Horrible connection w/ Vista. No problem with XP!

[saggs]

Here's the situation.  Our house has a wireless router in the garage with 3 computers connecting through it.

One is a laptop w/ XP home
One is a rather old destop w/ XP pro
And I just built a brand new desktop with Vista Home.

I cannot get a decent connection on my computer.  I compared it to the older desktop, which is getting download speeds around 1100k, mine is less than 200k.  I ran pingplotter to hitechcreations.com on both, the old XP machine shows avg 100-200, with littlle or no PL%.  My new Vista machine show avg 600-1000 with 100% PL on half the jumps.

What gives, they're going through the same router, even have the same Linksys wireless card in both.  My wireless signal is strong, usually 4 or 5 bars and 54mbps.  I've uninstalled Norton, turned off Vista firewall, and anti-virus. The only difference I can see is XP vs. Vista.I've read all the Vista tips on this forum, found nothing relating to this. 

This stinks, not only can I not play Aces High, I cannot even use the internet, it loads pages very, very slowly, or else the server times out.  So is this a Vista problem or some kind of voodoo magic against me.

[Kermit de frog]

Ensure SP1 is installed in the Vista Machine
Try updating your wireless card drivers and software.

[Hepcat]

It sounds like your wireless connection (poor signal quality) is at least part of the problem. You can buy a cheap but effective wireless antennas that could help.

[Eagleclaw]

Depending on how far away from the router your computer is i would recommend you move the desktop closer to the router. If nothing else than just to get a better signal. Also, you may need to change the network, sometimes your neighbors router can give your comp a very weak signal and you need to change it to your own router. Hope this helps

[gyrene81]

Depending on how far away from the router your computer is i would recommend you move the desktop closer to the router. If nothing else than just to get a better signal. Also, you may need to change the network, sometimes your neighbors router can give your comp a very weak signal and you need to change it to your own router. Hope this helps

Too many rice crispy treats there Eagleclaw?    He said the system is getting a good signal.

What gives, they're going through the same router, even have the same Linksys wireless card in both.  My wireless signal is strong, usually 4 or 5 bars and 54mbps. 

Saggs, are all three of those systems running at the same time?
What IEEE standard are you using for wireless? (A,B,G,N)
What kind of router is it you're using?
Is either of those computers downloading stuff while you're trying to play AH?
I'm assuming you're internet connection is a 10mbps connection?

[Eagleclaw]

Wireless is a less reliable connection than other LAN, this could be your problem. Yes, I have had 1 or two rice crispy treats, 3 or 4, okay how about 10? 

[gyrene81]

Wireless is a less reliable connection than other LAN, this could be your problem. Yes, I have had 1 or two rice crispy treats, 3 or 4, okay how about 10? 

Now I'm jealous. Gotta run to the store and get some. Wife-ack doesn't make good ones. 

You're right on the reliability there... ...I don't know how anyone can stand to use wireless for gaming, even with high gain antennas it's a crap shoot for connectivity.

[The Fugitive]

Best bet would be to get a cat5 cable, run it out your window, down the side of the house to the garage, in through a window there and plug it into the router. Wireless is almost the worst, satellite IS the worst.

Bring up "network connections" and right click the vista computer. Watch the bit transfer. If its going like crazy you may have something using your connection pinging the internet using up your bandwidth. If you do you have to find what app is using the connection. If not, distance may be an issue. The farther from the router you are the worst the connection is going to be. Another thing you might try is to reset the router. Unplug both the router and modem for a minute or two, then start the modem, and a minute later the router.

Good luck.

[715]

You're right on the reliability there... ...I don't know how anyone can stand to use wireless for gaming, even with high gain antennas it's a crap shoot for connectivity.

I have WiFi; the router is one floor down and on the opposite corner of the house.  I never have problems: I can run PingPlotter for hours and not get lost packets or delays above 90 ms.  In fact I just ran PingPlotter to AH for 30 minutes: average delay 50 ms, max brief spike 90 ms, no lost packets.   Wireless doesn't necessarily mean horrible reliability and it's a lot easier than yanking Cat5 through your walls.

I used to get very infrequent, brief, but periodic delays of 600 ms until I turned off the WiFi monitoring software after it makes the connection.

[saggs]

So I tried all of your suggestions, thanks.  But nothing seemed to make a difference, untill...

Tonight I moved my system to the other side of my room, it is only 8 ft. (maybe 4ft closer to the router) but it seems to have made a huge difference, go figure.

Only theory I have is that something on that side of the room was interfering with it.  It was right next to my stack of 2 30w guitar amps.  Anyone know if the magnets in them could somehow mess with wifi?

I'm just glad it's working now

[gyrene81]

So I tried all of your suggestions, thanks.  But nothing seemed to make a difference, untill...

Tonight I moved my system to the other side of my room, it is only 8 ft. (maybe 4ft closer to the router) but it seems to have made a huge difference, go figure.

Only theory I have is that something on that side of the room was interfering with it.  It was right next to my stack of 2 30w guitar amps.  Anyone know if the magnets in them could somehow mess with wifi?

I'm just glad it's working now

If the frequency pattern is right, anything is possible. Those amps aren't magnetically shielded are they? With EMI just a matter of inches can make a difference depending on the strength of the magnetic interference.

[Wreked]

Wireless can be stopped by something as simple as window glass - go figure - on the road for years I learned that trick quickly - opening  outside doors and windows made a huge difference in strength of signal - a few feet one way or the other can make a huge differnce - heaven forbid if your house is brick <shudder>. Radio Shack has a neat "keyring" device that gives you "strength" readings as you move it about a room - invaluable if you travel.

...oh - 1 more thought - if your wireless is NOT password protected a neighbor may be accessing it for free.

Good luck eh!

[saggs]

...oh - 1 more thought - if your wireless is NOT password protected a neighbor may be accessing it for free.

Good luck eh!

Ha! not likely, I'm clear out in the boonies, nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away.  (it is WEP encrypted, though I have no idea who would drive out here and use it.)   That could be part of the problem too.  Out here the only way to get internet is dial up, or satellite.  I have satellite and I'm not convinced on it's reliability, things like the weather and atmospheric distortion can really screw with the signal.

[gyrene81]

If you got satellite your using DSL...old telephone lines...bleh...they didn't happen to run brand new cable from your junction box to the phone outlet where your modem plugs in did they?

[Gman]

Try looking at your power management settings in Vista.  I had same issues as you when I switched to Vista, and after trying everything and nearly giving up, I found that the power setting management crap was set to something stupid, and were causing my warps and wave like pattern in AH net status.