showcenter 200 wireless problems

rowlers

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Hi all,
I've had my SC200 for a couple of weeks no but am having major problems getting it connect to my wireless network.

My laptop connects to my router with a "Very good" signal.

I have the SC200 set up statically to connect in infrastructure mode.

When I turn the SC200 sometimes (rarely) it will connect right away and browse my media. Most times I get "cannot access Server PC. Press A to continue"... This gets a bit repetitive!.....

When I do get it to connect and get something to play, it all appears OK, although fast forward/rewind isn't very repsponsive!

Any Ideas as to why I'm having this problem, all other review shout about how good the SC200 is.... Please help as I've search but can't find this secific problem!

cheers
 
I've had it woring now for 2 days by setting the wireless channel to 1. Now it has stopped again!!!

Tried swisscentre but exactly the same error occurs, can't connect to server PC...

I'm really considereing sending it back cos it obvioulsy doesn't do what it is supposed to!

Anyone got any ideas??? Please!!!
 
OK, don't panic!

Try these:
Turn off all wireless security (WEP and the like).
When you do have a connection, go the the wireless setup pages and check the connection strength (bad, OK, good, excellence). What are you getting?
It might be the SC200 is in a wireless deadspot - move your laptop to the same area and see what connection you are getting with that.
If the wireless reception in that location is not great try moving your router.
Try a high gain antenna connected to the router (they are dead cheap and can work wonders). A cheap alternative to this is a curry tin antenna - next time you have indian or chinese takeout clean out the tin the rice came in and put a hole in one end (the shorter sides) and stick this over the antenna on the router and point the open part of the tin in the direction of your SC200. It can make a big difference!

I had all kinds of hassle with the wireless on mine because of my apartment (weird layout, stone walls, lift machinery in the middle of the apartment, several wireless networks in the building) so in the end I went wired - much better.

The SC200 has a normal wireless network card just like your laptop so it's prone to interference (mostly you won't notice these problems with a PC because mostly you just surf) - it's probably not faulty.
 
thanks for your suggestions.

No Encryption on the network.

Tried a high gain antenna, made no difference (although I did connect it to the SC200 - should I have connected it to the router???). Signal strength fluctuates between good and OK, sometimes poor though. Could this be the cause? If it tries to connect when it has dopped to a poor strength? Just had it work streaming a video for the kids and it was great, responsive to the remote - If I try again now, it prob won't work!

cheers will persevere cos when it works its great!
 
yep as suspected, just tried to connect... cannot connect to media server. press a to continue!!

I hate intermittant faults!!!

Also just put the laptop on top of the SC200, laptop reading very good strength, so I don't think the SC200 is sitting in a deadspot??

Is it worth wrapping some cable around the antenne to "Extend" it as a trial??

cheers
 
If it's dropping down to Poor then you'll probably lose the connection. In my experience you're wasting your time unless you can get great/excellent signal strengths because anything will a high bitrate (like a VOB from a DVD) will just stutter all the time.

I had a big problem at one stage with the SC200 (which cause me to buy a new PC for the server because the one I was using was extremely old and creaky) where it was stuttering and losing connections. I tried everything and really got annoyed. It turned out that I had accidentally kicked my router (it was on the floor under my desk) and knocked it's antenna out!

The high gain antenna will probably give the best results attached to the router. I don't know if wrapping a wire around the antenna will make any difference....

Just to rule something out: check that the antenna on the SC200 is screwed in properly. If side by side your laptop and SC200 are getting very different signal strengths then perhaps you do have a fault with the box itself.

Also, have you updated the firmware on the SC200? There was a fault with earlier firmwares where it had problems with certain wireless channel numbers.
 
had it working all last night, and didn't stutter at all.

Now I have come back tonight and it is struggling again.

Also as a side note, is there anyway to fast forward through a video file at faster than 4 speed, it takes ages to get back to where you were!!!

My laptop does seem to get a super signal where wver in the house it is, I'll maybe move the SC200 as a test see how it goes!


cheers
 
had it working all last night, and didn't stutter at all.

Now I have come back tonight and it is struggling again.

That's what I had and I think it's down to variable wireless conditions. Perhaps if you watched the signal meter on your laptops wireless connection software for a while you'd see it varying in the same way...

Also as a side note, is there anyway to fast forward through a video file at faster than 4 speed, it takes ages to get back to where you were!!!

You can press the number keys to go to a percentage of the file (1=10%, 2=20%, 9=90% etc).
 
learning all the time!!

The aerials on my belkin router are not replaceable - been looking for an excuse to buy a new one, as it needs reset about once a week anyway!

cheers will keep trying!
 
just moved the SC200 from under my TV.

Is working fantastically!!! (touch wood!)

Thanks for all your help!!
 

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