My compuer loses its wifi connection whenever DH turns his computer on? Help! Baffled!

[PrincessSmartipants]

I am not at all techy (neither is DH) so this is baffling and I will need very simple words to explain any possible solutions!

Bascially, 3 months ago we had fibre optic installed. We got a shiny new router (this becomes relevant later).

I use the wifi but DH uses an ethernet cable.

Whenever he turns his computer on, my wifi connection instantly drops. I then have to reconnect it (it doesn't do it automatically), and it usually take 2/3 tries, and the computer often tells me it is resetting the network adapter during the process.

It also happens if I'm using the wifi on my phone, and then if will often ask me for the wifi password again and sometimes tell me there is a problem authenticating the connection .

The other odd thing is that in my list of available connections, I have a nice strong signal for our home wifi, denoted by a full set of green bars. But when DH turns on his computer, the name of our old router (long since gone off to the recycling centre!) appears in the available connections list, denoted by 3 little blue things in a triangle?

WTF? Help?

Very hard to diagnose this remotely. Network issues are often buried in some obscure setting and it could be one of many many things wrong.

I suspect that one or more of your devices is hogging an IP address on the network and the router is then getting confused.

The way is should work is that the new router should control what "IP address" each client gets on the network using a protocol called DHCP. This should be the default setting on the new router - but it might not be.

In addition, all the computers, tablets, phones that want to connect should be set to accept DHCP allocation of an IP address automatically. It could be that some or all are set manually on each device and this will then confuse information flow.

It's a bit like everyone getting to decide what house number they want rather than leaving it to the Royal Mail to decide. The postman won't know where to deliver the mail if we all choose to be No. 1 Easy Street.

Was your DH's computer repeating the old signal? It sounds like it was.

It also sounds like you're trying to connect to the same IP address, so you are booted off when your DH connects. He gets priority even though you're already using the IP, because he's wired.

You'll need to look at your DNS settings, or BT can send an engineer, but they will probably charge because it's a settings issue and not a hardware issue, so not their responsibility. It won't be hard to fix, though.

I agree it sounds like an IP conflict. We have been having issues with this since we bought a cheap plug in wifi extender. I just connect and disconnect and if seems to sort itself out so I haven't bothered to discover a solution, sorry.

Thank you all for the help! I've got more questions now though....

How would we know if DH computer was repeating the old signal? And how do we stop it, or is it unrelated/not a problem?

And how would we even start with the DNS settings. .. or should I find a professional to help?

From the symptoms I would say this is nothing to do with DNS so ignore that.

I have no idea what InfinitySeven means about your DH's computer "
repeating the old signal. Computers don't act as wifi repeaters and can't repeat a signal that isn't there.

I suspect the name of your old router appearing means you have set up a computer to computer network at some point - that is represented by an icon with three blue oblongs connected by a green triangle. That could be the problem. Go to the Network and Sharing Center. In the left panel click on "Manage wireless networks". A list of networks will appear. Right click on the name of your old router and select "Remove network".

Thank you prh47bridge - that is the symbol that appears but I've just tried to follow your instructions and it wasn't there in the list of networks Maybe that's because DH isn't using his computer atm though? I'll try again later when he's home

If DH uses an ethernet cable, get him to disable the wi-fi on his computer. He doesn't need to use wi-fi at all. I think (and I hate wi-fi with a passion, because problems can be difficult to diagnose) there may be an issue with the capabilities of the different equipment.

Years back the speed for data over wi-fi were low. 5.5 Mbps, 11 Mbps for example (and then later went to 54 Mbps, 150 Mbps), and denoted as 802.11 A or B or G or (even faster:) N

You may see router specifications saying 802.11 A/B/G

I think what may be happening is that when DH switches his computer on, the wi-fi tries to connect (say it is old, and can only cope with 802.11 B) while yours is newer (or vice versa). The router may adapt to allow his connection but at the same time, causes your connection to drop.

It's outside my knowledge (and even, in this case, interest) to care exactly what goes on at the router, but I'm guessing that when it switches to accommodate DH's computer, it also messes up your connection...

It certainly appears to fit the symptoms you describe. If he uses a cable, he has no need to use wi-fi and if he can unplug or disable that, it seems an instant solution.

If there's still a problem, then an IP address conflict (with his set to use a fixed address and yours using DHCP) could also be it, but some network cards / software reports a clash of that type these days... still easy to cause, if his ethernet cable connection is set with a fixed IP and that's co-incidentally the starting point of the address pool the router uses, so your connection gets that same IP address if you are on the router first.

I am guessing that before this router, the old had no wi-fi. DH's PC was set up to share his cable connection to the router and allow other computers to share by connecting on wi-fi to his computer. It's called ICS (Internet Connection Sharing by Microsoft, and Apple allows the same sort of thing).

All the more reason for his computer to have the wireless disabled...