Problems using TVersity

[Davey_Pitch]

I formatted and setup my computer in the upstairs bedroom last night, put the new wireless card in, and connected it to the network (with a signal strength of 95% according to the wireless card software). I downloaded and installed TVersity and set up a simple share of a music folder, and went away to happily play on the 360 while listening to some music.

However, I soon ran into problems. Every minute or so, the music would stop as the network seemed to hang. Sometimes it would only hang for a second or so, other times it would stop for a couple of minutes before carrying on. I tried disabling the firewall on the PC incase that was having any effect, and I know the PC didn't actually lose it's connection to the network as the music would have stopped completely if that were the case.

Along the same lines, I was also trying to use Remote Desktop to control the XP machine using the Vista laptop, and the speed was unbelievably slow. At times it also seemed to hang for a couple of minutes before letting me do anything.

I'm hoping I've missed something simple somewhere and that's not a problem with the wireless connection upstairs, but does anyone have any ideas I could try when I get in? It was late last night when this happened so I didn't get much chance to troubleshoot, so I'm starting that fresh tonight. If I can't figure it out I may have to try to run a wire upstairs which I'd like to avoid if possible.

[Daz]

If you're having trouble with RDP then it does point to the wireless connection. Set a ping running from the PC to the router and leave it while you do something (play music, transfer some files around etc). Keep an eye to see if you start losing packets or the latency goes loopy.

What encryption you using?

[Davey_Pitch]

The encryption is WPA-PSK. Transferring files around is something I also had a problem with. Both computers are in the same workgroup, both can ping each other, but neither can map to the hidden admin shares on either machine. I didn't spend long trying to sort that out though, so I'm sure that's fixable tonight.

[Daz]

That'll be permissions, your symptoms point to connectivity. Run the ping and see what happens :)

[Davey_Pitch]

Will do, I'll report back this evening :)

[Davey_Pitch]

Well, that's that sorted then. Rather than spend ages trying to troubleshoot the wireless problems, I decided on a different course of action. Thanks to a hammer, screwdriver, pen, Lynne, and a 10m network cable, I now have a wire that runs through the living room ceiling into the bedroom, then through the bedroom wall into the back of the PC. It's how I wanted to do it in the first place, but I hadn't spotted the hole in the corner of the room that I could run the cable through. Everything is silky smooth now, and I'm actually posting this on my PC via Remote Desktop from the laptop. Woot! :D

[Mark]

As ever, Wired > Wireless. If I had the skills to make two holes in the ceiling - one in here, one in the lounge, I'd move the cat5 that's currently stuck to the ceiling into the loft and be done with it. As it is, I now have a new powerline module so will fit that at some point and remove the cat5. Given how well it's been working hardwired though I may eventually get someone in to make the required holes.

PS - had exactly the same problem with my laptop and WPA-PSK/TKIP a few days ago, with the laptop two feet away from the router. A fair bit of research later and the suggestion was the laptop card's implementation of WPA-PSK/TKIP was the cause. So, eventually turned the wi-fi off in here, turned the wi-fi on the router at the other end of the long cat5 on, configured that to use WPA2-PSK/AES (gotta love custom 3rd party firmware), and off she went. Signal has been pretty good too which is remarkable given how much trouble I had getting signal between the same two routers before I went powerline.

[Daz]

I know the feeling Davey - couple of weekends ago I spent some time with a 400mm drill bit feeding cable into and out of the garage to keep the connections behind my TV wired. Anything that moves (laptop/phone) I'm happy on wireless, but anything fixed gets cat5'ing :)

Hope it all works smooth for you now.

[Davey_Pitch]

PS - had exactly the same problem with my laptop and WPA-PSK/TKIP a few days ago, with the laptop two feet away from the router. A fair bit of research later and the suggestion was the laptop card's implementation of WPA-PSK/TKIP was the cause. So, eventually turned the wi-fi off in here, turned the wi-fi on the router at the other end of the long cat5 on, configured that to use WPA2-PSK/AES (gotta love custom 3rd party firmware), and off she went. Signal has been pretty good too which is remarkable given how much trouble I had getting signal between the same two routers before I went powerline.

I read on one of the Sky forums that the encryption may well have been the problem, but at least doing this has got me all wired in, which I'm happy about :)

Anything that moves (laptop/phone) I'm happy on wireless, but anything fixed gets cat5'ing :)

That's how I always wanted it, so I'm glad I had the problems now as it forced me to sort it out :) As always though, thanks for the help :)