On our laptop (running Windows 7) the Wi-Fi connection drops intermittently.
Symptoms:
Connectivity is suddenly lost, and the "signal strenght" indicator in the tray shows zero strength and a yellow "star" symbol.
What happens then:
- The problem does not resolve itself by just waiting.
- If I click on the tray icon, the "Windows network diagnostics" wizard pops up and tells me that there is a networking problem (duh).
- If I click on the "repair" button (not sure about the wording), the wizard works for a while, then reports that it has reset the network adapter. Then Wi-Fi works again.
While the above procedure has worked every time so far, it is very annoying. It takes 10-20s to repair the connection, and in the meantime downloads, video streams etc. may have been aborted.
Some more details:
- The problem occurs without any apparent regularity, but usually a few minutes after powerup (though not every time). It happens frequently enough to be annoying.
- It is unlikely to be a router problem - another laptop running at the same time usually has no Wi-Fi problems.
I am at a loss about what to try to troubleshoot this. Any ideas?
Computer: Acer Aspire 7739Z. Wi-Fi card: Atheros AR5B125
Edit
Some more details. The network is a simple home network:
- Internet via ADSL from Deutsche Telekom (I'm in Germany)
- ADSL modem/router/WiFi AP combo from Deutsche Telekom (Speedport W723V), using WPA2.
- Only two computers connected, both laptops over WiFi. One shows the problems described, the other (an old Thinkpad running Linux) works fine, even while the other computer is having connection problems.