@Ryoko_L 

Hi,

Given your detailed description, I think a hardware failure on the router can't be ruled out.

The notebook that appeared to bring down the router, was it merely "connected" to the Wi-Fi but not actually doing much or was it uploading or downloading lots of data at that time?

By the way. Before you spend money on a new router, perhaps you could ask some friends or family members who maybe have upgraded their router hardware in recent years and might have an older router lying around that they could give you for free? Even an old Wireless-N (802.11n) router should feel like a decent upgrade over the TL-WR430GD.

@woozle hello, thanks for your fast reply.

The notebook that I connected with lan did not do much, only playing a video in YouTube with low quality to make sure the internet was working. No BitTorrent,.not P2P, or any of that. 

What impressed me the most is the last part of my post, that if I leave it wired to the router, wireless works fine. I find no explanation to that. Now I unplugged the router, and I'm using the notebook as access point to my other devices. . .  It is not ideal, but it works till tomorrow Monday, when stores will be open. 

I'll try asking around for a router to see if there's no other problem. Also tried contacting my ISP provider for help, just in case it is not my router 

Is it posible that my router grew old and obsolete? Did the shutdown affected it in any way? Or maybe they updated some protocol in the antenna and now the router is useless? 

@Ryoko_L 

Since the router works fine for some time I think it is unlikely that an updated protocol causes the problems.

Maybe one more test you could do:

1. connect a computer via LAN cable to the router and make sure you can open the configuration webpage of the router (by default via the link http://192.168.1.1)

2. use the router like you did before with your devices connected to the Wi-Fi (including the laptop)

3. wait for the connection problem to happen and then check on the LAN-connected computer if you are still able to operate the router's configuration webpage

In case it's not possible anymore the refresh or operate the configuration webpage, then the router must have hung up, which would likely point to a hardware issue.

In case you are still able to operate the router's configuration webpage go to the menu "System Tools" -> "Syslog" (or similar) and look for log entries that might give any clues.

@woozle 

Hello again.

Lol can't do that, if I leave a computer wired with lan then the wireless works fine, as I said before, so it won't drop and I won't see the failure in the syslog... I tried for tree hours and I had no problem. 

I have to unplug the computer for the wireless to drop in all devices. If lan conectes the router works both ways perfectly fine. It's a nuisance. 

I should give up and buy another. 

@Ryoko_L 

Ok, then you could at first leave the computer disconnected and only connect it to the LAN port after the wireless connection has gone bad.

But anyway, this is just for troubleshooting. I think chances are slim that something could be done on the old router to make it work reliable again.

@woozle 

So, news! 

I changed the old router for a TL-WR740N V5 of 150Mbps. Connected the smart tv wireless (it worked! finally!) and then the notebooks, wireless as well... it worked for 20 minutes and dropped (all devices included the smart tv). Now that I know my Router WASN'T the problem, I moved to change the antenna's cables and see what happens next...  

This should mean that my router was fine right? or what else could it be? 

@Ryoko_L 

Yes, if another Wi-Fi router exhibits the exact same problem, then there must be something else not right.

Can you check if the system logs of the routers contain any useful information after the Wi-Fi connection stops working?

@woozle 

I could enter once to the router's settings once the connection failed. First time everything seemed normal, the syslog didn't show anything at all, like if it was working even tho it wasn't. The second time, didn't let me load the status page, said there was not connection. 

I changed the lan cable from the antenna to the wan port of the router and it's been more than an hour with no problems! four devices on wireless, the speed is good, videos and pages load perfectly. I won't touch a thing till tomorrow and see how long it last, maybe this was it? can a cable make this much of a mess? 

@Ryoko_L 

Defective cables can certainly cause weird intermittent problems.

But why the problems only showed up whenever that notebook was connected via wireless in unclear.

@woozle 

Hello there. It's been more than a day and still no answers. 

Since my last reply, I contacted my ISP provider and let them know my problem. My connection kept failing every hour or so. Last night it lasted the whole night for the very first time since 23th. This morning a professional came to see the whole setup, changed the entire cable from the antenna to the energy source and said the problem was the cable. I made sure to ask him if they checked the configuration and they said it was ok. 

They left and three hours later the connection dropped again. So we are back to square one.

I contacted them AGAIN and insisted. They submitted another complain. 

I'm at loss. Already changed cables, routers, even erased old configuration of my devices just in case. If someone happens to know how to solve this, please let me know. 

To me this is a matter of configuration, to the ISP provider it's a matter of the cables wrongly installed (by their own hand!!). Could it be that the antenna has been damaged accidentally? Idk anymore.