Is there any high-power appliance in your house?

Hi Detective Dee,

Just the usual…

Washer/Dryer,
Refrigerator/Freezer
Microwave
Kettle

Other than the Fridge/Freezer, none of these appliances are on when the drop-out occurs.

I hope it’s not down to the Fridge/Freezer because realistically that needs to be on 24/7.

http://www.tp-link.com/en/article/?faqid=409
maybe this can help you

Thanks, I’ll check this out in more detail after work.

One thought I had from scanning over the page was it could be due to the central heating coming on. That might explain the sporadic nature of the drops, because the heating will only kick in when the temperature falls below what’s set on the thermostat. I’m not sure how the boiler is connected to the mains though – I don’t think it’s plugged in. I suspect it’s wired in directly. I’ll have a look when I get home.

Ok, so don't think my theory about the central heating system was the answer. I've been playing around turning the system on and off but haven't been able to make the adapters drop their connection.

Hmm, maybe they just have a minor fault.

I have exactly the same issue as you, I have two PA411 v2 adapters connecting to a PA4010 v1. Both the 411's have been paired with the PA4010 yet they both randomly stop - flicking the power switch off and then on for the 411 provides reconnection within 2 seconds (if you want to speed the process up!) but this is a very frustrating activity to do frequently under a table!. The devices when connected are at a stable 160Mbps and are certainly effective when they work but unfortunately they are too unstable. The only high power device (1200watt) working at the times they disconnect is my computer - no other appliances are active and the central heating has neither just come on or just flicked off so I don't believe it is interference on my eletrical cabling. I updated to the latest firmware for all my devices last week yet they still drop out as frequently as before - it's extremely frustrating!
Unfortunately a quick google reveals a lot of people experiencing exactly the same problem :(
If I only had one 411 then I'd consider maybe it was defective, but I have two and they disconnect similarly regardless of whether both are plugged in at once (thereby removing the likelyhood they are affecting each other).
This is clearly a troubled product that requires more attention to the firmware - I'll be returning these to Amazon if a new firmware to cure this plague does not surface shortly!

I realise this is a moan and not helping with your issue JC but I thought it may be useful to add my experience so far with them.

Regards, Nick

Hi Nick,

No, I think you’re quite right to have a moan. A forum is the best place for that. If people take a back seat and expect a problem to go away it will never get resolved.

Yeah, sounds like you’re suffering with the same sort of problem. Unfortunately flicking the power switch wasn’t an option for me because I had the PC plugged in to the pass-through of the adapter, so would have meant restarting each time.

I have to say I actually gave up and sent my adapters back to the retailer before my 30 days was up. I’ve decided to put cabling up through in to the loft and back down in to each room. Not as neat, but should give a solid connection, which is the goal.

It would have driven me insane having to reset all the time. It’s a shame because it’s a really neat and effective solution, when it works!

Hopefully these messages will build until a resolution is achieved.

Best wishes,
JC

I appear to have rectified the issue..
I had previously tried all three power save modes for my network card (none, medium, high) to eliminate it being the cause. After making the post above I decided to find out if my TL-PA411 was the one that had the issues with power saving (given the other articles on this site regarding power save issues)

I opened a command window (CMD) and used the command PING -T 192.168.1.1 to continuously ping my router at the other side of my PowerLine network. For the whole of yesterday and today until 4pm I had a perfect connection with no drop outs. I stopped the PING command at 3.30pm today so it managed a good half hour and then the network stopped responding until I had switched the powerline adapter off/on again.

I would think this suggests the powerline adapter is going to sleep rather than dropping out due to interference - is anyone else in a position to test this who has random drop outs?

Cheers
Nick

You could be on to something there Nick.

I just checked the Network Card settings of my office PC (Control Panel > Device Manager > Network Adapters > Properties > Power Management) and found these Power Saver Options…

Protocol ARP Offload
Protocol NS Offload
Energy Efficient Ethernet
Reduce link speed during system idle

They are all selected, except for the last option “ Reduce link speed…”

I wonder if some tweaks here would help things!?

What are your settings Nick?

JC

No amount of changing my network adapters settings stopped the powerline from dropping out - I don't have those specific settings you mention, I have a 'power management' device with the option "Allow the computer to the turn off this device to save power" (currently unchecked). And I altered the windows power save plan changing "PCI Express - Link State Power Management" to OFF and everything else is in Max Performance mode.

The PING command is the only method that has kept it stable for me so far - I'm pinging again and it hasn't disconnected again. I just wonder whether the adapter is entering a low power state after XX minutes when I'm not actively using my network connection.