The Network/wireless forum might be a better place to post and give specifics if you do post there. Router? Which one? Which wireless card? What type of connection--dsl or cable & which ISP? For starters, open Network and Sharing Center and enable the various connection settings and set up your network, if you haven't already. There is also help available there to check your connections. For one thing, the default Workgroup name in Vista is different from XP and should be changed to the same as your XP computers if you want them to communicate with each other. You also need to secure your wireless network. You should also reenable the settings you disabled. You actually need most of those--firewall, protected mode--I could not get IE to work without it, antivirus, IP6P. I don't know what autotune is. You could download and try Firefox. I've found that much quicker than IE7. A wired connection should not require anything to work. Just plug into the router and you should be connected. Do that again and use the Network connection wizard.

I have an Inspiron 531 with wireless card and have had issues similar to what you describe as well. We had the computer running great for a month or so, then internet speeds dropped considerably. I ran some speed tests and came up with 60 kbps while my Windows XP laptop sitting right next to the desktop was getting around 1,100-1,200 kbps everytime on the speed test... I tried a ton of things to get it to work without any luck. I have since ran a wired across the living room to plug directly into the router and it was working great now.

Besides Cell Phones (which we still have) and Laptops (which we still have) we don't have any other wireless devices and from one apartment to the other, nothing has changed... If anything our old apartment (duplex) had less interference than I new place (apartment complex). Before there wasn't a wireless signal within a block of where we lived. Now we have 3 other secured networks in the same building

Message Edited by jbr12 on 01-08-2008 07:46 AM

I never really solved the problem. I gave up trying to fix it because of some work deadlines, so I ran a network cable across the room and used that for the last couple of months. We have since moved from our old apartment to a new one. When I unpacked, I hooked up the same wireless router and as of right now I haven't had any problems with the wireless working. Nothing has changed except I unplugged my router for a couple of days and plugged it in at the new place and WA-LA! I'm waiting for it to die again and force me to run the cable around the living room like before.