Linksys router problem I think

Hello folks My laptop is wireless It is XPhome And I have a Linksys WRT54G
router. Today My laptop was connecting and disconnecting. Could not find
linksys router. Then it would. I would right click baloon that would help me find wireless connections. Would give me 4 other ones I guess are real close to me. But poor signal strengh. Router is 28 inches away from laptop. Now
Laptop ran a diagnostics and then stating router is at fault computer is ok.
MY QUESTION, How do I test router. I only have one wireless laptop.:wave:

First thing I would do with that router is upgrade the firmware. That particular one I have seen many time have issues. Dropping connections, not able to connect to some site to name a couple problems. It also has compatibility issues with some modems.

I have the same router wrt54g ver 2 and had no problems with it, I replaced it with a wrt54g ver 6 just to keep things updated
I use a motorola surf board modem since that is what my ISP sales
No problems with the wired on this new router, the old router worked fine for both wireless and wired
Look on the bottom to see what version of wrt54g you have, download and install the latest firmware for your router
If that doesn't clear things up, check for outside interference

Thanks I`ll check it out And get back with you folks:)

Hey XP! There are some things you can do to aid in troubleshooting your wireless issues. First off, Linksys hardware defaults to channel 6, and I think you can generally improve signal quality by switching the router to channel 11.

Take a look at the other WLANs that show up in your available network list. If one of them is a Netgear Rangemax, that can often be bad news, particularly if it is one of the older units. The Airgo chipset in these routers bonds 2 channels together for increased throughput, and also continually scans for quieter channels, and will automatically switch channels as noise levels change.

This can really screw up nearby WLANs. I've actually been able to get a better signal from a Rangemax router something like 150 feet away than a Linksys 30 feet away!

A handy bit of freeware for diagnosing your wireless problems is Netstumbler, available at: http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/ It can give you a wealth of info about signal strength, signal to noise ratios, dropouts, etc. Highly recommended!