A Transact cable internet connection is connected to a wireless router (D-Link DI-624) so that the internet can be accessed using my laptop (running Windows XP SP3) over wireless, rather than having to use a cabled connection. In the past the router would occasionally lock-up, with all the lights on (including all 4 network port lights). The only fix would be to turn off the router for around 10 minutes and then restart the router. This would clear the problem until the next time it occurred, at which point the same power-off and restart procedure needed to be repeated. However, recently it seems that the wireless functionality of the router has broken. I can connect to the wireless network being broadcast by the router (or so claims Windows) but cannot get access to the internet. The router is running the latest firmware (December 2008) and I also tried a factory reset on the router and then reconfigured the router from scratch using the wizard, but this did not resolve the problem. The internet works perfectly fine if I connect the laptop to the router using a network cable to the back of the router. Can you help getting wireless back up and running?

There could be two possible explanations for the wireless connection problem with the router, either something is wrong with the router or something is wrong with the laptop trying to connect to the internet over wireless. We will first deal with the laptop, since this is the more unlikely cause of the problem and we may be able to eliminate this as the potential cause sooner rather than later. Since you have factory defaulted the router I can assume that it was setup with all the default settings, so your router is assigning out a DHCP network address to connected computers. That is, the router assigns connected computers IP addresses, rather than you having to specify an IP address on each connected computer. Also, I assume that your router is also functioning as a DNS server or relay for all connected computers and this information is handed out via DHCP, so you don’t need to specify the DNS server on each connected computer.

For those who are interested, DNS is the system which translates the human-readable domain names (e.g. google.com) into their network addresses (e.g. 66.102.11.104). Since computer networking relies upon the network addresses, rather than domain names, it is essential that the domain name is translated into a network address for communication to take place over networks. The DNS system provides this function.

Since we have established that the IP address and DNS information should be automatically provided, we should double-check that your computer does not have any of this information manually configured, otherwise it could conflict with the settings being handed-out by your router. To check the settings, go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel”. In the Control Panel window, open the “Network Connections” control panel (you may need to first select the “Network and Internet Connections” category, if the control panel is being displayed in category view). You should see a listing of all network adapters on your computer, including the wireless adapter. Right-click on the wireless adapter and select “Properties”. In the properties window that appears, select the “General” tab. You should see a list of connection items in a list box. Select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” and then click the “Properties” button. In the next window, select the “General” tab. Make sure that “Obtain an IP address automatically” and “Obtain DNS server address automatically” are both enabled. Click OK to save and close and then click OK in the other window to also save and close.

If you changed any settings in the previous procedure, disconnect the wireless connection and then reconnect, to see whether this has resolved the problem. In the event that you did not change any settings (as they were already correct), or the changed settings did not resolve the issue and the problem continues, we should next try repairing the wireless connection. This is a feature provided by Windows which attempts to repair a network connection which is not behaving correctly. Whether this will fix the problem is unknown, but we may as well make an attempt. Return to the Network Connections control panel window and find the wireless network adapter. Right-click on the wireless adapter and select “Repair”. The connection should commence automatic repairing and a window will appear advising you about progress of the repair. Once it has finished try accessing the internet once again to check whether the problem has been resolved.

At this point should you find the problem still continues, it is looking more likely that the root cause of the problem is the router itself rather than the laptop (which was our original suspicion). The definitive way to test whether this is the case is to connect your laptop to a wireless network which is known to work. If you have any friends with wireless networks perhaps you could ask whether you could test if your laptop can correctly connect and access the internet using their network. If your laptop works correctly and can access the internet then obviously the laptop itself is fine, but there is something wrong with your wireless router. However, if your laptop is still unable to access the internet it seems that there are still issues with the laptop. In this situation (which is probably fairly unlikely) please contact me again for further advice, as now we should move onto the more likely scenario that your laptop does work correctly on a different connection and your wireless router is actually the root cause of the issue.

Having reached this point it is likely you have determined that the wireless router is the root cause of the issue. This is the more likely explanation, since you have experienced problems with the wireless router locking-up for no apparent reason, so there is a history of problems with the router. Before doing anything else, you should re-check that your router is running the latest version of the router firmware. This can be checked, and firmware downloaded if necessary, from the D-Link Support website (support.dlink.com.au). It seems there are three hardware revisions of your router model, and the firmware is dependent on the router revision. As this information was not provided I could not check whether the December 2008 firmware is the most recent for your router, so it would be worthwhile to double-check. If there is updated firmware, then I suggest you upgrade your router.

If the problem continues after upgrading the router firmware, then I would suggest that you try factory defaulting the router once again. I understand that you have completed this procedure previously, but if you are experiencing problems it is always a good idea anyway to default the router after a firmware upgrade to clear any previous settings which were carried across from the old firmware and could be interfering with the new firmware, or have been changed as a result of the upgrade.

Should you find that the problem is not resolved after defaulting the router, or that no upgrade was available for the router, then my suspicion at this point is that the router itself has become faulty. The reasoning for this conclusion is that you have upgraded the firmware on the router, factory defaulted the router (and completed another factory default subsequent to the firmware upgrade), and have also experienced some fairly major stability issues with the router in the past (in particular, the router locking-up). I have seen similar issues happen in the past, with all different brands and models of routers. Since these devices are running and processing internet traffic 24 x 7 after several years of usage it is not surprising that they start to develop faults, especially considering that they are relatively inexpensive devices (around the $80 – $100 price range) when compared with other computer and electronic devices which cost much more and do not run for the same length of time as a network router. Looking on the D-Link website I noticed that this model of router reached end-of-life in August 2007 (www.dlink.com/products/?pid=6). Of course, the webpage which mentions this is the D-Link US website, so the EOL date for the Australian version of this product may be different (that said, I was unable to find this model in the current product listing on the Australian D-Link website). Therefore, it may be time to think about replacing this wireless router after several years of apparent good service. As mentioned, wireless routers are relatively inexpensive devices so this may be a quick and easy way to fix the problem. However, before purchasing a new router I would strongly recommend that you read reviews of different router models online, particularly user reviews, as selecting an appropriate wireless router can be a tricky process given the varying quality of wireless coverage which some routers provide, combined with other issues such as wireless drop-outs. As such, it is always prudent to read reviews before purchasing.