Linksys and Intermittent Wireless Connection

There's something strange in the neighborhood, because my laptop keeps getting disconnected from the Linksys wireless router (WRT54G2).

There I was, happily surfing via a wireless internet connection. After booting the desktop (which was directly connected to the Linksys wireless router), the laptop lost its wireless connection. And even after repeated attempts to reconnect, it would hold for a few seconds only to be disconnected again.

Strange. Could Norton have anything to do with it? (Both the desktop and the laptop have Norton installed.)

Here's what I did to help the laptop hang on to its wireless connection:

1. On the desktop, visit http:/192.168.1.1 and click on "Wireless" (http://192.168.1.1/wireless.htm)

2. Change the Wireless Channel to 11 (if it used to be on 6) or 6 (if it used to be on 11), then click on the "Save Settings" button.

3. Deactivate the laptop's WiFi connection (there's a button on the machine itself).

4. Reactivate the laptop's wireless connection.

And voila! Say goodbye to lost wireless connectivity. I still haven't figured out though why this problem crops up each time the desktop boots and gets past the usual Windows XP Home login screen. If the desktop remains shutdown, the laptop experiences a perfect wireless bond with the Linksys.

Perhaps the firewall rules in Norton have something to do with this...

[ First posted on 09/03/2008 by Manuel Viloria ]