If it's not the hardware, may be external source interfering with the signal....

Here's a link to see if another signal is interfering with your's...

Nothing is interfering with the signal. The notebook just likes to drop the signal then require the signal.

I doubt that's the issue but I'll look into it.

Hey I don't know how I can be more clear. My girlfriend will be doing something on Facebook and the notebook will lose the connection with the router. No message is given. The notebook then reconnects after a period of time. This happens multiple times.

I'm not sure how to set up XP to lock on to the router using anything but auto DNS. Not even sure that's the issue.

I had the same issue with my wifes laptop. It turned out there were several contributing factors, one of which I think you have already ruled out.

Other Wifi using same channel. (We had quite a few neighbors go wireless in the past year and it was just a matter of time. We had that issue , had channel changed, still had issue)

Number of devices on network. (We had xbox, PS3, 2 PC's, laptop, and droids and iphone on network. Had to reset the number of allowable devices. THAT solved the issue.)

How far is the router from the laptop? Could be a weak signal from some kind of interference. Does she live in an apartment or multiple tenant building? Have you tried to duplicate the issue on another router? (friends house, Starbucks, etc.)

And you may want to look into this. Here is a thread I found..  go down to post #98. One of the issues was with the driver update for the wireless card. The manufacturers driver update corrected the issue where 'Intels' update did not. Different PC brand and does not mention router, but it could be something to check.

Just curious -

Are you using fixed IP addresses or letting the router assign them?  Could it be an 'IP renewal' issue?

Kona... maybe you should pm the_Monk. He's very knowledgable regarding routers and their problems.

One thing does occur to me. You haven't really isolated the problem to the router. It could be the modem. Try to take that out of the equation by turning the router off and connecting directly to the modem. Next, check this: When the Internet connection drops out again by pinging the IP address of your router (probably either 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1). The router pings, the problem is with the cable company or their equipment (further up the line from their modem is still possible... so if the modem looks ok, check this possibility).

At least you'll be further along in the problem solving. Next question is does task manager still show she's connected without getting the net. Since you've updated with firmware, that leaves the network card as a major suspect. Another - confused autodetection speeds. You'll find that out by checking her connection speed and the network cards properties.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-router-drops,review-129.html

It can't be the router for two reasons. One, every other internet connected device does not drop signal and two, when Linux is installed on the machine the notebook itself does not drop the connection. The problem has to be in the Windows driver used for this hardware in XP. I will try an older version of the driver and see if that works.

Everything I have seen that would involve Windows concerns either WIndows XP SP1 (Or 2 or 3...SP3 being the most frequently mentioned)or Power Management with your particular Wireless Card.  I also came across quite a few ( alot, really) of threads that just talked down your particular wireless card. It seems to be a common issue with that model card and the router was different in most of the threads.

There may still be an off chance it is interference. That's why I would try to duplicate it at another location (private and/or public). I found this, which I wasn't aware of...

"See if any of the possible 2.4GHz sources apply:
<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Interference>
The problem is that the typical site survey tool won't show all the
networks thanks to the moronic security suggestion of not broadcasting
the SSID. However, Kismet under Linux will show these and clients.

However, you still won't see everything. The new and allegedly
improved MIMO systems can be set to be invisible and still trash much
of the 2.4GHz band. Fortunately, the default setup is "Mixed Mode"
which should be visible.""

Is your router set-up to allow multiple devices? ANd if so how many? Sounds stupid, I know, but try it with all of the others off and make sure your phones are not connected to the network. Everytime I put my Droid on Wifi, it bumped everyone else in the house off of Wifi. It took me a couple weeks to figure out it was the Droid. I had to expand my allowed devices to make it stop. (If you have that Wii set for internet , specifically connected to your home network with a password and all- unplug it. Mine still gets damn emails even when I have it turned off)

I'm looking for a fix. No one seems to have beat it, though. Most common thing I see is that this is common with WIndows XP and your particular wireless card. They blame the Service Packs, mostly SP3, the driver updates for the card, and interference. Have not found anyone who has actually fixed it yet, except for the guy who downloaded the card update from Dell when the Intel update would not fix the issue.

Common theme is interference and from what I have seen, there really is no way to see ALL the networks around you. A few switched from WPA to WEP and got 'some' improvement (Stronger ping - 70%) and not dropping as frequently or as much. I'll keep looking til YRAG shows up.

**EDIT - Check with your provider on who is using what channel. That;s how I found out about that little issue. There were wifi's I could NOT see on my PC when I did a search. They will know for sure if anyone is on your channel.

One final note..I went through something like this on my step-sons PC about a year ago. YRAG helped me and we couldn't find the answer. Then I stumbled across someone who had the same issue. I actually had to download an 'exe that tricked the wireless card into thinking my router was another brand and channel (n,g,d or whatever it had to be convinced of) and it worked. I will have to see if I can find that. I thought I saved it but I have to many damn bookmarks. 

I'm pretty sure it is. I'll check it out though.

Well I wasn't aware a Wii could get email. Be that as it may it only connects at night to stream movies for my daughter. We keep at least two computers off at that time as we don't have enough bandwidth to satisfy serving all computers and Netflix going at once.

I think I'll avoid installing SP3. Right now the connection is stable. I went into the control panel and set the card for wifi B only and turned off power management. i also set it to channel 8, as the router is on channel 8. I'm not going to hold my breath but all is well so far.

Thanks for looking into this for me.

That would not help. I pulled out the card last night. It's made by Intel, not Broadcom.

The router belongs to me so my provider wouldn't know anything about it.

I've read through the above post's, we know it's not hardware and sounds like software. I have an old router myself and I know it can only support 5 or 6devices tops. And it doesn't drop when using Linux. I'm at a loss myself but just in case you have ghost machines on your router here's a link to see who and what is on your network.....

Do you use bittorrent software. My router drops and need restart if I do this and dont limit number of connections.