HP/Compaq :: HP 9700t Mysterious Cable Broadband Fail

In the last couple of months I've had my cable broadband service go down for a couple of hours to a day or two, then come back up. I thought it was my provider, but then it got progressively worse with almost all pages needing to be reloaded when I surf the web, and then last week my computer will either not recognize ANYTHING on the other end of my ethernet wire, or tells me I have an unidentified network with no connectivity. Since my boyfriend's laptop is working ok with our cable internet, I have to assume it is my computer causing the issue.

Right now I am using dial-up service. No problems getting on, but I am still having to reload pages to connect, no matter whether I am using IE or Firefox or Chrome. The problem is temporarily corrected when I disconnect then reconnect, or reboot the computer, but then it comes back. Also the same for public wi-fi use.

Does it sound like I need a new ethernet/modem card, or could it be an issue with settings or something else? (just to rule out possibilities, yes I have tried different cables, rebooting computer, turning off & unplugging modem and computer and turning back on again, many times, it does no good)

I don't think this problem is directly related, but since the Vista Service Pack 1 came out a few months ago, my laptop won't actually correctly install it, it goes into a reboot loop stuck at 99%. I finally just had to wipe the drive, reinstall Vista again (clean, of course) and not even attempt to update with SP1. My current plan is just to try out Windows 7 when it comes out, and hope that goes better. Are the HP 9700 laptops going to be able to upgrade ok? Anyone been testing the betas?