Wireless USB looses connection

I have a Linksys wireless-n usb adapter connecting to a Linksys wireless-n router on a computer running Vista. It connects just fine, but periodically the connection will drop.

As far as windows is concerned the adapter is working perfectly, but the router went away. That isn't the case of course and other devices connected to that router continue to work fine. Unplugging and replugging in the usb adapter corrects the problem, but it's very annoying.

Not sure what the exact pattern is to getting it to mess up, but it seems to be when transferring a lot of data. Downloading a large file will usually do the trick. Trying to load a network game like Warcraft will kill it instantly 100% of the time.

I've tried tweaking every router/adapter setting I can think of, but no luck. Any suggestions?

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Model numbers on your wireless router and USB adapter would be nice. Have you checked if both are running the latest firmware and driver versions? Have you installed all the Vista updates including the optional stuff?

Despite what I think of Vista, it does add some nifty diagnostics that XP lacks. In this case, you'll want to look at the Wireless trace logs:

It's a complex ugly mess, but you should be able to find the reason for the disconnects, who is initiating the disconnect, and possibly why. It could be 802.1x authentication failure, WPA key exchange failure, interference from another system, microwave ovens, or something similar. Search for the buzzword "disconnect" in the logs.

To enable tracing, run: Start -> run -> cmd netsh wlan set tracing

To disable tracing, run: netsh wlan set tracing no

The logs end up in: C:\Windows\tracing\wireless\