"Kees" <keesvanengelen@gmail.com> hath wroth:

Nice description. The only thing your missing is the maker and model
number of the router in question. 192.168.0.1 would make it a Dlink
or Netgear.

Was this working before, or is this a newly setup system?

>What happens is:
>- when I connect through the wireless connection on my laptop to the
>desktop (with the wired connections not connected) at regular intervals
>(abt 5-10 minutes) the internet connection drops.

Normally, I would suggest that you have 802.1x authentication enabled
but no RADIUS server. The client re-authenticates every 10 minutes,
fails, and disconnects. However, that was fixed in XP SP2 so that's
improbable. Check the 802.1x settings anyway. If you're using WPA or
WPA2 encryption, 802.1x must be enabled. Incidentally, try running it
without encryption for a while and see if the problem disappears. That
won't solve the problem but might identify the culprit.

Are you SURE you have the latest Intel Proset drives and utilities? I
much prefer to use Proset instead of Windoze Wireless Zero Config.
| http://www.intel.com/network/connect...t_software.htm
That's probably not the problem but a good idea anyway.

>- while the internet connection is down, the LAN connection between the
>two remains, because I can still transfer files between them

By "LAN connection" do you mean the wired ethernet connection? Are
you simultaneously connected via wired and wireless to the same
router? Is the desktop connected via a wired or wireless connection?
If wireless, does the desktop also loose the connection to the router?
Please give some clue as to how things are arranged.

>- I still can ping the desktop but CANNOT ping the router (192.168.0.1)
>anymore

OK, so you don't also have a wired connection. If the "LAN
connection" to the desktop is via wireless only, then the only way
that can happen is that your wireless router is acting weird. Any
chance you have both an infrastructure connection to the access point
and an ad-hoc connection to the desktop in the network setup?

Another possibility is that you have RIP or RIP2 running on the router
or desktop, which might cause the default route to change as the
connection goes up and down. Run:
Start -> Run -> cmd
route print
and look at the line at the bottom for default gateway. See if it (or
anything else) changes when the system goes down.

>- after some minutes the internet connection restores and continues to
>work again, and everything can be pinged again
>- then it goes down again (after 5-10 minutes) etc

Holdit. You said you can't ping the router and now you're using the
internet connection as a test. Stay with pinging 192.168.0.1 coming
and going. Your internet service provider could be going up and down
causing the problem. How long does it take to recover pinging the
router? Never mind the internet for now.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558