Dell Latitude E6400 :: Intel WiFi Link 5300 AGN Drops Connections

I just recieved my Latitude E6400 today. I like the laptop, but the Intel Wifi Link 5300 AGN adapter continually drops my wireless connections to my home Linksys WRT54G access point and router. This is a version 5 Linksys unit running in mixed b/g mode with WEP encryption. It is running with a unique SSID which is not broadcast.

At first, my connections would drop and it seemed related to the Control Point software preinstalled on the E6400. So I uninstalled the Control Point System Management and Connection Management software, and this seemed to result in a small improvement: I can do a download successfully, but if I'm idle any amount of time the connection drops. This last makes me think power to the Wifi Link card might be getting turned off somewhere if there is no activity. However the Control Point Security Manager software is still installed (as it came from the factory) and might also be contributing to the problem.

I've used an 802.11n-compatible WiFi card in my home.The driver version for the WiFi Link is 12.0.0.82 and is dated 07/08/2008. The Linksys access point has been here a couple of years and is running Linksys firmware version v1.00.6. It is set up for 128-bit WEP encryption. I've had numerous laptops connect to it, all with older Broadcom b/g cards, and as long as the WEP encryption is set properly there has not been a connection problem. now to see if I can duplicate the connection dropping issue.