PCI Slots Dead?

Hi,

I have a HP Pavilion a6010n desktop pc. I run on Windows Vista SP1 and I am connected wirelessly with a Linksys Wireless-G WMP54GS PCI adapter card to my brother's computer (his computer is hardwired to a Linksys Wireless-G WRT54GS Broadband Router). My computer is just slightly less than one year old.

My problem is, I keep having intermittent connection issues upon start up. My computer will keep telling me that I have "no internet connections available" often when I start the computer and my device will not show up in Device Manager. It just doesn't seem to recognize that I have an adapter installed. This has happened so frequently, that I have called Linksys numerous times. The last time they told me that it was probably an issue with my computer, as I have tried two different adapters now.

I have 3 PCI slots in my tower. Only one (the adapter) is in use. I have tried switching PCI slots on several occasions without much luck. Finally, today, I took it to a tech and he put the adapter in the slot where the modem should go and it worked. But, I am not sure for how long as this problem just seems to recur all the time, and he wasn't very helpful.

Is there any way to tell if this is a problem with my motherboard? Are two of my PCI slots completely dead? I read something about changing something in BIOS, but I am not that computer savvy and don't want to mess anything up.

Any help is appreciated (help, please!)

 

You should not be linked to your brother's computer. You should be receiving an IP from the router. Has he gone into the router setup to be sure that both computers are enabled?
If you suspect a problem with the PCI adapters or the slots, why not try a USB like WUSB54G (Linksys). I have that on my husband's computer and he gets an IP from our WRT54G router even though he is about 40 feet away and one floor lower than the router.