That bites....
There might be two different issues, the lower signal strengh may not necessarily be the cause of the slow access... I had the 5 min copy problem eventhough the signal was at 54\full.... the QOS setting was the problem for me.
What model router is it? mine is the pre-N F5D8230-4 .
if it's the Pre-N router, there is a very recent firmware update 4.x.... you can't find it on their website unless you go through the automatic firmware upgrade check from the router status page.
If I remember right the QOS stuff was not there until I upgraded, but again this is on the Pre-N router... (I think there is only one model). it's the F5D8230-4 and had excellent reviews in a lot of places that's why I got it.
One thing to note, the QOS stuff will affect the slow response for file transfers or MC opening\browsing the remote files, it will not affect the signal strenght itself.
Was this working at one point?
what changed in your setup?
What happens if you move the slow laptop closer to the router?
do you get a better signal?
18-34 or whatever you mention sounds extremely slow for a 802.11g router connection.
How far are you from the router.
You said that one laptop shows a better signal... can you place them side by side and still get a better signal, are they the same type of nic... if so, try comparing the good signal laptop with the slow one and match the settings of the slow with fast one.
Just for kicks do you have a regular nick connection on the laptop? if so, try a wired connection and see if MC still acts up.
Also, to rule out MC, try doing some testing with simple file copies of say a 50 or 100mb folder from one drive to another, that's how I figured out my problem, and that it was a network problem, not MC. MC was taking forever to see the remote drive but it was due to the slow network, not MC.
If the file copy is ok (say a minute or so), then you might want to try a local copy of the MC library pointing to the remote drive.
Last resort try calling Belkin support they are hit or miss but I did ok when I first called them a while back.
I wish I could help you more... but that's all I can think of to suggest...
I know I burned a whole day and ending up re-designing my whole network but in the end it was worth it...
Good luck
thanks olarte
i have tweaked the advanced settings for my wireless card on both laptops, but i am still getting the same speeds, and still have trouble with tracks cutting out.
i cannot find any QOS settings for my router. i have looked through each page of the router settings. there is a page called 'channel and SSID' but no QOS mentioned here. firmware is up to date.
MC is now tending to crash when i select tracks over the wireless network, i am not sure if this is linked to the problem with cutting out.
any other ideas?
nick