Very Weird Wireless problem

Ok hopefully this will not be too long winded but here's the problem.....

I have a Netcomm (Aussie brand) wireless access point (b only) connected to a Netcomm ADSL modem/router (1.5mbps link). I have 2 Dell 5100 laptops, one with a Dell 1300 mini pci lan card (b/g) and the other has a Toshiba mini pci lan card (b only). The Toshy seems to be working fine, however I did have to set my AP to "long preamble" because the Agere built Toshy card would not recognise "short".

The problem lies with the Dell 1300 card. I have installed the most recent drivers for it. Recognising and establishing a wireless connection is no problem at all. The problem is that during certain periods the wireless connection drops out momentarily and reconnects almost instantly. This can happen 3 or 4 times a minute then be Ok for 20 minutes, drop out a few more times and then be OK for 10 mins etc etc etc. This only seems to be happening during the evenings when I'm using the pc. The very odd thing is that I can download files overnight and the system logs indicate no drop outs whatsoever.

I started thinking maybe some sort of interference was the problem but if it was it does not affect the other laptop with the Toshy card. The other laptop is running XP SP2 with windows firewall activated. The problem laptop is running XP SP1 with PC-Cillin Internet Security 2005. I don't have the built in wi-fi intrusion detection running as yet.

Anyone have any ideas? Are there any settings I should be looking at that could be the cause of the problem?

In the coming days I'm going to switch the pci cards to see what happens.

Cheers

Dave

Question about your router: What channel do you currently have it set to? 6? If so, try changing it to 11. To my knowledge, this will give you a much more stable connection. It very well might be interference from a neighboring WLAN or some other household appliance. If it is the latter, perhaps consider relocating the router away from potential sources of interference.

If interference is indeed the culprit, then I would have to agree with Folken in that your Dell mini-PCI card might as well have the name "Hoover" on it...considering the Toshiba card hasn't given you any problems.