If it's not the hardware, may be external source interfering with the signal....

Here's a link to see if another signal is interfering with your's...

G_Bison is pointing you correctly - if neighbors happen to be using the same channel, connections can be iffy no matter how good the router.  I suspect you are savvy to that, though.  I had problems a couple of years ago with my D-Link router dropping connection to my laptop frequently without any of the usual culprits being present & D-Link support was unable to get it working, ultimately had to solve it with a Netgear router.  Not necessarily your issue, but ya never know.

Nothing is interfering with the signal. The notebook just likes to drop the signal then require the signal.

and my favourite ENEMY for notebook issues is POWER Management, ie remove the option for windows to TURN OFF the network adapter when running on mains in the network adapter advanced properties in the device manager.

harpo

I doubt that's the issue but I'll look into it.

You need to state more specific info about what is exactly happening. How is it dropping connection? What will it say, i mean some kind of error message, or can you ran some diagnostic like on Win7 or something?

I had issue with my home wifi network, after i bought iphone 4s, everytime i tried to access mails or safari from the phone, it would drop the connection, more specifically, the DNS server would not respond. I could not reach these services from the phone, neither could i access internet on my desktop, unless i rebooted the modem manually with the button. Interestingly, Skype or ICQ were still available, because apparently they bypass the whole DNS thing or what.

The solution for me was to set the exact IP address of my ISP´s DNS servers in the connection properties on the desktop, or manually set it on the phone - by default the preset DNS was the IP of my modem/router (or was it localhost, not sure now).

Hey I don't know how I can be more clear. My girlfriend will be doing something on Facebook and the notebook will lose the connection with the router. No message is given. The notebook then reconnects after a period of time. This happens multiple times.

I'm not sure how to set up XP to lock on to the router using anything but auto DNS. Not even sure that's the issue.

Mhm, cant help you then, i suppose, sorry. I could post some kind of tutorial for you, how to manually set the DNS, its not that complicated, but its probably pointless, if we do not know for sure, its the DNS causing the problem. Which probably isnt, if it reconnects itself, i had to reboot the router for it to happen in my case, so the "symptoms" are different.

Hopefully someone else will be able to help you.   

I had the same issue with my wifes laptop. It turned out there were several contributing factors, one of which I think you have already ruled out.

Other Wifi using same channel. (We had quite a few neighbors go wireless in the past year and it was just a matter of time. We had that issue , had channel changed, still had issue)

Number of devices on network. (We had xbox, PS3, 2 PC's, laptop, and droids and iphone on network. Had to reset the number of allowable devices. THAT solved the issue.)

How far is the router from the laptop? Could be a weak signal from some kind of interference. Does she live in an apartment or multiple tenant building? Have you tried to duplicate the issue on another router? (friends house, Starbucks, etc.)

And you may want to look into this. Here is a thread I found..  go down to post #98. One of the issues was with the driver update for the wireless card. The manufacturers driver update corrected the issue where 'Intels' update did not. Different PC brand and does not mention router, but it could be something to check.

we also a similar situation however updating the firmware solved our issue.

Just curious -

Are you using fixed IP addresses or letting the router assign them?  Could it be an 'IP renewal' issue?

About 10 feet. Not very far.

Apartment.

No we have not tried to duplicate the issue. I don't have another router to try. I may try going out of the house with the notebook to see if it's the router.

I have tried both the Gateway driver and the Intel driver. I get the same result with both.

I have the newest firmware on the router.

I'm letting the router assign everything. Out of 5 devices that use the router in the home this notebook is the only one that exhibits this behavior. Funny thing is that if I run Linux on the machine the signal is not dropped. Must be a Windows issue, not a router issue.

Kona... maybe you should pm the_Monk. He's very knowledgable regarding routers and their problems.

One thing does occur to me. You haven't really isolated the problem to the router. It could be the modem. Try to take that out of the equation by turning the router off and connecting directly to the modem. Next, check this: When the Internet connection drops out again by pinging the IP address of your router (probably either 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1). The router pings, the problem is with the cable company or their equipment (further up the line from their modem is still possible... so if the modem looks ok, check this possibility).

At least you'll be further along in the problem solving. Next question is does task manager still show she's connected without getting the net. Since you've updated with firmware, that leaves the network card as a major suspect. Another - confused autodetection speeds. You'll find that out by checking her connection speed and the network cards properties.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-router-drops,review-129.html

I actually have the same problem at my house.  My configuration is: wired/wireless router hooked into Vonage box hooked intoo router.  The router will randomly (sometimes a hour or 2 after resetting it) drop ALL internet connection that are wireless.  There is no dice in trying to hook the router into the modem (doesn't work at all).  The solution on my end is to reset the wireless by disabling and re-enabling it.  I wonder if my problem is related to high traffic.  The router is a Netgear n600 dual-band wifi gigabit router.  A dump from the router of its logs of what happens before the wireless goes down would be GREAT to have but I dunno how to get at that.  The range for the drops ranges from ~50 feet to 30 feet 2 rooms away and upstairs).  ALL the wireless signal from the router drops at once.  Annoying to have and a solution would be helpful

It can't be the router for two reasons. One, every other internet connected device does not drop signal and two, when Linux is installed on the machine the notebook itself does not drop the connection. The problem has to be in the Windows driver used for this hardware in XP. I will try an older version of the driver and see if that works.