Why would turning on a computer cause wifi not to work

On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 12:53:02 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 12:27 PM, Metspitzer wrote:

However, I have a question: do the other device's connections DROP once
the computer is turned on (do they get disconnected entirely?) or do
they simply become incredibly slow? If they get disconnected, you're
looking at interference. If they get slow, there's likely something
hogging the bandwidth on your computer.

When I have tried this in the past, all I get is a yes, no answer.
Turning the computer back on caused the WiFi to drop. Except this
time, but the cellphone I am using today is right here in the room
with the router/XP machine.

I'm referring to the other devices. When the problematic XP computer
connects, do the others simply disconnect or is their connection slowed
down tremendously?

Depending on which of the two issues you're facing, the solution is
different.

Those devices are not here at the moment.

On 20/02/2014 12:28 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other machine on
the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine with a
static ip.

That point right there is an important one. If your XP computer was set
to use 192.168.0.15 for instance, the chances are that that ip address
will have been reserved and no other device could ever be given it. On
the off chance that a tablet (or other device) had that ip address and
the XP computer was suddenly turned on, the tablet would automatically
be disconnected to give that IP address to the XP computer. However, the
tablet would reconnect immediately and be given a new IP address so the
issue is unlikely to truly happen.

My question is, is the IP address set on the network card side in
Windows XP or did you reserve an IP address within the router itself?

--
Silver Slimer
Wikipedia Supporter
Embrace mediocrity. Install GNU/Linux today.

On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:17 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 12:28 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other machine on
the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine with a
static ip.

That point right there is an important one. If your XP computer was set
to use 192.168.0.15 for instance, the chances are that that ip address
will have been reserved and no other device could ever be given it. On
the off chance that a tablet (or other device) had that ip address and
the XP computer was suddenly turned on, the tablet would automatically
be disconnected to give that IP address to the XP computer. However, the
tablet would reconnect immediately and be given a new IP address so the
issue is unlikely to truly happen.

My question is, is the IP address set on the network card side in
Windows XP or did you reserve an IP address within the router itself?

I set it within the control panel.

On 20/02/2014 2:02 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:17 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 12:28 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other machine on
the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine with a
static ip.

That point right there is an important one. If your XP computer was set
to use 192.168.0.15 for instance, the chances are that that ip address
will have been reserved and no other device could ever be given it. On
the off chance that a tablet (or other device) had that ip address and
the XP computer was suddenly turned on, the tablet would automatically
be disconnected to give that IP address to the XP computer. However, the
tablet would reconnect immediately and be given a new IP address so the
issue is unlikely to truly happen.

My question is, is the IP address set on the network card side in
Windows XP or did you reserve an IP address within the router itself?

I set it within the control panel.

That's the problem. You might want to make sure that the network card
(or wifi card) is set to obtain an IP address automatically. If you're
using a router, you should be configuring THAT to provide a specific IP
address to a specific machine. Every other machine connected to that
router is likely obtaining an IP address automatically whereas this one
is requesting a specific IP address which can't, in actuality, be
provided as nothing in the router's configuration is ensuring that.

I truly hope I'm being clear.

--
Silver Slimer
Wikipedia Supporter
Embrace mediocrity. Install GNU/Linux today.

On 02/20/2014 11:28 AM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other machine on
the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine with a
static ip.





Change the network name
then reboot.

That should clear up the problem.

Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:42:35 +0000 (GMT), "Rodney Pont"
wrote:

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:12:17 -0500, Metspitzer wrote:

My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.
Do you mean totally quit working or just lost internet connectivity? It
probably doesn't much matter which to be honest. Does everything stop
if you unplug the network cable from the XP machine and switch it on?

Yesterday, the XP machine was on. Someone brought over a Win7 laptop
that had been connected and set up for the router before. It didn't
work. I was getting a signal from a neighbor's router, but no signal
from my router. Since I had known that the Winmx machine caused this
before, I turned it off. When I turned it off, my router showed up
and started working fine.

I just tried your suggestion of unplugging the XP machine. When I did
that, the smartphone I am testing with connected to the router. I
plugged the XP machine back in and the smartphone stayed on. That is
an improvement, but it is sure not a solution. What did we just
learn?

I have never had to try turning the router on/off. Since I think we
figured out that it is the XP machine that is the cause, what can be
done next.

I do have another power supply. I can switch that if that could work.

Thanks
I'm thinking either the XP machine is killing the router, unpluging it
and everything still works, other than the XP machine, would prove
that. If nothing still works try switching off the router for a couple
of mins and then switch it back on. Has that fixed things?

