Laptop Losing Connection to Wi-Fi - Only when running Roll20.

Detailed Description of the Problem - When I am running Roll20 on my laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad T530 w\ Win 7 Enterprise) I will randomly lose connection to Roll20 and it will completely disconnect my laptop from my home Wi-fi. I dont get any kind of message inside Roll20. This happens at least once or twice during our 4 hours sessions. It happens in games using WebRTC w\ voice as well as Text-Only games using no A\V at all. The only other application I run is Adobe Reader and another Chrome tab running <a href="http://www.d20pfsrd.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.d20pfsrd.com/</a> . Both of which I run all the time without an issue outside of roll20. I am using Chrome updated to latest release and run websites and applications all day long using the same wi-fi connection. I have to go into my wireless settings and manually reconnect to my wi-fi connection and then reload roll20. Steps to Reproduce the Problem - I cant reproduce it on command, but it will happen at least once or twice a 4 hour session in Roll20.

It's quite unlikely that Roll20 is jumping out of the Chrome sandbox and mucking up your Wifi connection directly. What's more likely is that you're running on a Linksys, Dlink, or other home-model wireless router. These things tend to have very limited memory and often don't handle bunches of concurrent or long-lasting connections very well. Maybe your regular use just hasn't hit the hardware's threshold for falling down like a sack of bricks and R20 is the proverbial straw on the camel's back. Got anyone else using the router that might be running Torrents, streaming video, or something similar with lots of connections and/or long lasting sessions? Could even be a neighbor leeching on your wifi if you don't have it secured well.

Do you have your browser console up and showing also. This will allow you to see if there is any errors that might start a chain reaction but I think John M might be on the right track. I know I have crashed an old router I had by having to much running through it. This is going to be one of those issues that will take time and patience to solve if it gets solved.

I suppose that could be the case, but that would mean Roll20 is using more resources than a tablet and 2nd laptop streaming videos, a 3rd pc that is consistently downloading torrents, as well as lately a non stop skype session with relatives in the Philippines. That is my nightly load, all run with no issues. Sometimes when it is all running I can see a definite hit on the torrent speeds, but that is it. No errors and certainly none that cause my wi-fi to disconnect. Then when the wife and kids go to bed and I load up Roll20 all by myself in a quiet house I get those errors. Nobody is leeching my connection, and I highly doubt they would be timing it to match when I am on Roll20. I dont have any of that other stuff running when I run Roll20. I am not suggesting Roll20 is breaking my wireless router. However I do believe there is something causing my laptop hardware to "muck up" as it were when running Roll20. My PC does not have this issue and it is running off the same connection. I am going to update everything I can think of on this laptop, wi-fi adapter drivers, flash, java, whatever and see if it resolves. If I can resolve it then hopefully anyone else searching in this forum for the same problem can get at least some answers. I will test during this week's sessions and see how it goes.

Alright, if you're not seeing errors from you router with that load, then you're probably right that it is local to your laptop. Is the laptop new? Roll20 is an HTML5 app running within the browser's sandbox. If there is a bug in the browser that causes this kind of instability, its unlikely something that the Roll20 devs would be able to work around or even troubleshoot effectively.

Yeah I understand, I was putting this in more for the "Technical Issues" part rather than Bug reporting for the devs. No other forum area seems appropriate for user experiences and problems. I am suspecting it might be my drivers on this T530 and how they are interacting with Roll20 somehow, or at least the systems Roll20 is using. I am going to do a full update across the board tonight and see if my problem is resolved.

Let us all know how it goes.

As the others have said, I'm not sure how Roll20 would cause this. If, after your updates, this continues to be an issue please try using a different router to see if you have the same problem. If you don't then it may be an issue with your router.

My router is not dropping the Wi-Fi signal. If I implied that I apologize, my laptop Wi-Fi adapter is dropping my connection to my router, forcing me to reconnect. No other device loses connection, only the laptop and only when running Roll20. I am not saying Roll20.net is breaking my router. I am saying there is something that Roll20 uses that my particular computer is having problems dealing with. Which I hope to resolve this week.

Your computer dropping the wi-fi does not exclude your router from being part of the problem. It could be that your router is sensitive to whatever is going on with your computer. My suggestion is a way to determine if your router is part of the problem. Process of elimination. :)

What ports and resources does roll20 utilizes that could cause a router connection to drop? I know it probably uses port 80 since it is browser based but what about the audio/video resources of the board? Breaking it down piece by piece and start eliminating each piece. With everything running like it is the laptop is dropping connection. Have you tried disabling the video or the audio to see if the connection stays or gets dropped? Have you tried disabling one of the other computers to see if the connection stays or gets dropped? Basically it is a process to see if the router is hitting the maximum load limit or it actually the laptop.

If you mean audio\video in Roll20 then yes it happens in my text only games (with broadcast and incoming set to none). However I have not tried disabling the on-board sound device. None of my other devices are powered on when I play Roll20, and if one happens to be (for instance the media center) its not generating any kind of significant load past being connected to the same wi-fi connection. I do work in the IT industry so I am aware of the concept of process of elimination regarding technical issues. I did a full system update of everything I could think of from Windows all the way to Adobe Air (only because it popped up and asked nicely to be updated, haha). I have two sessions this week at around 8 total hours. I will monitor what is going on in game to see if I can identify any obvious patterns. One of the games is A\V so I cant disable anything but the other is text so I will run it with my sound device disabled and see if there is any change. My text game is defaulted to Flash for A\V and my other is WebRTC and it happens in both so we can rule that out. I also run some desktop customization apps so I will be turning it all off for testing. If it works with no issues I will turn it back on one at a time and see if I can identify the culprit. Metro and Gauss I do appreciate your help and ideas on this.

If you have any system monitoring software, you might want to check temperatures. Could be the video card + wireless adapter causing a heat issue.

I think I have narrowed it down to my ISP and a case of ridiculous timing. Looking at my router logs my connection is dropping completely several times a day at regular intervals. When I am at work my wife and kids just ignore it as it comes right back up apparently. So when I get on in the evening during a play session it happens and I assume it is isolated to my session. However checking the dates I can see the signal going t*ts up during my session times as well as 2-3 times during the day. I have come to the realization that I really enjoy Roll20 since apparently the only time I even bother to get online is to play. I really appreciate it guys, sometimes a fresh set of eyes is all it takes. Now the dreaded call to my ISP....

Sorry about the ISP trouble Grant. But, Im happy you traced it down. Good luck with that call. :)

Congrats on narrowing it down. Whenever anyone post a help request, the assumption is made that they have no IT knowledge unless they state they are in the field. I'm going to college for this field so I'm learning.

Yeah once my wife mentioned "Oh yeah it drops like 3 times a day" I was like....."Oh, well that makes a difference". Thanks again everyone, I am going to consider this closed.