Looking for network diagnostic tools (Win 7)

[NoXion]

Are there any decent, free network diagnostic tools for Windows 7? I keep having this intermittent connectivity problem and I'd like to find out why. Most of the time my wireless connection works fine, but around about once a month it will just completely crap out on me bringing up the dreaded little yellow triangle (when the connection isn't dropping repeatedly), and no matter how many times I use the network troubleshooter that comes with Win7, no matter how recently the router has been reset, or how many time I fiddle with the settings, the connection will remain either agonisingly slow or won't work at all. It does however seem to eventually start working properly again given a day or two, but the worry is that one day it will fuck up again, but normal service won't resume.

Help would be appreciated.

[Argosh]

Microsoft Network Monitor? There's also Wireshark.

[Edi]

First thing you do is reconfigure your WLAN.
* disable WPS
* disable WPA Mixed Mode. There is either WPA-PSK/TKIP or there is WPA2-PSK/AES. There are no other valid options. no compatibility mode, no WPA+WPA2-TKIP/AES, no fiddling, nothing.

WPA Mixed Mode is the cause of some 75-90% of WLAN problems whenever customers call us at work and their wireless doesn't work. Of the remainder, disabling WPS covers about a third and only then do you get into the wonderful world of hardware incompatibilities between WLAN chipsets, modems, drivers and other similar shit.

Once you've eliminated those two major headaches as considerations, then you should look into network diagnostic tools, but not before.

[Dominus Atheos]

Edi's suggestions are great, but my first thought is interference. The 2.4ghz band that wifi operates on is crowded. Things that can cause interference with wifi that you might not suspect:

Baby monitors
Bluetooth
Alarm systems, especially car alarm systems
Wireless cameras

[Vendetta]

* disable WPA Mixed Mode. There is either WPA-PSK/TKIP or there is WPA2-PSK/AES. There are no other valid options. no compatibility mode, no WPA+WPA2-TKIP/AES, no fiddling, nothing.

Authentication issues are usually all or nothing, it either authenticates or doesn't, it doesn't generally authenticate at first and then intermittently drop the connection and then fail.

Intermittent signal drops are more likely to be wireless interference, try changing the broadcast channel on your router (try a few different points on the spectrum, I usually say try channels 1, 6 and 11)

[Zaune]

Edi's suggestions are great, but my first thought is interference. The 2.4ghz band that wifi operates on is crowded. Things that can cause interference with wifi that you might not suspect:

Baby monitors
Bluetooth
Alarm systems, especially car alarm systems
Wireless cameras

Not to mention dodgy electrical wiring, or lots of metallic stuff like old gas lighting pipes embedded in the walls. Or even high humidity for that matter; if nothing we suggest fixes the issue, you might try checking your local weather report next time you have a problem.

And before you do anything else, especially changing any router settings at all unless you are absolutely certain you know what you're doing, make sure your wifi dongle's drivers are up to date. It can make more difference than you'd expect.

[Edi]

* disable WPA Mixed Mode. There is either WPA-PSK/TKIP or there is WPA2-PSK/AES. There are no other valid options. no compatibility mode, no WPA+WPA2-TKIP/AES, no fiddling, nothing.

Authentication issues are usually all or nothing, it either authenticates or doesn't, it doesn't generally authenticate at first and then intermittently drop the connection and then fail.

Intermittent signal drops are more likely to be wireless interference, try changing the broadcast channel on your router (try a few different points on the spectrum, I usually say try channels 1, 6 and 11)

Have you ever tried for example Apple products with WPA-Mixed mode? It authenticates all right, then refuses to connect, or randomly drops the connections or throws shit out of whack, may work for a while, then just plain refuses to do anything. It can easily cause intermittent connection drops and other similar issues, so those steps should always be taken as the first step of WLAN problem resolution. As I said, those two things fix 90%+ of WLAN problems and you won't be able to properly analyze other connection problems before you eliminate them from consideration. If the mixed mode authentication is in any way problematic, it also amplifies all the other problems that may exist because you get both sets of problems independent of each other.


EDIT: There is also another fun thing: Channels. Europe and US use different standards for the WLAN channels. In the US standard, there are 11 channels. In the European, there are 13. So if you have a modem or router that uses the European standard and your other device only supports the US version, if the automatic channel election shifts the channel to 12 or 13, your connection drops like a brick and won't come back until the automatic selection downshifts to channel 11 or lower.

[Vendetta]

Have you ever tried for example Apple products with WPA-Mixed mode?

Constantly for the last nine years on five different OS releases with no issues, thanks.

It authenticates all right, then refuses to connect, or randomly drops the connections or throws shit out of whack, may work for a while, then just plain refuses to do anything.

There was a problem with, IIRC, Snow Leopard's airport driver which would intermittently stop doing anything, but all you needed to do was repair permissions because it was the actual driver at fault, and then it would work until the next point release.

It can easily cause intermittent connection drops and other similar issues, so those steps should always be taken as the first step of WLAN problem resolution.

An authentication problem won't cause connection drops because authentication only happens at the point of connection. If you have an intermittent authentication problem then a dropped connection might not resume automatically, but that would apply equally to the initial connection attempt, sometimes that would fail as well.

The only other semi-common authentication issue related to WPA is the Atheros driver supplied with a lot of OEM Windows Vista releases circa 2007 which claims to be able to do AES but actually can't, so if you're using WPA2 or mixed mode it will connect with limited access, which again is a driver fault which requires you to update the driver.

As I said, those two things fix 90%+ of WLAN problems and you won't be able to properly analyze other connection problems before you eliminate them from consideration. If the mixed mode authentication is in any way problematic, it also amplifies all the other problems that may exist because you get both sets of problems independent of each other.

I have never encountered a problem specifically with WPA mixed modes, authentication problems are invariably down to the WLAN driver.

EDIT: There is also another fun thing: Channels. Europe and US use different standards for the WLAN channels. In the US standard, there are 11 channels. In the European, there are 13. So if you have a modem or router that uses the European standard and your other device only supports the US version, if the automatic channel election shifts the channel to 12 or 13, your connection drops like a brick and won't come back until the automatic selection downshifts to channel 11 or lower.

]

There's another fun thing. Your router, unless it's preconfigured by your ISP, will likely have a region selector, and you can select the region of your network card in the advanced driver properties of the device in Device Manager.

[NoXion]

Thanks everyone. Next time I get the opportunity, I'll give Edi and Vendetta's suggestions a go, and let you know how it went.