recurring Netgear WGT624 router, WEP, and wireless problems

[okthenfine]

Am looking for advice on the best setup and speed for my setup.
Have had router for about a year. During this time, it has given occasional problems with connectivity. Have a cable modem hooked to the router for shared Internet.

Have a PC hooked directly to router. No problems, accesses Internet fine.
Another PC in another room uses a Netgear wireless card. It has occasional problems with connecting/finding the router.

The past two days there have been two issues that have arose. The first is the router mysteriously lost it's password. The password was reset to the default and wireless had no security (which I had it set as WEP 64bit). I changed and everything worked fine again (both PCs connected to the Internet). The second day, I got connection errors on the 2nd PC. Wasn't able to connect to the Internet.
Don't think that someone is trying to hack in...my neighbors aren't too near, and aren't that bright..

Still having problems with 2nd PC (with wireless card) seeing the router. The signal strength shows Good to Very Good, 79%, at 48mbps (which isn't great since it's a Netgear 108mbps wireless card but it's a mixed enivronment, as the 1st PC has a regular network card.

In the router, it shows the MAC address of the 2nd PC but not the computer name or IP (although I've entered all in the router settings).
The router is set up as a DHCP server, and I have IP addresses assigned for both PCs in the router settings, and have both to connect automatically in each PCs settings.

For wireless, have it set as WEP (64bit), which has worked. On the 2nd PC, it acts like it connects, but when I access the Internet Windows says I have a weak or no signal.
Can't ping the router from the 2nd PC or ping the 2nd PC from the 1st PC.
Did notice on the 2nd PC that it had WPA Security protocol IEEE 802.1 v.2.2.0 checked in Network properties, which I disabled and retryed.
Ran Repair and get same, limited or no connectivity.

Has been no change in our environment to be reason for this (no equipment blocking signal and such).

Frustrating. When it works, it works great. About ready to chunk the wireless card and just run a network cable to the 2nd PC.

In ipconfig/all
have unique host name assigned for each PC
DHCP shown as being enabled
each have their own IP address (192.168.x.x which are also in the router settings)
subnet is standard 255.255.255.0
default gateway is router IP
DNS server is router IP

Update- After rekeying in the WEP in the Netgear configuration software on the 2nd PC it connected...

If I could go completely wireless, would get a wireless card for the 1st PC, but not sure with all the problems I've had. Think that I have to have a
wired connection at least from the router to the 1st PC.

Any suggestions on the best setup here both from a security and connectivity standpoint?
Should I just let each PC handle security instead of the router with WEP?
As for the 2nd PC, in the Netgear sofware it shows signal strength of 64% and 48-54 mbps the speed...

 

[blue68f100]

Why are you still using WEP. WPA if far better than wep could ever be. It only takes less than 5 min to crack WEP.

Make sure you have the latest firmware and drives.

Use wired connection when ever you can. For best throughput set the routers AP up for "G Only", this way any old 11b will not kill you speed.

I only use MS Zero Config utility. Not netgear software.

Since all of this happen with in the last couple of days make me think something has failed or interference. Use NetStumber to see if other networks are near. Allow it to run for 10 min or so. Make sure you don't have any cordless phones near by. I only use 900 ot 5.2 ghz phones, So there is no chance of interference. Take a close look at the routers log. It may give you a indication of where to look.

 

[okthenfine]

Thanks. It seems to help.
Had tryed to use wpa awhile back and wasn't able to, guess prior to sp2 of xp.
Set in router as G only. Had to re-enable the zero config. as recommended in the Ms knowledge base, as it wasn't allowing wpa, and disable the netgear software.
The zero config. works now, and connected. My signal strength is reading as low. Will look into a Zonenet antenna (it's discontinued, but there's got to be some out there somewhere) for the router or just connect directly through network cables if that doesn't help.

http://www.zonetusa.com/DispProduct.asp?ProductID=104

 

[blue68f100]

How far is the AP and pc client apart from each other, and walls. It could have had a radio amp failure.

 

[okthenfine]

The router and 2nd PC are about 3 feet from each other, separated by a solid wall. The wall hasn't been a factor before, as signal strength has been excellent until recently.
The only new device introduced is a PDA connected to the 2nd PC. May move it to the other side of my desk.

 

[blue68f100]

Unless the wall is solid steel, it should not be an issue. Do you have another wireless card for the pc to try. If not move the pc into the same room and try.

Some router and client cards have a power setting, check to see if they are set on high, and can not be turned off to conserve energy.

Need to determine which wireless is having the problem.

 

[okthenfine]

The signal strength is back up to very good, and I've noticed a speed improvement from having it as G only. Need to test other PC with a G card connected. Thanks.

 

[A1e3m]

i have this same router, had the same problems......all i did was update the firmware and all were fixed...hope all this helps