# General > Technical Support >  Wireless Problems (Orange Livebox ISP)

## Stumurf

I Have Orange broadband and its been working great for the past month or so, i believe that they updated some software on the livebox itself for a new feature starting soon... but over the last 5 days or so, i have had some major connection problems but only with the wireless side of the modem.

the livebox was working fine but then it decided to disconnect me and start to give me private network addresses... I.E. useless IP Addresses that would not let surf or use the network... instead of the DHCP assigning me the usual 192.168.... type addresses is should and normally did. 

The other day i changed the name of the network, the password and the signal number it transmits on and upon the password change it was fixed and back to normal. 
well... for 2 days at least and now i am back at square 1...  ::  
i have spent most of the evening checking all the settings and performing changes step by step to try and identify the problem... 

my only guesses are as follows...

orange have a few technical issue's (very dubious as i am pretty sure its the modems job to assign IP's and no connection to orange to do so is needed) The LAN connectuon is working fine, as mentioned...

Alternatively on a diferent note i have been reading about a lot of solar activity and was maybe thinking that this could be interfering, as the problem so far is intermittent... (long shot i know but plausible) 

Other than that i can only think its a problem that has arisen from orange updating the software on the modem... i am expecting a long and boring conversation tomorrow with technical support... 

i was wonderng if anyone else with the orange service was having the same problem....

Sorry to bore you..  :Grin:  

Thanks in advance for any help or advice...

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## blueivy

Hi Stumurf,




> I Have Orange broadband and its been working great for the past month or so, i believe that they updated some software on the livebox itself for a new feature starting soon... but over the last 5 days or so, i have had some major connection problems but only with the wireless side of the modem.


Do Orange update their boxes remotely? I wouldn't say this is exactly a safe or responsible thing for any ISP to do so I'd make sure that they did update your box.




> the livebox was working fine but then it decided to disconnect me and start to give me private network addresses... I.E. useless IP Addresses that would not let surf or use the network... instead of the DHCP assigning me the usual 192.168.... type addresses is should and normally did.


Those addresses are APIPA addresses assigned to a network connection when it can't find a DHCP server.




> The other day i changed the name of the network, the password and the signal number it transmits on and upon the password change it was fixed and back to normal. 
> well... for 2 days at least and now i am back at square 1...  
> i have spent most of the evening checking all the settings and performing changes step by step to try and identify the problem...


Are you sure it's not the actual wireless adapter that's causing the problem rather than the Livebox itself?




> my only guesses are as follows...
> 
> orange have a few technical issue's (very dubious as i am pretty sure its the modems job to assign IP's and no connection to orange to do so is needed) The LAN connectuon is working fine, as mentioned...


It is the modem's job to assign addresses to your internal network. If it's doing it via the LAN then you can safely say that's working and the problem is your wireless connection between the router and your wireless adapter.




> Alternatively on a diferent note i have been reading about a lot of solar activity and was maybe thinking that this could be interfering, as the problem so far is intermittent... (long shot i know but plausible)


I doubt Solar Flare would cause the problems with your wireless connection. If it did I'd guess it would also affect TV's in the area using aerials, radio and other equipment that uses radio waves.

Equipment that can affect a wireless network is a digi-sender and a microwave (and anything else that operates in the 2.4GHz range)




> Other than that i can only think its a problem that has arisen from orange updating the software on the modem... i am expecting a long and boring conversation tomorrow with technical support...
> 
> i was wonderng if anyone else with the orange service was having the same problem....


Have you removed all of the wireless security from the Livebox and started to work from there? Once you do that then you can see if you can get a signal. Is the adapter picking up ANY signal (a lot of adapter software allows a scan or diagnotics page where it will show you all of the wireless networks within range). 

It could also be security, MAC address filtering, distance from the router, poor signal, interference, bad adapter etc. etc.

If Orange have updated the box remotely then one thing it could have done is degraded the wireless signal that comes out of the box itself. I do know that firmware changes have increased the strength and general reception of wireless routers that I've worked on in the past so it's only common sense to say it can work the other way!

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## jimbews

> Equipment that can affect a wireless network is a digi-sender and a microwave (and anything else that operates in the 2.4GHz range)


I certainly had a case where one of my users complained bitterly about wireless connectivity. Turned out that the digi-sender he had for years suddenly changed channels and started interfering with the wireless. On its own. Right!

I also had some issues when our neighbour got wireless. It may be useful to do a scan (if the software allows) of what wireless signals are present, and pick a channel well away from any competition.

Also pay attention to signal level (or better still, signal to noise ratio) as competing signals won't appear on the wireless adapter display.

If in doubt, try getting the NetStumbler program (if you have a PC) or KisMac (if its a Macintosh) to find out what other WAPs are about.


jimbews

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## jimbews

> If in doubt, try getting the NetStumbler program (if you have a PC) or KisMac (if its a Macintosh) to find out what other WAPs are about.
> 
> jimbews



Just had another thought (don't laugh).
I had terrible problems with wireless with a Mac because another computer could only cope with WEP encryption.
The Mac very often insisted that the WEP password be re-entered.
Updated the offending PC's wireless adapter, moved all wireless onto WPA encryption, and everything is now rock solid.

jimbews

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## Stumurf

I would like to start by thanking blueivy for his time and help the other evening, it was most gracious of you to dedicate some time to me and put up with some of my lines of questioning...

and thanks for the advice jimbews, especally your second post.. it seems that i had a mirror of your problem...

After numerous attempts at reconfiguring everything, step by step i seem to have it stable again...  but dont know for how long...

the netwok was working faultlessly for months and then POP.. no windows update, no new gadgets, no new software, no new drivers.. just windows being bored and not playng any more..  ::   (and not just mine, 2 other laptops, different builds and adapters also)

I finally got it connected by only using WEP encryption, albeit the third time that i had all the settings configured properly and screaming at it to work, (followed by some chocolate to settle the nerves) i have researched all the machines and adapters and are all WPA compatible.

I have trouble shot everything 1 by 1 and everything works... (minus windows firewall, which i don't use anyway, its useless and no firewall and antivirus) i just hope it lasts as my last fix lasted 48 hours... 

I have wrote a very lengthy email to orange outlining everything i have done and maybe they can shed some light on it... i will keep you posted blueivy on what the culprit fnally was.. if i ever get that far... i think its the box... but we'll see...

Thanks again...

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## loganbiffy

Hi there i too have had problems recently with my livebox. It was running so well and now i cant seem to get speeds of over 28.8 kbps even though i have up to an 8 meg connection. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

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## blueivy

> Hi there i too have had problems recently with my livebox. It was running so well and now i cant seem to get speeds of over 28.8 kbps even though i have up to an 8 meg connection. Any ideas would be much appreciated.


Hi loganbiffy,

Check your line first using this tool from BT.

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