If it still doesn't work with the XP machine on but unplugged from the
network move the XP machine to another room and try it. In this case
it's likely to be the power supply has gone noisy and is swamping the
wi-fi signal from the router.

Just to be clear here, there are two kinds of tests.

1) Tests involving the WinXP network cable. (WinXP being wired only
and not having a Wifi adapter/antenna at all.)

If WinXP is running, network cable is connected, then we disconnect
the network cable, we're examining the response from a wired network perspective.
Like duplicate DHCP address, some kind of inappropriate router protocol,
something like that. Logical networking problems.

2) The ATX supply in the WinXP computer, could also generate electrical
noise. I've had that happen here. The ATX supply is split into two
pieces. If the fans are running, the main section of the supply is on.
If the fans stop running, and the computer is in "sleep mode", then
the +5VSB regulator is still running. That is a separate switching
supply inside the ATX supply.

Windows on the screen Main supply on +5VSB on
Computer in sleep mode Main supply off +5VSB on
Switch off at back or unplug Main supply off +5VSB off

To test that the ATX isn't the source of the problem, you could
turn off the ATX at the back. And see if the absence of the ATX
as a noise source, has some impact on the Wifi networking aspect.
If you turn it from OFF to ON, and the mobile devices are
still seeing their Wifi connection, then that kinda shoots down
a simple noise problem.

To date, those would be the ones we'd consider as possibilities.

3) A paper I was reading recently, claims that USB3 peripherals
in a USB3 operating state, can emit broadband noise covering 2.4GHz.
This is different than the noise generated by USB2 rates,
which would not nearly be as bad (USB2 doesn't cover Wifi frequencies
all that well). As soon as the USB3 peripheral is powered off
(cable can remain plugged in), the noise should disappear.
The paper did not provide any really good suggestions for fixing
it either. I was able to find one ferrite material that might
work up that high, but there's no sign of ferrites in the USB3
cabling business. No suggestion anyone takes this noise seriously.

In my case, the noisy ATX supply was an Antec, and it injected switching
noise back into the AC mains. The noise level was strong enough,
conducted noise passed right through the wall adapter for the
ADSL modem, and caused it to sit in a loss-of-sync loop. Unplugging
the culprit computer, allowed my ADSL modem to sync up again (as the
noise was gone).

Physical examination of the ATX supply, revealed no leaking capacitors.
So it wasn't a "usual" Antec failure mode. There were also the correct
filter components on the AC input. So the noise source inside the
supply, must have been pretty powerful, to go back through the
filter network and cause havoc.

I would expect the noise from a failing ATX, to extend up to around
30MHz. It really shouldn't reach 2.4GHz or 5GHz and nail the Wifi.

Your WinXP computer could have a Wifi or Bluetooth failure, where
the radio section no longer modulates properly, does backoff properly,
doesn't follow protocol. I've never heard of such a failure. But
it's also a possibility. It just doesn't line up with the symptoms
all that well so far. Maybe your WinXP computer has Wifi or it
doesn't.

I've hesitated to suggest anything in this thread, because no
single fault scenario I can think of, accounts for all the symptoms
properly. The above are wildly speculative, with the exception
of me actually experiencing a noisy power supply. I think the
noisy power supply in my Antec, put a "herring bone" pattern
on an old analog CRT type TV set. So the TV set was also experiencing
the noise to some extent. It's possible modern LCD TV sets, might
not pass as much of that (unless the noise gets into the RF signal
end somehow).

Paul

On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:38:18 -0500, Paul wrote:

Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:42:35 +0000 (GMT), "Rodney Pont"
wrote:

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:12:17 -0500, Metspitzer wrote:

My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.
Do you mean totally quit working or just lost internet connectivity? It
probably doesn't much matter which to be honest. Does everything stop
if you unplug the network cable from the XP machine and switch it on?

Yesterday, the XP machine was on. Someone brought over a Win7 laptop
that had been connected and set up for the router before. It didn't
work. I was getting a signal from a neighbor's router, but no signal
from my router. Since I had known that the Winmx machine caused this
before, I turned it off. When I turned it off, my router showed up
and started working fine.

I just tried your suggestion of unplugging the XP machine. When I did
that, the smartphone I am testing with connected to the router. I
plugged the XP machine back in and the smartphone stayed on. That is
an improvement, but it is sure not a solution. What did we just
learn?

I have never had to try turning the router on/off. Since I think we
figured out that it is the XP machine that is the cause, what can be
done next.

