I got rid of my cable ethernet LAN connection on Saturday following a big change around, and installed a basic wireless 'G' broadband modem router, positioned at a suitable point to feed other machines in other rooms. The desktop had a basic USB wireless dongle, all correctly installed and functioning.

I find my desktop PC is the only machine that seems to have an issue.....when it boots up it finds the wireless network perfectly with an EXCELLANT signal strength display, and logs in lightning fast using WEP key, and is fine for a few hours or so....but it will then randomly LOSE its IP address and start seeking a new one, and usually will not be able to get assigned one and give the standard error message on the connection tray icon, although the wireless network connection is still 'excellant' signal strength. When clicking REPAIR, this does not work, it will only get re-assigned an IP address again with a reboot. Happens a couple of times a day...

COuld this be INTERFERENCE with the wireless signal causing this, as I also use BLUETOOTH on the same PC to move images from digital camera.
Thought it might be something to do with the number of machines accessing the network at any one time but on Sunday it was just me and me alone, and it was still losing its IP address but indicating maximum signal strength.

The problem with wireless connections is there is no physical connection you can get your hands on and diagnose, you can't swap it for a better one for example

how does your desktop access wifi ? is it a built in card or a usb type dongle ?

if it's a usb device try removing it and putting it back in

if the aerial can be moved try changing the position of the aerial

if it has firmware try upgrading it similarly try upgrading the router firmware

try changing the channel the router uses you might have a neighbour with a similar device using the same channel and getting interference

final solution try another wifi device in the desktop. I have a notebook with built in wifi and mine would drop the connection periodically, eventually I got the wifi card changed and I've not had any problems since

wifi is the nearest thing to a black art you are going to get without practising devil worship ;)

Also bluetooth might cause interference, try turning it off when you aren't using it

its a USB dongle........will try taking it out and inserting it again when it next does it.....

best of luck, remember to use the remove hardware applet on the taskbar don't just yank it as it probably won't be seen when you plug it back in

If removing the bluetooth dongle doesn't sort it, it's probably crummy wireless card drivers, wireless card hardware, wireless router firmware or wireless router hardware. Or any combination thereof :(

My mum's Linksys 54g PCI card is always dropping the connection to her Linksys WAG54g. Try, in the following order:

Disable DHCP in the router and assign ip addresses manually
Update the driver for the wireless card
Update the firmware for the router
Buy a long Ethernet cable and wonder why you bothered with wireless

hmm I never did see the point of wifi for a desktop machine myself

and wifi will never be as fast or as reliable as a cable

after all the cat isn't going to walk through the cable and break connection for you but it might walk through the transmission path

but you pays yer money and you makes yer choice

If it's only the desktop having the problem and if the router is within reach connect the 2 by ethernet cable. It's more secure and is faster.

I can obtain some more cable and try a permanent connection again, it just involves drilling holes in walls and stuff.....previously we were falling over the cable due to the problem of the actual phone socket being situated in another room.

The wireless unit is positioned right in front of the master phone socket in the next room, about 12 metres from the machine as the crow flies.

The problem was the phone cable was being severed by the door closing and me falling over it. Silly problem yes, but logistically rather difficult to solve without re-siting the phone master socket (expensive) or drilling holes and going through a wall. Maybe I should get round to that sometime..

actually wi-fi been fine today....maybe just a fluke.....

actually the above may sound nonsense, its that time of day where brains start to falter....

you'll probably find the weather affect the signal quality too