serious wireless connectivity problems. will trash router

hello, wondering if you could help me with a little wireless problem im having. ive tried not to post something thats already been posted, and i know there are a lot of other wireless problems posted on the forum but not one of them is quite the same as mine i dont think. anyway, here goes...

recently bought a dell laptop with intel centrino n all that. so also bought a dell router: "dell wireless 2350 broadband router" to be precise. set it all up to connect to the dell pc we have downstairs. both my laptop and the pc downstairs are windows xp, and we have NTL internet with a broadband modem.

everything was fine...until suddenly, my wireless decides to stop working correctly. basically, it will randomly disconnect me constantly, and will never connect automatically if i restart my laptop or switch it back on after it's been switched off. can i just make it clear now that the pc downstairs is connected to the internet and remains connected to the internet even when my laptop wont connect at all. also, half the time, the wireless connection coming from my router wont even be listed among the wireless networks available...its really frustrating. i think im even picking up somebodys wireless network from number 12 on my street!! (im number 24???) but it wont pick up the connection from the router downstairs! ridiculous really. it also gives me the option of connecting to a wireless network called linksys and another one which i have a funny feeling is coming from the school across the road as it's been named the same name as the school. its really bizaarre.

in short, i would just like to know why my wireless connection has become so temperamental lately and why it no longer automatically connects when i first switch the laptop on and i have to go through the endless and tedious "repair" process n messing around with it before it finally connects again.

thanks in advance!

hey, just to add to my previous post...if nobody knows how to fix this problem then im planning on uninstalling and re-installing my router and the whole of my wireless connection setup...but im not sure how to do it really. theres no real advice on uninstalling on the cd that came with my router. i mean, do i disable the device 1swt then uninstall the driver n then disconnect all the wires? etc. would be grateful of any help anybody can give please, either on fixing the problem or re-installation. thanks again