Wireless AP losing network connection

[mosley]

My home network is set up as follows:

I have the cable modem connected to the WAN port on my Linksys BEFSR41 router. I then have one of the ports from this router connected to my Linksys WRT110 wireless router to use as an access point. I set this up following the instructions on the following link:

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2556

Everything works fine (I can view the both routers admin pages) but I am losing my wireless network connection every so often. This has been happening consistently for the past few days, since I set it up. If I unplug power from the wireless router and plug it back in the wireless connection comes back up, for a little while.

The last time I lost the wireless connection I decided to connect the computer via an Ethernet cable to one of the ports on the wireless router and I was able to connect to the internet without unplugging power, and I can view the both routers admin pages.

BEFSR41 (wired router)
Internet Connection Type: Obtain an IP automatically
IP Address: 192.168.123.1
DHCP Server: Enabled
DHCP Address Range: 192.168.123.100 to 192.168.123.149

WRT110 (wireless router)
Internet Connection Type: Automatic Configuration - DHCP
IP Address: 192.168.123.200
DHCP Server: Disabled
NAT: Disabled
SSID Broadcast: Disabled
Wireless MAC Filter: Enabled with the MAC address of my laptop

One last question, When I am in the wired routers admin page and I view the DHCP client table I see the IP addresses of everything connected, but I dont see the IP address of the wireless router. Should I?

Any Suggestions why this is happening and how I can correct it?
Thanks,
Ed

[cchooper]

By the sounds of it, it seems as if your wireless NIC is losing connection to the wireless router (or vice-versa). You'll want to isolate the cause of this. Your choices are:

The wireless router
The wireless NIC

If you can, try another wireless NIC and see if it still happens. Otherwise, I had a BEFS* series router that did this same thing. I ended up replacing it and I never had a problem again.

One last question, When I am in the wired routers admin page and I view the DHCP client table I see the IP addresses of everything connected, but I dont see the IP address of the wireless router. Should I?

Not if you're using it as a wireless bridge/AP, which it sounds like you are.

[mosley]

I think I should give a little more info...

Before I set up my wireless router (WRT110) as an AP I used it as my wired/wireless router exclusively for over a year and never once had the problem I am experiencing now. This problem only popped up when I introduced the BEFSR41 router and used the WRT110 as an AP. I have a USB wireless NIC. I can try that with my laptop, but again, I used this laptop with my WRT110 router for over a year with no problems. I do have another wired router (BEFSX41) that I can try, but I don’t see how this can be causing the problem downstream.

What about interference? When I set up the wireless router as an AP I moved it to a different location. Maybe I should move it to the same or another location and see what happens.

One last thing, I tried to upgrade the firmware on both of these routers and was unable to do so. I downloaded the firmware and tried to upgrade via the routers administrators interface. The upload process completed and when I re-logged onto the admin interface both routers were at their original software version. I tried this multiple times, and I even reset both routers and tried this as well, but still no firmware upgrade.

Thanks

[cchooper]

Before I set up my wireless router (WRT110) as an AP I used it as my wired/wireless router exclusively for over a year and never once had the problem I am experiencing now.

but again, I used this laptop with my WRT110 router for over a year with no problems.

Hardware can go bad, you know.

What about interference? When I set up the wireless router as an AP I moved it to a different location. Maybe I should move it to the same or another location and see what happens.

Pardon me for not reading your mind, and pardon me for assuming that you wouldn't try something as simple as moving the router before posting on an internet forum.

[mosley]

Is that sarcasm? Pardon me for not having the knowledge and experience that you have.

[cchooper]

My apologies, but I find it frustrating when all of the information isn't given in the first post. Had I known that you had moved the access points, then certainly I would have suggested moving them first to rule out interference.

So my suggestions are:

Try rebooting the AP. Does it work for longer than usual before crapping out again? If so, the AP is probably bad.

If that doesn't fix it: Move the AP closer, away from metal, away from cordless phones, and away from any microwaves (they can cause problems, too.)

If that doesn't fix it: Try using the USB NIC. This is going to better determine if your lappy's NIC or the router is bad.

If it works with the USB NIC: Your lappy's NIC is busted (or possibly there's some sort of driver problem.)
If it still doesn't work with the USB NIC: Try another AP, borrow one if you can so you don't spend the extra $$.

I realize that the AP/NIC "used to work" just fine without problems, but consumer-grade products generally go bad after sometime, usually from the heat of always being on, or bad power.

RE: The firmware upgrade problem: That is an unusual problem, but hopefully unrelated.