Okay gang, need your input. I had the problem I'm about to describe before and was able to fix it myself. Problem is I didn't write down how I fixed it and now that it's come back up again...I can't remember.
Anyway, my old pc's motherboard decided to catch on fire so I've set up a new one. Well, new to me. Its a Compaq 2.6Mhz P4 with 1GB of ram. It has an on-board broadcom ethernet gigbit adapter. I have installed a Dlink WUA-1340 wireless adapter to connect to my wireless network for internet access. I also would use the broadcom adapter for a wired network for high-speed transfers b/w my lappy and desktop.
The problem is that if I have the Broadcom adapter enabled, the internet connection from my wireless network is spotty with random and annoying drops. I can still connect to the wireless router, just not on to the internet. I have also tested the internet connection on my lappy when the desktop is acting up and the lappy connects just fine. If I disable to broadcom adapter, I can surf the internet wirelessly to my hearts content. I've checked every setting I can think of. The wireless adapter is set up to get use DHCP to get a ip address from the wireless router. The broadcom adapter is set up to use a specific address and connect to the ethernet router, using it as its default gateway.
As I said, I had the problem in the past and fixed it, just don't know how. Right now I am fine with the Broadcom adapter being disabled but need to find the fix for future reference. And this time I'll write it down. The only possibility that comes to mind is that the computer gets confused as to which connection to use for the internet.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

I think you need to call the COMPAC HOT LINE.lol

 

What are you using for your internet (IE or Firefox)? When the spotty condition occurs, can you still ping an internet address (open a command prompt and type in ping yahoo.com)? Should return hits indicating something like:
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=51
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=49
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=49
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=49

If you do not get 4 returns like above, then the two NICs are possibly stepping on each other for the TCP/IP. Without being able to sit in front of it to troubleshoot, kinda hard to tell though.

Also, are you hardwired and using the wireless connection? Maybe not having a cable in the hardwired NIC may help.

 

I use Firefox primarily. I tried IE when it was acting up and couldn't get on with it either.

I get nothing but lost packets when I try to ping a website when it's acting up. I kinda figured they were clashing, just gotta remember how to make them play nice.

I feel ya on the troubleshooting. Many is the time I've told people the same thing.

Doesn't matter if there is a cable in the nic or not, if it's enabled it messes up.

 

If you are usind the default in the router 192.* and the other is using the AARP 169.* without routing tables they may not be able to communicate since the 169 nic doesnt know where to forward traffic.

Put a reservation on the router with the mac of the second nic and then address the 2nd nic statically in the same subnet of the first one.

 

Do you have 2 routers? one wired and the other wireless?

If you have 1 wireless router you do not need to connect both via the ethernet cable for file transfers.

Just keep the desktop connected via ethernet to the router and the laptop connected wireless. They will be on the same network and you should be able to see them when you click on network places.
Remove the wireless adapter from the desktop and the conflict will go away.

Also just set both for DHCP. You do not need a static IP address unless you are using a VPN or some other software..

If you do have 2 routers, just disconnect the wired one and only use the wireless one as stated above.