Atheros AR928X Sony Vaio dropping...

Hi,

I have tried to search the forum for my issue but can only find solutions that treat zero connection so i'm hoping someone can shed some light on my slightly different issue...

I have a Sony Vaio which is running an Atheros AR928X wireless card, i have been using it for around 18months with zero issues then one evening it suddenly decided that it would work.. then not work.. then work.. etc...

It finds my network, it logs on, it gives me access to the network and internet but randomly and frequently drops the internet and says 'no internet access' with the yellow exclamation warning triangle in the signal bard indicator. I have been on to sony who made me chase my tail with their pre-generated point and click responses.

Here is some info:

I have a macbook and smartphones that work from the wireless connection flawlessly, my vaio works via the ethernet port, i have updated the driver to see if that is an issue, i have checked the settings on my router and had it tested via the ISP and all is fine. I have not installed anything other than Norton Anti virus, which i removed and used the removal tool just in case this was something preventing the connection. I even wiped the C drive and then restored the system via my image disks and reinstalled everything, it still does it.

Is this a hardware issue? driver issue? is there a way of testing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated! ;o)

could be hardware, or may be just the card is loose/ attenna cable is loose.
if you could open the bottom case, you might be able to see the card and its attenna cable. just carefully push them back.

i opened up the back and took a look, the motherboard looks like it is hiding the wireless card but the end of the antenna is folded around onto the backside (the one facing you when the back is off). It is taped to the board, i checked what i could but that was it as i didn't feel comfortable taking the entire mother board out just to look at it.

Are my symptoms typical of a wireless card not working? i.e. signs of a typical failure?

Thanks for the help

ok just to confirm... here are two pictures, is this the entire wireless card or is this just the antenna part? the wire goes underneath the mother board and then underneath a black/silver covering so i am presuming that it perhaps simply attaches to the body somewhere for extra reception? is it just this tiny little cricuit board i'd need to change or is this the tip of the iceberg...

Oh and as a side note, what a shite design to have ribbons that simply slide and clip in with no slack, it took me about 25 mins to get the mouse and the power button back clipped in! haha..

haha ok so i worked out that the above pictures are of the modem and then found the right one.

IT turns out that my wireless card is not the AR928X but the AR5B91. Not sure if this makes any difference, perhaps i can look at the drivers? although i did a 'self update' so you'd like to think it knows what it is, however i did change the lcd screen myself a few weeks ago, do the wires coming from it link to the screen as they go into the screen housing? perhaps a dodgy connection, i'll delve further and report back, in the mean time if you feel you can help please feel free!

Windows keeps identifying the wireless card as an AR928X and updates to say that in device manager.... using the Ar5B91 driver it doesn't even connect, using the ar928x driver and allowing it to update works, but still has the dropping issue....