I do have another power supply. I can switch that if that could work.

Thanks
I'm thinking either the XP machine is killing the router, unpluging it
and everything still works, other than the XP machine, would prove
that. If nothing still works try switching off the router for a couple
of mins and then switch it back on. Has that fixed things?

If it still doesn't work with the XP machine on but unplugged from the
network move the XP machine to another room and try it. In this case
it's likely to be the power supply has gone noisy and is swamping the
wi-fi signal from the router.

Just to be clear here, there are two kinds of tests.

1) Tests involving the WinXP network cable. (WinXP being wired only
and not having a Wifi adapter/antenna at all.)

If WinXP is running, network cable is connected, then we disconnect
the network cable, we're examining the response from a wired network perspective.
Like duplicate DHCP address, some kind of inappropriate router protocol,
something like that. Logical networking problems.

2) The ATX supply in the WinXP computer, could also generate electrical
noise. I've had that happen here. The ATX supply is split into two
pieces. If the fans are running, the main section of the supply is on.
If the fans stop running, and the computer is in "sleep mode", then
the +5VSB regulator is still running. That is a separate switching
supply inside the ATX supply.

Windows on the screen Main supply on +5VSB on
Computer in sleep mode Main supply off +5VSB on
Switch off at back or unplug Main supply off +5VSB off

To test that the ATX isn't the source of the problem, you could
turn off the ATX at the back. And see if the absence of the ATX
as a noise source, has some impact on the Wifi networking aspect.
If you turn it from OFF to ON, and the mobile devices are
still seeing their Wifi connection, then that kinda shoots down
a simple noise problem.

To date, those would be the ones we'd consider as possibilities.

3) A paper I was reading recently, claims that USB3 peripherals
in a USB3 operating state, can emit broadband noise covering 2.4GHz.
This is different than the noise generated by USB2 rates,
which would not nearly be as bad (USB2 doesn't cover Wifi frequencies
all that well). As soon as the USB3 peripheral is powered off
(cable can remain plugged in), the noise should disappear.
The paper did not provide any really good suggestions for fixing
it either. I was able to find one ferrite material that might
work up that high, but there's no sign of ferrites in the USB3
cabling business. No suggestion anyone takes this noise seriously.

In my case, the noisy ATX supply was an Antec, and it injected switching
noise back into the AC mains. The noise level was strong enough,
conducted noise passed right through the wall adapter for the
ADSL modem, and caused it to sit in a loss-of-sync loop. Unplugging
the culprit computer, allowed my ADSL modem to sync up again (as the
noise was gone).

Physical examination of the ATX supply, revealed no leaking capacitors.
So it wasn't a "usual" Antec failure mode. There were also the correct
filter components on the AC input. So the noise source inside the
supply, must have been pretty powerful, to go back through the
filter network and cause havoc.

I would expect the noise from a failing ATX, to extend up to around
30MHz. It really shouldn't reach 2.4GHz or 5GHz and nail the Wifi.

Your WinXP computer could have a Wifi or Bluetooth failure, where
the radio section no longer modulates properly, does backoff properly,
doesn't follow protocol. I've never heard of such a failure. But
it's also a possibility. It just doesn't line up with the symptoms
all that well so far. Maybe your WinXP computer has Wifi or it
doesn't.

I am going to have to read over what you have written here to be able
to digest it. I can say that the XP computer doesn't have any USB3
ports. It doesn't have a wireless network card or Bluetooth.

I've hesitated to suggest anything in this thread, because no
single fault scenario I can think of, accounts for all the symptoms
properly. The above are wildly speculative, with the exception
of me actually experiencing a noisy power supply. I think the
noisy power supply in my Antec, put a "herring bone" pattern
on an old analog CRT type TV set. So the TV set was also experiencing
the noise to some extent. It's possible modern LCD TV sets, might
not pass as much of that (unless the noise gets into the RF signal
end somehow).

Paul

On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:15:30 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 2:02 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:17 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 12:28 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other machine on
the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine with a
static ip.

That point right there is an important one. If your XP computer was set
to use 192.168.0.15 for instance, the chances are that that ip address
will have been reserved and no other device could ever be given it. On
the off chance that a tablet (or other device) had that ip address and
the XP computer was suddenly turned on, the tablet would automatically
be disconnected to give that IP address to the XP computer. However, the
tablet would reconnect immediately and be given a new IP address so the
issue is unlikely to truly happen.

My question is, is the IP address set on the network card side in
Windows XP or did you reserve an IP address within the router itself?

