Range problem with broadcomm 802.11g

Hi,

I'm running Win XP SP3 on an Acer Extensa 5420. I have not had any problems with my wireless card until just last week. I am able to pick up my wireless more or less completely when I'm in the same room as the router, but being across the hall or downstairs cuts down the signal drastically. I never had this problem before and nothing that I know of changed for my router or for my laptop in the past week. I suspect it's my wireless card and not my router because I can't even detect any of my neighbours' networks, where before I could pick up a weak signal. I tried a system restore back to a day where it was working fine, but to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

Jason
 
Download inSSIDer and put in on that laptop ACER and see what's going on in your area. Or you can run meraki tools | wifi stumbler web wireless scanner ran from your browser. To me someone has a new wireless router that was introduce and that might be causing your issue. Change the wireless channel to 6 (1 - 6 - 11)
 
MAC Address Vendor SSID Channel RSSI Security Network Type Speed First Seen Last Seen Location
00:19:5B:4B:FD:69 D-Link Corporation thewongs 6 -65 WPA-TKIP Access Point 54 11:55:26 PM 12:07:43 AM 0.00000 , 0.00000

That's the data I get from inSSIDer when I'm on my network (thewongs) right next to my computer
 
If you have been on 6 during this time, change to 3, 8 or 9. Seems like everybody is getting on 6, and thus the problem as it becomes over utilized.
 
Okay thanks I'll try that. But I'm pretty sure it's my network card. I went to my local library and last week I had a strong signal everywhere in the building and now I have a low signal. I already tried reinstalling my driver. What else do you guys think I could do? Thanks a lot!
 
802.11g @ 2.4GHz main 1-6-11 the other ones in the middle secondary channels

See wireless channel chart

Note: If you card was able to get a strong signal at the local library but now you don't Move that wireless router to another location use your wireless laptop with inSSIDer as a location hot spot to see where is the best place to place that wireless router. Something has changed in your environment causing the wireless router not to broadcast a stronger signal.
 
Ohh, sorry, I should have clarified. I went to my local library because they have their own network (on the other side of town) and when I was there last week, it worked fine, and now the signal isn't picked up on my laptop as well...so I'm quite sure the problem is with my wireless driver. I'll try to reinstall my wireless driver but if you guys have any suggestions it'd be most appreciated.

I just reinstalled my wireless driver from scratch and it didn't make a difference. :/

I just found out that my dad may have installed XP SP3, not knowing it sucks. This could be the reason why. So I'll try that first.

And...that's not it either. I'm getting pretty desperate now. I'm going to just go ahead and format and start from the beginning. If this doesn't work...it must be a problem with the physical wireless card itself right? I hope not.

Thanks for the advice guys. Sorry for wasting your time. It turns out that those loose wires WERE in fact necessary and I guess they allow for signal boosting. I know it sounds *****ic of me, and it still kind of is, but one of the wires to my wifi card came off and nothing seemed to change (note that I didn't know that the wires were for the wifi card) but then recently when I was fixing my computer, the other one came off and then I was stuck with my problem. Oh well, I actually learned quite a bit.

Thanks!
 
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