hi ken. Ping certainly pings data but it does not stop the connection from dropping after two minutes or so. Initially the ping reports "Reply from 8.8.8.8 bytes=1.." etc etc, then after 2-3 minutes I get "request timed out". If I reboot the hub the ping continues to report "Request timed out" for a while, then it changes to "destination host is unreachable" and as soon as all lights are back on the hub I get "Reply from 8.8.8.8.." again, which continues until the next interruption after 2-3 mins. So the only way to go on thre internet is to reset the hub repeatedly, which itself takes about 2 min.
Now, here is the interesting thing. I have two laptops 'A' & 'B' on win 7 and a desktop 'C' with XP.
A is working perfectly in wireless mode
B will only work if hardwired to the hub (except for 2 min if the hub is reset)
C won't work whether wireless or hardwired (except for 2 min if the hub is reset)
When I first started this trail laptop A wouldn't work at all (except after a hub reset). So, the same basic problem affects three different PCs with two different operating systems at different times. So far I have never had all three down simultaneously, but that really would spell trouble.
Recently I've run malwarebytes on all three machines and on the desktop I've even done combofix (I'm getting desperate). The problem remains. I hope this helps to identify a source of the problem. thanks.