Laptop makes my wireless network cry

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Dooey Jo
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Laptop makes my wireless network cry

Post by Dooey Jo »

To make a short story shorter: We have a laptop, and whenever it's switched on and nearby our router, the wireless network goes down, or gets severely crippled (it depends on how near it is). Everything works fine for things that are connected by cable to the router, however, so it would seem that the laptop is jamming the signals somehow (though, strangely, it doesn't seem to affect the laptop's own connection). It would also cause distortion (much more so than some of my other stationary computers did) on a certain TV channel, when it was near my old TV, so I know that it must emit some radio noise, and I suspect that's what's messing with the network. Though I suppose something could also be wrong with the laptop's transceiver, since the laptop itself appears to be unaffected.

Two questions:
1) What the hell?
2) How can I fix this? I've changed the channel on the router, but that didn't work (which might further suggest that something is up with the laptop, or that it emits a broad spectrum of noise).
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Vohu Manah
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Post by Vohu Manah »

Please tell me this is a new laptop or it is otherwise under warranty. It sounds like a bad wireless card in the laptop and that it needs repair or replacement. A wireless card in working condition shouldn't be causing interference like that.
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Dooey Jo
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Post by Dooey Jo »

Vohu Manah wrote:Please tell me this is a new laptop or it is otherwise under warranty. It sounds like a bad wireless card in the laptop and that it needs repair or replacement. A wireless card in working condition shouldn't be causing interference like that.
It's from my mom's job, so they can probably replace it. I just want to be sure it really is the card that's doing it, and not something else, lest the new one does it too.
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Vohu Manah
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Post by Vohu Manah »

Dooey Jo wrote:It's from my mom's job, so they can probably replace it. I just want to be sure it really is the card that's doing it, and not something else, lest the new one does it too.
Without having the laptop in question in my home to try it myself, you could eliminate it as the cause if you take it over to a friend's place that also has a running wireless network and see if their network develops similar issues. Barring that little bit of detective work, you only have issues when this laptop is on your wireless network so I must assume it is the cause.
There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it’s perfectly reasonable to strip-search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible … Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between drug warriors and child molesters.” - Jacob Sullum[/size][/align]
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Lisa
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Post by Lisa »

turn off ipv6 if it is on. this hoses my folks network.
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