I connect to the internet through a NetGear WGR614 54Mbps wireless router connected to a Motorola Surfboard SB5120 modem.

Lately when I am using standard WEP encryption, I find that my connection fails in a really odd way. The wireless network still shows up in the list and will usually still shows as connected (though often the speed will show as greatly reduced from the usual 54, perhaps 24 or 36 Mbps), but the internet connection does not work (it won't work on the desktop pc connected directly through the router either) and "repair this connection" will fail (sometimes "could not connect" and sometimes "failed to renew ip address").

the problem has occurred over various hardware configurations (before I got the pc when 1 laptop was direct to the router and one was wireless) and appears to only happen when WEP is turned on. resetting the router will usually fix it for a little while, but it always happens again.

also: ever since i set up a LAN through the router with my desktop pc i have been getting repeated pop up error messages saying:

"error 623, the computer could not find a phone book entry for this connection."

when i try to do things like repair the wireless network and strangely, about half the time when i type a search term directly into the address bar of my firefox browser (like typing "continental air" into the bar so it takes me to continental.com). I can't seem to find any information about this error online, and i'm worried that it could be connected to my router problem.

any help would really be greatly appreciated.