Inexplainable Wireless networking issue - Halp?

[eymas]

Right... So I had my mind puzzled on an inexplainable error/failure I got yesterday.
Yesterday my wireless connection was slow already, and often desynchronizes or lags even the computer/other devices, the problem could lie on the adapter I thought; Well...
The wireless adapter of my workstation now refuses to work alltogether, and even my spare(same one) refuses to work either.

The weird thing on the other hand is that the PC does get a valid IP address(verified through router set-up) and handshake etcetera.

Here is the evidence for above

Said picture shows the state of the workstation; A clean installation of Windows 7 holding only the drivers.

Perhaps it's time to buy a new adapter anyway, or to wait for my new PC arriving at the end of this month. but I would like to see if this can be solved in a way so I can repurpose the PC as a home server.

Additional details:
The adapter in question is a Thomson TG123g 802.11g adapter, and rather old ones too.
Pinging to various IPs(DNS server of router, and outside, as well as even Google's DNS(8.8.8.8)) all refuse to work, Pinging to a local IP gives the same result.
Reconnecting/reinstalling/restarting both the router and adapter/PC fail.
Somehow the adapter works slowly under Linux(Xubuntu 13.04)

And to repeat; Yes i am considering just buying a new adapter, though it would need to be under €20.
I hate the perfect barista downtown, godly espressos/cappucinos. yet €3 for a medium

[SugarD]

Without researching it very far, what you are describing does indeed sound like your adapter is just dying on you. Also given that you have said it is old, it would not surprise me at all if this was the situation. Most wireless adapters made in the last 6-7 years were not of great quality because the "Wireless G" specification kept changing as companies continuously competed for the title of having the fastest wireless product. I'm sure you can also think of a number of other 802.11g-specification adapters that advertised other brand names to say they were faster than normal 802.11g, which was all really just non-standard BS.

As far as a home server goes, I would recommend putting that on a wired network. Although speed may not be a factor, the reliability of the connection on something like that may work better on a wired setup.

As for a new adapter, make sure it is compatible with your network before buying it. Also, if your network supports 802.11n technology, I would highly recommend getting an adapter which supports that, and is backwards-compatible with the older 802.11b and 802.11g variants. That way you can still connect to older networks on the go, but your connection speed will be the fastest possible for your desired network. This would require your wireless router to support the protocol too, though.

[eymas]

As far as a home server goes, I would recommend putting that on a wired network. Although speed may not be a factor, the reliability of the connection on something like that may work better on a wired setup.

As for a new adapter, make sure it is compatible with your network before buying it. Also, if your network supports 802.11n technology, I would highly recommend getting an adapter which supports that, and is backwards-compatible with the older 802.11b and 802.11g variants. That way you can still connect to older networks on the go, but your connection speed will be the fastest possible for your desired network. This would require your wireless router to support the protocol too, though.

Sadly my house does and can not support an ethernet cable running from the first to the second floor, and through another room while we're at it; nor can we ever build that, and I do not neccesarily mind having it wireless since it will also host a local network on an unmanaged 16-port switch to my other servers/workstations, since it will most likely be a NAS/Imaging solution.

And it would rather be stupid if you didn't go for 802.11n right now, 

[Gandalf]

You might want to change the channel. If your neighbour decided to buy a stringer connection and it is on the same channel as yours, the interference may kill the signal. Change channel and see if that will help.

If you buy a new one ensure it also has a 5Ghz band connection, might be good for the future.

[eymas]

You might want to change the channel. If your neighbour decided to buy a stringer connection and it is on the same channel as yours, the interference may kill the signal. Change channel and see if that will help.

Good point, Didn't use wardriving yet.

If you buy a new one ensure it also has a 5Ghz band connection, might be good for the future.

Clearly.

[Julio.]

You might want to start looking into the 802.11ac standard if you're looking for the latest.

[TheRock]

Yes you can have ethernet cable even on second floor with a pair of device called 'Powerline', basically they are wall switches transferring the internet through house power, they look like this:



Easy to use, you mount both, you take one ethernet cable off your router to one switch, and you pick the other switch from the other one to your pc, works good, tried it at a friends house where he had the same problem with house wiring, unable to use internet on second floor, using that pair he has internet on second floor now aswell, try looking for them on some local store..

[SugarD]

Yes you can have ethernet cable even on second floor with a pair of device called 'Powerline', basically they are wall switches transferring the internet through house power, they look like this:



Easy to use, you mount both, you take one ethernet cable off your router to one switch, and you pick the other switch from the other one to your pc, works good, tried it at a friends house where he had the same problem with house wiring, unable to use internet on second floor, using that pair he has internet on second floor now aswell, try looking for them on some local store..

They make these for phone line connections too. I would only recommend using this as a last resort, however. It transmits the signals over electrical lines in order to pick up the data, so homes with old or bad wiring won't give you reliable speeds or connections.

[eymas]

If i have to ruin the mood here, Out of nowhere it started working again, this may be locked therefore.

Really, it is quite enraging that after all you did it just fixes itself like a case of the flu...

[Brian]

What provider are you using, quite some dutch-providers have had some issues lately.