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[roydog]

Weird problem, I have had a DIR 645 for over a year with no problems at all, very easy to set up, accessed by multiple laptops and smart phones, both main and guest network access, shared access to a printer, good performance, been a pleasure.

About a fortnight ago 2 of our laptops have decided to stop seeing the wifi completely, main and guest just have disappeared. Both can see other wifi's in range without a problem. But the Dir 645 doesn't show in the wifi network list. Other laptops plus smartphones continue to see it and access it without a problem.

I updated the firmware and reset the network, and then rebuilt the network to no avail.

One of the problem laptops is running Win 7 and the other is Win 8.
Apple, Blackberry and Windows 8 smartphones all continue to work fine. Visitors and neighbours with laptops and smartphones see both the main and guest networks and can connect.

The two offending laptops run different anti virus applications.

The Win8 laptop travels a lot and I thought it might have got all tied up in knots after so many wifi networks being used but when I delete all but the 2 key ones it still has the problem.

Any ideas??

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under router.
• Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on the routers web page under status.
• What region are you located?

Router and Wired Configurations
Some things to try: - Log into the routers web page at 192.168.0.1. Use IE, Opera or FF to manage the router.

• Turn off ALL QoS or Disable Traffic Shaping (DIR only) GameFuel (DGL only and if ON.) options, Advanced/QoS or Gamefuel.
• Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual or under Setup/PARENTAL CONTROL/Set to>None: Static IP or Obtain Automatically From ISP.
• Enable Use Unicasting (compatibility for some ISP DHCP Servers) under Setup/Internet/Manual.
• Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking. Link>Finding Faster DNS Addresses using Name Bench
• Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices ON the router. Setup/Networking. This ensures each devices gets its own IP address when turned on and connected, eliminates IP address conflicts and helps in troubleshooting.
• Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
• If IPv6 is an option on the router, select Local Connection Only or Disable IPv6 options under Setup/IPv6.
• Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP under Advanced/Firewall.
• Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking. Disable uPnP for testing Port Forwarding rules. Enable IPv6 Multi-cast Streaming for routers that have a Media Server option. Disable IPv6 Multi-cast Streaming if IPv6 or Media Server is not being used.
• Turn off WISH, and WPS under Advanced.
• WAN Port Speed set to Auto or specific speed? Some newer ISP modems support 1000Mb so manually setting to Gb speeds can be supported by the router. Advanced/Advanced Networking/WAN Port Speed
• Set current Time Zone, Date and Time. Use an NTP Server feature. Tools/Time.

Wireless Configurations
Links>Wireless Installation Considerations and Managing Signal Congestion

• Ensure the default (dlink) SSID name is changed. Can be anything and not something thats already in use by any neighboring WiFi routers. Under Setup/Wireless/Manual.
• What wireless modes are you using?
• 2.4Ghz Routers only: Try single mode G or N or mixed G and N?
• Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only.
• Try setting a manual Channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear.
• What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto TPIK and AES.
• Any cordless house phones?
• Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many?
• If you have any of these options, Try turning OFF or ON Short GI, WLAN Partition, HT 20/40 Co-exhistance and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Recommended settings are default. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.
• Enable WMM Enable Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.
• Try setting Medium or Low power output settings and test again Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

3rd Party Security Software Configurations

• Turn off all anti virus and firewall programs on PC while testing. 3rd party firewalls are not generally needed when using routers as they are effective on blocking malicious inbound traffic.
• Turn off all devices accept for one wired PC while testing.

Ensure the Laptops WiFi adapter drivers are up to date and configured correctly. Some adapters are not set up to use N mode and defaulted to B and G. Go into the properties for these adapters and check to ensure that they are fully supporting of N mode if they support it from the MFr.

[roydog]

Wow - what a great post to help me - thank you FurryNutz (not something I was ever expecting to say)
Hardware: A1
Firmware: initially 1.01 now updated to 1.03 and issue persists
Region: Australia
All QoS and traffic shaping fully disabled.

The rest I will need time to go through and assess and test. Will be a tedious process as I will go through 1 step at a time to try to identify exactly what if any of these resolves the problem and I will post the results back here.

An update which may be part of the issue or something separate - when I tried to share internet from my Nokia Lumia 820 running Win 8 to the laptop running Win 8 it really struggled to find the Nokia device wifi and it failed to connect each time it did find it. So the plot thickens maybe.

Cheers for now.

[FurryNutz]

Try running both Windows 8 devices connected to the 645.
Try disabling HT 20/40 Co-exhistance and try changing to some of the WiFi suggestions.

Keep us posted.

[roydog]

OK - after much trial and error I am back on line with the Win 8 laptop and next time the Win 7 laptop comes through I will see what occurs.

The upshot of the problem..... the combination of mixed wireless mode g, n and b plus channel 13 seemed to cause the problem.

When I set it back to mixed g and n that didn't resolve the problem alone, but when I dropped the channel back to 11 - hey presto - up she came on the Win 8 wifi list and connected.

I don't understand what would have occurred to cause the drop off to start with but very glad it is resolved.

I would never have cracked that without you FurryNutz - thanks mate.

[FurryNutz]

Maybe a problem with the used of Channels above 11 with other devices. Some regions have these channels and some don't, like ours here in the NA region, were limited to up to 11 and thats it. EU and other regions have the additional channels. I would check your client HW for channel support and usage.

Glad its working for you now.

Enjoy.