Windows Network Problems

[fishmonger12]

i've got a dell insipiron 5100 running windows xp professional. my wireless card recently stopped working, so i plugged the computer directly into the router with a networking cable. That worked for about 2 weeks. Now windows pops up a window every 5 seconds telling me that the network cable is unplugged. it oscillates between connected and disconnected every 5 seconds or so. also, after formatting i installed the wireless lan driver on the cd and off of the internet. after installed either one my wireless monitor says the driver isn't loaded. i've tried:

formatting
installing drivers off the dell website
different network cables

nothing seems to work. any ideas?

 

[montag451]

First thing i would try is - another cable.

try pinging another computer on the network -

What happens

 

[fishmonger12]

conclusion:

wireless card has gone dead.
ethernet card has gone bonkers.

 

[montag451]

how do you know the card has gone?

Have you replaced it?

 

[fishmonger12]

yes and no. i replaced it with an external card i had lying around and it worked perfectly. the internal card had a range of about 15 ft, the external had a range of about 300.

i'm sending the laptop back to dell to look at the ethernet port.

 

[montag451]

I like the idea of having 15ft wifi.

Secure!!!!