Linksys BEFW11S4 cable router and new ACER laptop problem

Help please!

I have had a wifi network running for around 18 months now, so that I could
surf the net on my Dell PDA, and connect a Sony PSP and a Nintendo DS, and
that worked great.

I bought a new laptop on Sunday, turned it on, and got it to search for my
WEP encryped home network, which it did beautifully. I was surfing at great
BB speeds, for around an hour or so, when it started to slow down, but I
just put that down to NTL traffic.

Yesterday, I decided to be clever, and activated file sharing on home PC
(connected to the router via network cable) and the wireless laptop, so that
I could listen to my PC music anywhere, via the laptop.

Now I can't keep an internet connection for more than a few minutes, even on
the home PC, and I only had shared file access for a short period.

To get things going again, I need to pull the power plug out of the router
for a few seconds, and then connect it again. This APPEARS to give stable
internet connection on the Home PC, but after a couple of mins surfing on
the laptop, it's gone again.

The Linksys router log software shows nothing, and the laptop can still see
the router, saying I have an excellent connection, even when I can't see the
web. I have disabled file sharing on both machines to eliminate that as a
cause.

Summary: when I try to surf via the wireless laptop, I lose internet to both
machines.

Any ideas to help an exhasperated amateur, please?


Regards



Chris

PS I have put a bid on ebay on the G version of this router, incase it is
that which is buggered.

> Help please!
>
> I have had a wifi network running for around 18 months now, so that I
> could
> surf the net on my Dell PDA, and connect a Sony PSP and a Nintendo DS, and
> that worked great.