Wireless connection problems

Hello,
I have a dsl connection to the internet to modem to wrv 54g lynksys router to wpc 54g ver3.1 laptoop adaptor in Toshiba laptop running winxp sp2. I have all kinds of problems. It has worked at times but now I have drop off, (loss of connection) frequently, but tht doesn't matter much since when I am connected (according to win wire zero - the lynksys interface just dosen't work) I can't surf. At times I can't find any networks at all. Security is wpa -psk tkip. I'd rather not make it open - non secure. I did change the adaptor and router to the above mentioned but still have the same problems. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.