I set it within the control panel.

That's the problem. You might want to make sure that the network card
(or wifi card) is set to obtain an IP address automatically. If you're
using a router, you should be configuring THAT to provide a specific IP
address to a specific machine. Every other machine connected to that
router is likely obtaining an IP address automatically whereas this one
is requesting a specific IP address which can't, in actuality, be
provided as nothing in the router's configuration is ensuring that.

I truly hope I'm being clear.

You may be crystal clear, but that doesn't mean I am getting it.
I don't think my router will let me assign the XP machine an IP
address. If it can, I don't know how to do it.

I can change the settings for the XP machine to automatically obtain
an IP address to see if that makes the problem go away, but that
machine has to have a static IP and setting it through the control
panel is the only way I know how to do it.

Thanks

On 20 Feb 2014, Metspitzer wrote in
alt.windows7.general:

You may be crystal clear, but that doesn't mean I am getting it.
I don't think my router will let me assign the XP machine an IP
address. If it can, I don't know how to do it.

Most routers can do that.

I can change the settings for the XP machine to automatically
obtain an IP address to see if that makes the problem go away, but
that machine has to have a static IP and setting it through the
control panel is the only way I know how to do it.

You need to tell the router to exclude that address from its DHCP pool
so it doesn't try to assign the address to another device.

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:12:17 -0500, Metspitzer
wrote:

My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/wif...ed-signals.htm
I was reading this.
One suggestion is to move the router. That is not really something I
want to do. I did try to take a smart phone and try to use it right
next to the router and it doesn't work.

Another suggestion is to change the channel. My router has a network
mode. I have disabled, mixed, G and B. It is currently set on mixed.
What exactly is G and B? Is that the channel?
I tried changing to G only and B only, but that only made the tablet
not work. I may try these for an extended period of time so I can
check more devices. Would Mixed be the best setting then what? G?

I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine side by side. At the
suggestion of a friend, I switched the network cables. That seems to
have fixed the problem.

I am glad I call him to complain that I would probably have to switch
power supplies to fix my network. Time will tell.

Thanks everyone.

Metspitzer wrote:


I am going to have to read over what you have written here to be able
to digest it. I can say that the XP computer doesn't have any USB3
ports. It doesn't have a wireless network card or Bluetooth.


It's not a grounding problem, because Ethernet cables have no
ground conductor in them. Ethernet is transformer isolated.

That leave a logical networking problem of some sort.
And the sort of mix n' match results, I'm not seeing
a good pattern there, to fit a theory. IF you duplicate
a network address, there'd be a notification balloon near
the tray.

Paul

Nil wrote:
On 20 Feb 2014, Metspitzer wrote in
alt.windows7.general:

You may be crystal clear, but that doesn't mean I am getting it.
I don't think my router will let me assign the XP machine an IP
address. If it can, I don't know how to do it.

Most routers can do that.

I can change the settings for the XP machine to automatically
obtain an IP address to see if that makes the problem go away, but
that machine has to have a static IP and setting it through the
control panel is the only way I know how to do it.

You need to tell the router to exclude that address from its DHCP pool
so it doesn't try to assign the address to another device.

On my router, the DHCP pool consists of a starting address and
a number of addresses. Like, start at 192.168.2.4 and go for 3 addresses.
So you know it goes 4,5,6. And then, if you assigned 192.168.2.10 statically
to a machine, it won't conflict (it's past the end of the pool).

Paul

Metspitzer wrote:
On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:12:17 -0500, Metspitzer
wrote:

My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine
connected directly to the router. When I turn on the XP machine, all
laptops and smart phones quit working. I have an Acer tablet that can
still get a signal.

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/wif...ed-signals.htm
I was reading this.
One suggestion is to move the router. That is not really something I
want to do. I did try to take a smart phone and try to use it right
next to the router and it doesn't work.

Another suggestion is to change the channel. My router has a network
mode. I have disabled, mixed, G and B. It is currently set on mixed.
What exactly is G and B? Is that the channel?
I tried changing to G only and B only, but that only made the tablet
not work. I may try these for an extended period of time so I can
check more devices. Would Mixed be the best setting then what? G?

I have an XP machine and a Win7 machine side by side. At the
suggestion of a friend, I switched the network cables. That seems to
have fixed the problem.

I am glad I call him to complain that I would probably have to switch
power supplies to fix my network. Time will tell.

Thanks everyone.


