Linksys Question....

[Pirate Bill]

You shouldn't need to fix the router. That isn't the prime suspect here. The problem is most likely software or hardware on the laptop. It's possible for one laptop with a lousy network card to get bad reception in the same location as another laptop with a better network card.

Unless you're seeing problems with all computers and all other variables are equal then the Linksys router is going to be the last place to look for problems.

If something used to work but doesn't now then I doubt it's a driver issue (unless they tried upgrading it and now it doesn't work). In these case the first thing to ask is, "What changed?" Any new software/hardware installed? Have you scanned for viruses/spyware? Have all Windows updates been applied?

I'd treat this computer as if infected until you know better. Hook it up to the internet but quarantine it from the rest of the network (just disconnect the router from the modem and plug the laptop into the modem directly). The rest of the network will loose the internet connection while you do this, but everything else will be kept safe while you fix the laptop.