Livebox problems

"Martin Francis" hath wroth:

If you have tried 3 different wireless cards on your new Acer laptop, it's highly unlikely that the problem is the wireless card. That leaves the Wanadoo Livebox/wireless access point and your new Acer laptop. I like to troubleshoot such things by substitution.

1. Do you still have the previous laptop and Safecom card available? That will test if the Wanadoo Livebox is still alive.
2. Install *ONE* of the wireless cards in your Acer. Remove the other drivers as they might interfere with each other. Try to return things to a sane condition (perhaps with System Restore). Go find a free wireless hot spot and see if the new laptop works. If you have the same problems with a free hot spot, your laptop has something wrong with it.
3. You can also use the "show available networks" connection to see how sensitive your laptop is. If you live in an area full of wireless networks, you should see them. Compare with what the old laptop hears.
4. If the laptop works at the hot spot, then leave it alone. Cease adding and removing hardware and concentrate on the Livebox/wireless access point. What changed? Broken antenna? You state that you sometimes get a "tempermental" connection. I presume that means that you can actually get a connection of sorts, which implies that the WEP/WPA encryption is working. If not, and you're using WEP, be sure to use the Hex key, not the ASCII key.