Internet Troubleshooting (PART - I)

As I became aware of my office dynamics (apart from the politics), I found quite an interesting fact regarding the incompatibility of windows XP service pack 3 with integrated Intel wireless card (220 BG & 2200 BG) and wireless router with B/G/N interface. In general what I have noted is that if a computer which has the above specifications and if it is configured with any router (Netgear, Belkin etc) which is wireless compatible with the interface as 802.11 B/G/N, there is a persistent drop in the wireless signals.

With regard to the same I have noticed that when the router works at B/G/N interface and the card being at B/G there is also a variant difference of speed ranging from 11 Mbps to 54 Mbps. The corresponding explanation of the same is given below:

N – interface is a relatively new technology which is still in it’s research and development (R&D) phase and holds the capability of communicating at a much faster bit – rate in comparison to its older counterpart B/G which in general holds a speed capability of 54 Mbps if the card (wireless network adapter – internal/external). But B/G cannot attain the same speed of communication level to match that of N, as a result lot of data loss takes place in transit and speeds drops to 11 Mbps or less arising in slow or drop in connection issues.

The turn around for the situation is quite simple:

Step 1: We need to check under “DEVICE MANAGER” à.”NETWORK ADAPTERS”

If our system has an Intel (220/2200 BG) wireless card or not.

Step 2: If yes than right click on the same and then click on properties à Driver Tab to check the driver version as shown.

Step 3: Get the updated drivers (if required) either from the official website or from the local vendor get them installed and restart the system.

Step 4: Next GUI page access of the router would be required if not aware of the access IP address then an IP CONFIG could be done to know the “DEFAULT GATEWAY” which would be the router access IP. The IP configuration command tree would be as follows:

START à RUN à “CMD” à ipconfig /all à Note default gateway (eg: 192.168.1.1 in case of Belkin routers).

Step 5: Pull up your preferred web browser(eg:IE or Firefox) put in the default gateway IP and access the router homepage and get the interface changed to 802.11 B/G under advanced settings of wireless and it will reduce the chances of either drop in connection or slow speed issues.

Hope this helps…incase of any query regarding the same please free to mail all your queries to: abhradipchoudhuri@gmail.com and your queries would be replied within 72 hours.