Wireless tech is very new to me and I'm struggling to understand some of the terminology here. Given the following, can someone explain in laymans terms what I need to be doing that I'm not (and whether this scenario is likely to be occuring frequently - if it is, the whole lot is going back to the shop as it's too much hassle).
I have Windows XP SP2 and used to connect to the internet via a cable set-top box, which was cabled to the network card on my PC. When I moved, this became impractical, so I bought the router and adaptor mentioned in the subject.
After a few teething problems, I managed to get everything working, then added WPA security. The connection was "excellent" nearly all of the time and everything seemed great. I had to disable the network card, as XP was trying to restart (if that's the right term) it every time I booted up the PC but I expected that and have no need for it now with everything working.
After a couple of weeks, suddenly I lost internet access, although I could see the router and was, according to the network connection icon in the task bar still connected to it.
I've tried "repairing" the connection and I've tried rebooting the set-top box, router and PC, but the network that WAS working, still isn't.
I can get back into the router set-up if I use my broadband cabling into the router, and have take WPA off again as part of my investigations, but still cannot get internet access. The only way I can connect to the internet at the moment is via a long broadband cable from the set-top box to the network card and I've disconnected the adaptor.
The one thing I haven't yet tried is resetting the router to its factory default, I guess that's next, once I've noted down the static IP and MAC addresses I need.