wlan signal strenght being "disrupted" by games

SnowblindFatal · 23rd December 2007, 4:03 AM

Hello.

I have Buffalo WBR2-G54S and the correspondent card for my PC. Here is some information about the product:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1821979,00.asp

The problem I have is as follows: While I normally have a working connection (around 20-40Mbps), some games, Hitman, Civilization 4 and Skulltag (a doom source port) severely disrupt the connection to a crawl or completely cause it to disconnect. When I exit the game, the connection returns back to normal. I have no idea what is causing it, but as you can imagine, this is most annoying. The games do not follow any logical pattern either. Warcraft 3 works fine even on Battle.net, while Hitman games cause disconnects even though they don't even interact with the internet.

I once tried reinstalling the card's drivers, to no avail. I really don't have a clue on what I'm supposed to do with this. The OS I'm using is Windows XP pro.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

kogi · 23rd December 2007, 8:51 AM

Does the corresponding card have a little aerial sticking out the back?

If it is, my guess is that it's picking up interference from your video card. You need to get an aerial with a cable that will bring it to the top of your computer case.

kogi

g@z · 23rd December 2007, 9:27 AM

agree with the above. The other option you could try quickly is to lay both your antennas flat instead of staight up. This should move the PC antenna away from the back of the case.

Also, make sure there are no cables near the PC antenna. I've just had a similar issue where my wireless link has been dropping out whenever it's too close to one of the cables at the back of the PC. I had to lay it flat, and also make it poke out the side of the case instead of stright back.

Regards,
g@z.

SnowblindFatal · 23rd December 2007, 10:34 AM

Thanks for your replies.

I don't believe that this is the case, however, as it is quite specific when the connection drops out. It is exactly the moment I start these specific games. I can run really high end games like Armed Assault and such with the connection working, and on the other hand when I run some really low end games like Doom, I suffer from disconnection. As I said, there isn't really any logical connection between the games. Both new and old ones are suspectible to this problem.

I really think it's a software related issue.

g@z · 23rd December 2007, 11:47 AM

I don't understand. Two replies telling you the pretty much the same thing and you don't even want to try it to see if it's an issue or not?

Regards,
g@z.

Daemon · 23rd December 2007, 2:16 PM

You need something like Netstumbler or a better utility to measure the signal strength etc. If the signal strength (and certainly the SNR) doesn't change, I'd say it's the drivers.

Personally it sounds like an odd driver conflict somewhere, where the PCI bus is being heavily utilised or something.

The amount of EMI required from a computer to affect the wireless would be a fair amount and would usually only occur when there is a faulty part.

SnowblindFatal · 24th December 2007, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g@z

I don't understand. Two replies telling you the pretty much the same thing and you don't even want to try it to see if it's an issue or not?

Regards,
g@z.

Sorry, I did not mean to sound arrogant with my post.

The logical reasoning behind this is that if it was indeed the case you mentioned, then gaming wouldn't correlate to it. However, through thorough testing I have noticed that the connection drops the moment the game starts and reconnects the very instant I exit the game. This certainly doesn't suggest it being a hardware issue, especially since the games causing this are completely random.

NEWS:
I fiddled around with the wlan station settings, and turned off the high speed mode, making it operate at standard speeds. Now windows doesn't show that the connection is affected, even though there is no traffic, and if I try to repair the connection, it doesn't work. So practically this was merely a visual change. I don't know if this will help any, but it is an interesting detail nevertheless.

I guess I'll have to start messing around with the drivers. It's the most logical troublemaker at the moment.

kogi · 24th December 2007, 10:11 AM

I'm still convinced it's a hardware issue.

Have you moved the wifi-card so it's in the slot the furthest away from the video card?

kogi

Sprinker · 25th December 2007, 10:29 PM

Mate, you said so yourself. You have reinstalled the drivers and it did not fix it! Did you install the most up to date driver's? Not just the ones off the wireless card vendors CD.

