Network adapter problems

[ca03etapia]

Hi, I have a gateway computer and just bought a Linksys network adapter about a month ago. The first month it worked fine. My neighbor allowed me to use their network and I would get 5 bars and 54mbps. However, last weekend I experienced my first problems. I wasn't able to connect at all. The next day I connected but the signal wasn't as good, about 4 bars. Days went by and now when i connect I get 2 bars and speeds that range from 1mbps, 5.5 mbps or 18 mbps. Right now Im lucky and the internet is working fine but alot of the times when it connects and I open my browser (Firefox) my computer will freeze for a second and it'll restart itself automatically. If I disable or disconnect my adapter the computer will work fine. I called gateway support and linksys support and they haven't really helped me. I tried reinstalling it but still isn't helping. I figured I'd post here cause I had good experience with these forums. Can anyone help me out or explain what may be the problem?

[bailey]

what is the distance from your computer and your neighbors router ?

[ca03etapia]

they live one apartment up from me.

[bailey]

its quite possible that the orintation of the antennas may have changed or something else may be differant, did you try a differant channel or differant location ?
sometimes the signal can vary some by unknown things, and can be good one time and not so good other times.
you may just need to try some differant things to see if you can find a location where it may be improved.