Well, I’m about at my wits end here. I’ve never posted on a forum about any computer related problem that I’ve had but I’ve just about had enough with this one and I was hoping maybe someone could help me out.
Here is my problem:
My router (being used as an access point) is constantly and randomly losing connection to the internet. When it happens, I have to load the admin page for the router and reboot it. Often times, after rebooting, it will happen again within 1-5 minutes. Once it happens once, it’s sure to happen 10 more times in a 10-15 minute period. Sometimes, though, it will go days or even a week’ish (rarely) without ever dropping. I am running a Cisco E2000 router as an access point.
So a little about my setup – I run two routers in the house, one is located in the basement and is connected to my cable modem. The other is located on the second floor and serves as an access point. Both routers are the same model, a Cisco e2000. The access point is connected via Ethernet on the LAN port through the cable that is wired into my house. The wires in my house run through a switch before they reach the router in the basement. I have each router and access point running on separate channels, 6 and 11 (at the moment, although I have tried to use 1 and 11). I have the access point set at IP 1.64 and the main router running on the default 1.1. The DNS range for the main router is set to .2 to .51.
Both router and access point are broadcasting SSID at 2.4 GHz in a BG mixed signal with a 20MHZ channel with. On the access point, I have NAT turned off as well as DHCP. The access point is set to run on automatic DHCP. I just updated the firmware last night and this solved nothing.
I have done some testing and found that when the connection to the internet drops (it very commonly happens later at night) I am able to pull the Ethernet from the access point and connect it to my PC to find that the connection to the internet on the main router is fine. It is worth noting that when the connection to the internet drops, I also lose connection to the router in my basement. I cannot load its admin page nor can I ping it. It seems that the problem is with the access point. As I said, it’s a brand new router and I have actually been having this problem for about a year and a half, even with my old WRT54G.
I have tried to run a network analyzer program such as Microsoft Network Monitor and have actually captured (I think) the problem as it unfolds although I am not really sure as I am not completely sure what I am looking at or if it’s even there.
