Okay, I've been encountering some problems with my wireless network.

I recently had to replace my NIC (it was a first gen wireless G linksys WMP54G) to the same model, latest gen without speed booster.

Immedately after installing it, my NIC would see the SSID but could not connect to it. Pinging the router from my PC would result in 100% packet loss on every ping. Ipconfig /all would show I had an internal ip assigned, DNS was my ISP DNS and gateway was my router.

I went into Windows Zero (network connections) and set assigned ip to 192.168.1.2 and gateway to 192.168.1.1. I set dns to my ISP DNS. Suddenly, I started getting an error that windows had that config previously to my old network connection. At this point, I just decided to reformat and reinstall XP.

After that, same issue with the ip/gateway/dns all static assigned. Windows would see the SSID but could not contact to it, all pings would result in 100% packet loss. I tried setting my router ip as the DNS server. This resulted in very limited connectivity -- constant timeouts on websites, high latency, etc.

So I bought a new router (linksys WRT54G v5.0 -- flashed it with latest firmware from linksys), disabled Windows Zero to manage my connections and my connectivity has improved I'm still encountering some strange problems. Whenever I'm in MSN messenger, after 10-20 mins, for all my contacts I get the error that MSN cannot send the msg as if they're offline. If I log off and on a few times, the error goes away. When I'm in counterstrike source, sometimes I can view game details and get full players list, most times I will not while the server ping is in low 40's or it will suddenly spike to 2000+. This will happen to every single server in my favorites (20+).

It sounds like I'm still dropping alot of packets for no reason. Any suggestions on how to correct this? My first configuration used the WMP54G and WRT54G first-generation when 802.11g first came out and it worked flawlessly. Now this happens..

Thanks.

Run NetStumbler and see if you have a new neighbor interfering with your connection. Allow it to run for a good length of time. You may even have a neighbor trying to connect to you, knocking you out. And check to see if you have a wireless phone using the 2.4 bandwidth.