If you did so, then it really has to be a hardware issue.

If your still convinced its a software issue, follow the 3 R's (Reboot, Reinstall, Reformat).

23rd December 2007, 4:03 AM	#1
SnowblindFatal New Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3	wlan signal strenght being "disrupted" by games Hello. I have Buffalo WBR2-G54S and the correspondent card for my PC. Here is some information about the product: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1821979,00.asp The problem I have is as follows: While I normally have a working connection (around 20-40Mbps), some games, Hitman, Civilization 4 and Skulltag (a doom source port) severely disrupt the connection to a crawl or completely cause it to disconnect. When I exit the game, the connection returns back to normal. I have no idea what is causing it, but as you can imagine, this is most annoying. The games do not follow any logical pattern either. Warcraft 3 works fine even on Battle.net, while Hitman games cause disconnects even though they don't even interact with the internet. I once tried reinstalling the card's drivers, to no avail. I really don't have a clue on what I'm supposed to do with this. The OS I'm using is Windows XP pro. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

23rd December 2007, 10:34 AM	#4
SnowblindFatal New Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3	Thanks for your replies. I don't believe that this is the case, however, as it is quite specific when the connection drops out. It is exactly the moment I start these specific games. I can run really high end games like Armed Assault and such with the connection working, and on the other hand when I run some really low end games like Doom, I suffer from disconnection. As I said, there isn't really any logical connection between the games. Both new and old ones are suspectible to this problem. I really think it's a software related issue. Last edited by SnowblindFatal; 23rd December 2007 at 11:07 AM. Reason: made it make more sense

23rd December 2007, 2:16 PM	#6
Daemon Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: qld.au Posts: 3,371	You need something like Netstumbler or a better utility to measure the signal strength etc. If the signal strength (and certainly the SNR) doesn't change, I'd say it's the drivers. Personally it sounds like an odd driver conflict somewhere, where the PCI bus is being heavily utilised or something. The amount of EMI required from a computer to affect the wireless would be a fair amount and would usually only occur when there is a faulty part. __________________ Hosting consultant .... and brewer of fine ales

25th December 2007, 10:29 PM	#9
Sprinker Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 177	Mate, you said so yourself. You have reinstalled the drivers and it did not fix it! Did you install the most up to date driver's? Not just the ones off the wireless card vendors CD. If you did so, then it really has to be a hardware issue. If your still convinced its a software issue, follow the 3 R's (Reboot, Reinstall, Reformat). __________________ Apple MacBook Pro, i7 2Ghz, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD, OS X 10.7 - Lion Goodness Apple iPad, Gen 3 - 32GB WiFi + 3.5G, Black Carbonite - i7 3770, 16GB DDR3 1600, Gigabyte GTX 560 - Ubuntu 12.04 x86_64

23rd December 2007, 8:51 AM	#2
kogi Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: 2031 Posts: 4,068	Does the corresponding card have a little aerial sticking out the back? If it is, my guess is that it's picking up interference from your video card. You need to get an aerial with a cable that will bring it to the top of your computer case. kogi

23rd December 2007, 9:27 AM	#3
g@z Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Melbourne Posts: 1,932	agree with the above. The other option you could try quickly is to lay both your antennas flat instead of staight up. This should move the PC antenna away from the back of the case. Also, make sure there are no cables near the PC antenna. I've just had a similar issue where my wireless link has been dropping out whenever it's too close to one of the cables at the back of the PC. I had to lay it flat, and also make it poke out the side of the case instead of stright back. Regards, g@z.

23rd December 2007, 11:47 AM	#5
g@z Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Melbourne Posts: 1,932	I don't understand. Two replies telling you the pretty much the same thing and you don't even want to try it to see if it's an issue or not? Regards, g@z.

24th December 2007, 10:11 AM	#8
kogi Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: 2031 Posts: 4,068	I'm still convinced it's a hardware issue. Have you moved the wifi-card so it's in the slot the furthest away from the video card? kogi