyone has any additional insight, it would be appreciated. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at this.

IRT wizz, yes I have the latest firmware loaded (5.10 for my E1 model).

IRT starbabyy, the fact that Cox is providing a dynamic IP address shouldn't affect the router - it should be obtaining it's address from Cox and assigning your computer(s) an internal (192.168.x.x) address via DHCP. My ISP does not provide a static IP address either (unless I want to pay more - problem lies somewhere between the router and wireless card. You may also want to take a look at the router's log (go to the "Status" page) to perhaps get an indication of what's going on.