Two things I'd do in that case:

1) With the broken configuration, check the status LEDs on the
two ports in question. See if one "flutters", implying the PHY
is not negotiating for some reason. There could be LEDs on the
computer end and LEDs on the router end. Maybe if the LEDs on the
router end are unstable, it keeps interrupting the processor.

2) The other thing I'd want to do, is see if I had a Marvell NIC in
the house, the one with the network test capability. It sends
TDR pulses down the network cable, and checks for over/under/correct
impedance. I was able to spot an open connection on a GbE 8 wire cable
with the Marvell thing. It's a way of "buzzing" a cable, when it is
plugged into a NIC port. The power should be off on the receiving end
device, so the receiving end cannot place any signal on the cable
while the test runs. I think I might have two computers here, that
can do that measurement for me. The feature is called "VCT" or
"Virtual Cable Tester".

https://web.archive.org/web/20030320...hite_Paper.pdf

HTH,
Paul

On 2/20/2014, Metspitzer posted:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:15:30 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 2:02 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:17 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 12:28 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo
wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7
machine connected directly to the router. When I turn on the
XP machine, all laptops and smart phones quit working. I have
an Acer tablet that can still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other
machine on the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine
with a static ip.

That point right there is an important one. If your XP computer
was set to use 192.168.0.15 for instance, the chances are that
that ip address will have been reserved and no other device could
ever be given it. On the off chance that a tablet (or other
device) had that ip address and the XP computer was suddenly
turned on, the tablet would automatically be disconnected to give
that IP address to the XP computer. However, the tablet would
reconnect immediately and be given a new IP address so the issue
is unlikely to truly happen.

My question is, is the IP address set on the network card side in
Windows XP or did you reserve an IP address within the router
itself?

I set it within the control panel.

That's the problem. You might want to make sure that the network
card (or wifi card) is set to obtain an IP address automatically. If
you're using a router, you should be configuring THAT to provide a
specific IP address to a specific machine. Every other machine
connected to that router is likely obtaining an IP address
automatically whereas this one is requesting a specific IP address
which can't, in actuality, be provided as nothing in the router's
configuration is ensuring that.

I truly hope I'm being clear.

You may be crystal clear, but that doesn't mean I am getting it.
I don't think my router will let me assign the XP machine an IP
address. If it can, I don't know how to do it.

I can change the settings for the XP machine to automatically obtain
an IP address to see if that makes the problem go away, but that
machine has to have a static IP and setting it through the control
panel is the only way I know how to do it.

Thanks

Does your machine need a static address for local or global reasons? If
the latter, the local one is of no import, since it is not seen from
outside your LAN.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 17:00:51 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:

On 2/20/2014, Metspitzer posted:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:15:30 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 2:02 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:17 -0500, Silver Slimer
wrote:

On 20/02/2014 12:28 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:02:43 -0600, philo
wrote:

On 02/19/2014 10:12 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
My router is a WRT54GS. I have an XP machine and a Win7
machine connected directly to the router. When I turn on the
XP machine, all laptops and smart phones quit working. I have
an Acer tablet that can still get a signal.



Does the XP machine have the same network name as any other
machine on the network?

It has the same network name, but it is also the only machine
with a static ip.

That point right there is an important one. If your XP computer
was set to use 192.168.0.15 for instance, the chances are that
that ip address will have been reserved and no other device could
ever be given it. On the off chance that a tablet (or other
device) had that ip address and the XP computer was suddenly
turned on, the tablet would automatically be disconnected to give
that IP address to the XP computer. However, the tablet would
reconnect immediately and be given a new IP address so the issue
is unlikely to truly happen.

My question is, is the IP address set on the network card side in
Windows XP or did you reserve an IP address within the router
itself?

I set it within the control panel.

That's the problem. You might want to make sure that the network
card (or wifi card) is set to obtain an IP address automatically. If
you're using a router, you should be configuring THAT to provide a
specific IP address to a specific machine. Every other machine
connected to that router is likely obtaining an IP address
automatically whereas this one is requesting a specific IP address
which can't, in actuality, be provided as nothing in the router's
configuration is ensuring that.

I truly hope I'm being clear.

You may be crystal clear, but that doesn't mean I am getting it.
I don't think my router will let me assign the XP machine an IP
address. If it can, I don't know how to do it.

I can change the settings for the XP machine to automatically obtain
an IP address to see if that makes the problem go away, but that
machine has to have a static IP and setting it through the control
panel is the only way I know how to do it.

Thanks

Does your machine need a static address for local or global reasons? If
the latter, the local one is of no import, since it is not seen from
outside your LAN.

Local