How does our connection have a mind of its own?

[Si Hunt]

We have a wireless internet connection via a router which sits next to the computer - it connects via a dongle in one of the USB ports. We don't really need to connect this way but I used to need to connect wirelessly for work, and have now forgotton how to change it back.

But that's not the question. When we log on, we connect by Viewing Wireless Networks, clicking 'connect' on our one ("Simon1") and then clicking 'ok' past the password which it seems to have stored by default. The odd thing is, when you start the PC it tries to connect automatically... and sometimes it connects instantly, sometimes it never connects, getting stuck at the 'Aquiring Internet Address' stage. You then have to click 'disconnect', and then 'connect' and it ALWAYS then connects instantly.

How can it behave differently each time you boot up? Why does it sometimes struggle to connect and sometimes not? Surely it should do the same thing every time!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

How mysterious. Um... Uninstall everything! Give the PC a good clean out and a virus scan. Then try again.

[Jon Masters]

Spending most of my time at work fighting against an overloaded and badly organised wireless network, I'm becoming more convinced that they're a deliberate throwback to the Golden Age of computing, when tape-stored programs might or might not load, or analogue phone lines would drop when a download was 99% complete after 5 minutes.

Otherwise computers would become boringly predictable

[Si Hunt]

Uninstall everything

Are you mad? If I've learnt one thing in twenty years of using computers, it's "if it works, leave it alone". In this case, it works most of the time so it's not worth the risk!

Si.

[Lissa]

Wireless connection is a bugger. There are too many networks around these days and Windows is rubbish when it comes to dealing with them. No matter how often I set Pops' default network his laptop still occasionally tries to connect to someone else's for no reason.

If the router is next to the PC then you'd be best off just connecting it with an ethernet cable. The wireless signal would still be there if you needed it for another device (laptop, phone, wacky invisible music beaming system) but your main PC would have an uninterrupted connection.

[Si Hunt]

This morning the 'choose a wireless network' screen didn't find our wireless network. For the first time ever. It has found it on EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THE PAST TWO MONTHS and I did nothing different today. I refreshed, still nothing. I refreshed, still nothing. Then it found it.

It just beggars belief. It's a MACHINE! How can it suddenly behave differently for no reason?!

HOW!?!

In other news, why does it say "Connected to: SIMON1(unsecured)" when I connect? It must be secured, as I have to put a password in to connect.

Si.

[Philipnet]

TIt's a MACHINE! How can it suddenly behave differently for no reason?!

Don't even go there!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Mine very often says (unsecured) too, for no reason. It seems, in my experience, that wireless connections are just a bit weird and unreliable and do weird things all the time. And nobody on any internet forum anywhere can say why or offer any help. They usually just assume you have something set up wrong even when you know for a fact you don't. Try changing the wireless channel from the default one, it MIGHT make a difference. Alternatively, sacrifice a few chickens. That might work too.