Can you help me?

I have a home networking setup at home. I use a Netgear DG834G wireless router. Three PCs running Windows XP Pro and TWO laptops also running the same OS. All five had no problems connecting to the internet, all wirelessly. This was the set up for about 2 to 3 years.

One laptop was then replaced with Windows Vista Home PREMIUM and all was still well, with none having any problems getting online. A Sony Playstation 3 was also added, as my son loves his online playing. That was also no problem.

But then we added a another laptop which RUNS Windows Vista Business. This is where we started to have problems. Some PCs were not able to connect to the router or at times it would connect then suddenly say that it has limited connectivity.

So I then wired one PC that was nearest the router to reduce the amount of wireless stations trying to access the router, it didn't help too much.

We started to discover that the new laptop seemed to be having or even CAUSING the problems. If it was not on all PCs and laptops could connect and stay connected for hours on end but we found that if the new laptop was turned on problems occurred after 30mins and then no-one could connect, we found that we would have to unplug the router and turn in back on and that would fix the problem for a while or else the new laptop would not be able to connect at all.

In the end I would just turn off my laptop or turn off the wireless so that the new laptop could be used without and interference. It works fine if it is connected by wire but we want to be able to have a it portable so this is not really an option.

What do you think the problem is? We've tried bringing the laptop closer to the router but that still disconnects intermittently.

Please advise as we really need all PCs working without having to sacrifice not using the others just to allow for the new laptop to gain internet connection.

PC specs

The three PCs - built
One Sony Vaio laptop
One Advent laptop
One Dell laptop the new M1330 model ( this is the one that seems to cause the trouble )

In the first instance, I would say you should be entitled to some support from Dell for this new laptop. It might be WORTH having a word with them because they could have an array of fixes at their disposal (including alternative drivers for the wireless card).

Apart from that, my first guess would be that the network card is attempting to operate in some sort of "SuperG" mode - it would be worth turning off that option if you can find it.Thanks. I did some other research and came across another link.

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-networking-sharing/63424-vista-ultimate-loses-internet-connection.html

Apparently there are differences in the networking stack between XP and Vista that expose router bugs. I managed to fix the problem.

The above link is quite helpful is anybody else is in the same boat as I was.

ravendj,

Thanks for the link, but I've got to ask... What do you think resolved your issue? Was it an update of the router firmware?