Connecting To XI On Laptop Having 50% Of Breaking Internet.

Got a weird sort of problem today. Since the update, connecting to FFXI has crashed my laptops internet to the point where it can only connect locally to the network around half the time. Anyone have any clue what this is?

No idea, but as I clicked on this link I got R0 for about 10 seconds <_<

Maybe I'm cursed :O

I have a problem on my laptop. I can open POL, FFXI, and choose a character. On the black 'downloading data' screen after selecting a character it times out EVERY time no matter which char I choose.

I'm using the internet by tethering my cell phone to laptop (via PdaNet. If I don't use PdaNet it works (though the connection is worse).

This sucks, but fortunately I only use this laptop while I'm at work.

wow krizz interesting way of getting access.i been having issues with crashing too since update really since pol update day or so ago.net is fine running at a low 2mb but decent.very frustrating in party last nite healed down and dcd then logged back in and crashed.very odd indeed.i did a check files on pol viewer and doing check on main files now to see if anything shows.

Could be a number of interference problems related to wireless networking. Make sure you have newer router capable of maintaining wireless connections. Older routers didn't seem to care much if the connection flickered because this wasn't really noticeable in normal web browsing, just larger downloads and gaming. If you got something fairly recent, the problem could be other things.

A common interference is actually cordless telephones. You'll want to get Dect6.0 1.9GHz cordless telephones to avoid interference with wireless routers. Here's the one I'm using.

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Phones-Fax/Telephones/DECT-6-0-Phones/model.KX-TG1032S_11002_7000000000000005702

I did quite a bit of research before buying this phone. It's expandable up to 6 handsets, requiring only one plugged into the wall. It's currently the number one ranked in it's class on consumer review websites and Amazon.

You can try disconnecting and unplugging all of your cordless phones in your house prior to purchasing to see if that was your problem. Another way to narrow this down as your problem is if you can usually stay on at night time when there are fewer to zero telephone calls.

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At the risk of WoT I'll add that divider line. Something that can fix your problem is also setting up static IPs for your devices at home. I personally do things this way as I have no need for DHCP and it prevents automatic DHCP connection attempts and that's coupled with the entire network being secure.

If for some reason your wireless device does lag, and it begins assigning addresses to any device in the area that wants to connect, it may assign you a different IP address in it's little DHCP sequence. For example, you may have had 192.168.1.2 and now you have 192.168.1.3 which will cause a disconnection. If you set up a static address with your router, you may just R0 for a few seconds. Annoying, but better than disconnecting.

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Finally, I suppose, would be to make sure your network is secure. Browse your router's internal settings to configure this. It's really not too difficult to figure it out if you are a little PC savvy, but there are also a number of tutorials online. If your network is insecure and you have asshat leeches for neighbors, your problem might be due to them lagging your connection by downloading and uploading thousands of gigabytes of kiddie porn.

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GL :)

Thanks for the in depth explanation. So far I haven't changed anything with the phones or anything and the laptop was working fine for 6 months. Though maybe I do have to upgrade that very old wireless-b router. I'm secured on WEP and have looked at the config page a number of times and such.

I'm thinking though that it may be directly triggered by the FFXI server since I'm now vaguely remembering how if I tried to watch any video on CNN this same problem would come up a few years ago on my desktop. Hmm...

I'm having a similar problem and have been trying to hash it out with my ISP, but they don't see any problems even when I lose my train to their servers. I'll be playing FFXI and my router will just basically restart on it's own from time to time. My connection gets better if my desktop is on at the same time, but then I start losing connection at a certain timeframe. My DHCP renewal is set at midnight so I know that isn't the problem. I have my modem and desktop plugged into a battery backup to prevent surges from destroying the modem/router. ISP would send someone to test the lines outside of the house, but can do the house for $85 so I'm trying everything to avoid that. I never had this problem for the past 6 months until just now.

You'd only want to consider a new phone if your current phone(s) and wireless router operate on the same frequency and even then there's a chance that the phones don't use every wireless channel, wherein you could simply adjust the wireless channel on your wireless NIC/card and router. Another source for RF interference could be microwaves, though I've never seen it actually pose a problem.

Another common problem is nearby wireless networks operating on the same wireless channel. If that's a possibility for you then you can google netstumbler or inssider to check the channels of nearby networks and change accordingly. You could also try removing WEP (if anyone wanted to get in, WEP wouldn't stop them) as sometimes wireless security can slightly degrade performance and see if that gets you anywhere.

Your symptoms seem like something more than FFXI itself is capable of aside from simply being an online game that requires full-time connectivity, though I don't know why it would have an effect on your internet in general and not just d/c from FFXI. Try the easy fixes first before you consider new purchases of stuff you may not need.

Only reason I was looking at FFXI was because it would literally break my internet as soon I hit the "play" button.

I'm going to go check if there was a windows update that dealt with the wireless network driver in a few minutes, didn't think that it may be the actual wireless card or whatnot for some reason.