Bermuda triangle in my living room?
 

Folks, this is going to sound Nuts, but here it is.

My Xbox 360, wirelessly networked to a linksys WRT54G via the Xbox 360
wireless adapter, has been dropping connectivity like crazy lately.
(LED goes blank on it and it shuts down.) Unplugging and replugging in
the wireless dongle reconnects it, but it just shuts down again a
couple of minutes later.

Found this odd because there's a Win XP laptop 4 feet from it that
stays connected to the same network just fine.

In trying to diagnose this, I brought the router and cable modem
downstairs and set them up right in front of the Xbox. I got the same
wireless connectivity. Connecting the cable modem directly to the Xbox
360 via ethernet cable, it connected fine. Connecting it via the
router, straight ethernet cable to Xbox, it refuses to get a DNS
address, and fails that test even when I put in my IPs primary and
secondary DNS addresses manually.

Here's where things get stranger. With the router sitting 4 feet from
the laptop, it can no longer connect wirelessly, although it claims
its seeing the network properly, and shows the right addresses as
checked via ipconfig... Connect the laptop via ethernet cable, exact
same problem. No connectivity though ipconfig shows everything fine.

Wackier yet, when I just brought everything upstairs and replugged in,
the Win XP laptop downstairs gained connectivity immediately. Carried
it upstairs and it connected fine wirelessly and via ethernet.

The other two machines in the home, windows XP boxes, have had no
troubles connecting to this router. I've tried the latest linksys
firmware and have dropped back to a lower firmware listed as
officially supported by Xbox
360.

The annoyance with the Xbox is one thing but I can't figure out for
the life of me how the router can feed machines properly from upstairs
(through the floor) but can't do the job from 4 feet away when it's
downstairs with the equipment.

Any ideas?

RE: Bermuda triangle in my living room?
 

Reception of the wireless signal depends on awful lot
of various factors - there can be shadow areas due to
reflections; interference from other radio sources, position of
the adapter antenna(s), and what not.

So what you see is quite common - and yes, it may
look like Bermuda triangle.
Unfortunately, without expensive RF measurement tools it is very hard
to tell what is the problem. Just by trial and error.

--PA


"shmnky@gmail.com" wrote:
> Folks, this is going to sound Nuts, but here it is.
>
> My Xbox 360, wirelessly networked to a linksys WRT54G via the Xbox 360
> wireless adapter, has been dropping connectivity like crazy lately.
> (LED goes blank on it and it shuts down.) Unplugging and replugging in
> the wireless dongle reconnects it, but it just shuts down again a
> couple of minutes later.
>
> Found this odd because there's a Win XP laptop 4 feet from it that
> stays connected to the same network just fine.
>
> In trying to diagnose this, I brought the router and cable modem
> downstairs and set them up right in front of the Xbox. I got the same
> wireless connectivity. Connecting the cable modem directly to the Xbox
> 360 via ethernet cable, it connected fine. Connecting it via the
> router, straight ethernet cable to Xbox, it refuses to get a DNS
> address, and fails that test even when I put in my IPs primary and
> secondary DNS addresses manually.
>
> Here's where things get stranger. With the router sitting 4 feet from
> the laptop, it can no longer connect wirelessly, although it claims
> its seeing the network properly, and shows the right addresses as
> checked via ipconfig... Connect the laptop via ethernet cable, exact
> same problem. No connectivity though ipconfig shows everything fine.
>
> Wackier yet, when I just brought everything upstairs and replugged in,
> the Win XP laptop downstairs gained connectivity immediately. Carried
> it upstairs and it connected fine wirelessly and via ethernet.
>
> The other two machines in the home, windows XP boxes, have had no
> troubles connecting to this router. I've tried the latest linksys
> firmware and have dropped back to a lower firmware listed as
> officially supported by Xbox
> 360.
>
> The annoyance with the Xbox is one thing but I can't figure out for
> the life of me how the router can feed machines properly from upstairs
> (through the floor) but can't do the job from 4 feet away when it's
> downstairs with the equipment.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>