I thought i had it licked, but my router keeps dropping out on me................ <grrr> <doh>

Licking your router usually won't fix it.

Is it dropping the internet side or the connection to your pc (if you know)?

When it's playing up, i have NO access to internet on the PC and hence the laptop either and the network monitor on XP(PC) says Ethernet cable is disconnected, when it isn't!

Sounds like it may be trying to reboot itself. I'm assuming the lap top is wireless.

How long has it be doing this?

The laptop is wireless.....

It has been doing this on and off since we bought it, about 3 or 4 days....also when the laptop boots up the cursor quite often can't be controlled by the mousepad thingy....

If you just bought the router I'd take it back.

Is the lap top's mouse USB or integrated touch pad?

Just changed the laptop, looks like router will be next........

Just a few qs;

- I take it your laptop and PC are both connected to the router and both don't connect to the internet?
- Do you use wire or wireless to connect the laptop to the internet?
- Have you tried rebooting your router?

Also the problem you have with the mousepad is quite common for some models (at least older ones I used to work with), it can be caused due to the keyboard element overheating!

Yes the PC was connected to the router, and the laptop via wireless dongle thingy.

Only tried laptop wirelessly.

Rebooted it a million times this week.....

Seriously considering taking router back.....

I am functionally illiterate where computers are concerned but my nephew is "Supergeek"

When I had the same type of problem; he told me to unplug or turn off the power to the router, leave it off for about 45 seconds, and then power it up again. Blessed miracle, it worked. It is still required occasionally but not often enough to be a PITA.

Try it, no guarantees but it may work.

It might not be the router that's at fault.

You need to connect the laptop to the router via a wire for a reasonable amount of time and see if the same thing happens first <thumbsup>

And you could you answer:

Thanks Rams....

So to get the laptop to connect to the router wirelessly....should i set the software etc up on the Laptop or on the PC that was going to be the base unit?

I'm so confused....

And the PC was connected via the router and the laptop via the dongle thingy to the router wirelssly and although the PC did sometimes work the laptop wasn't having it!

But now both are not working.........

Now I'm confused :D

Let's start with the PC first. You should have an ethernet cable from your PC to your router. There should be no need for any software to be installed to make this work.

Now onto your laptop.

I assume this is a new laptop? If so, it should come with a wireless card built in meaning no need for a dongle. Does the dongle connect to a PCMCIA card? (ejectable from your laptop).

Anyway, forgetting the wireless part for a second, you should be able to plug another ethernet cable from your laptop into your router (alongside your PC connection - that's the whole point of a router after all!!) and it should work. There is no need to install any software at all when using a router.

What he said <thumbsup>