Vista - Mind boggling wireless issue + Explorer fail @ startup

I've been toying with my machine recently because I have lost connection with most of the Internet through my laptops wireless connection. These are some symptoms:


When connecting wirelessly, I can only connect to two sites: Google and Vampirefreaks (social network), and the pages are updating. The entire public parts of this site are accessible via wireless.

When connecting wirelessly to other websites, I cannot connect.

If I'm hardwired straight to my wireless router with an ethernet cable, I can connect to anything with relative ease.

I use Firefox, but the same problems are exhibited in IE.

At startup, Explorer opens but makes that persistent error *ding* whenever I click it. I have to end explorer.exe and restart it in order for it to start working whenever I restart my laptop.

At startup, a pop up alerts me that "One of the USB devices attached to this comuter has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it." Followed by a box showing "USB Root Hub (2 ports) // Unknown Device / Unused Port," recommending I reconnect the device or replace it, but I have no idea how to reconnect a USB hub that is built into the system.



If it's not painfully obvious, I'm not a computer whiz, so I'll apologize now for any incorrect terms I've used and how much help I might require.

If there is a thread with a situation like mine, I've not seen it and would be interested in reading through it as well as your recommendations.


Thanks in advance.


Bill

titansfaninva,

You listed 3 problems:
1. Wireless connections are flakey while hardwire works fine.
2. Explorer does not load correctly on startup but is OK if ended & reloaded.
3. On startup, there are two USB error messages.

What happens if you boot your PC in "safe mode" or in “safe mode with networking”? (regarding problems 2 & 3)

The following link about safe mode is for WinXP but should apply to Vista as well:
Microsoft Corporation

Sky