Strange connection dropping problem

[keith]

I have a network set up between a desktop (the WinGate server) and a laptop. At first, everything is fine, both computers can see each other and can ping each other, accessing the internet on the laptop is also normal.

But for some strange reason, the connection drops. The computers cannot be accessed from "My Network Places", ping is also very inconsistent, sometimes only one try works, sometimes none at all. Accessing a site on the laptop results in a time out, but the request appears in the History log on the desktop (viewed from Gatekeeper) as "DNS: A lookup ...", sometimes a "NAT: TCP Connection ...". But even if the "NAT: ..." line appears in the log, the laptop does not load the page.

Details:
I'm using a USB Net Linq cable.
The internet connection on the desktop is a PPP\ATM. I have to "dial-in" for this. Additionally, in the properties for the connection, TCP/IP is unchecked.
The server is using Windows XP Professional, the laptop is using Windows XP Home.
The laptop is configured to use DHCP. The server is at 192.168.0.1 and the laptop is at 192.168.0.2.
I use Mcafee Viruscan 8.
I use Zonealarm. I have put the local network in the "Trusted Zone" and have currently set turned the firewall off for the "Trusted Zone". Turning off the firewall does not help the situation.
The laptop has IIS installed.

Please help me with this situation.

[genie]

ZoneAlarm and Wingate do not place nice together...

[keith]

I've tried turning ZoneAlarm off, but that doesn't solve the problem.

Even if ZoneAlarm is causing problems, why would the problem happen only after transferring large ammounts of data? Wouldn't the laptop not be able to access the internet from the start?

[genie]

It is not enough just to turn it off - the ZA driver still sits their intercepting networking things.

[keith]

I've uninstalled ZoneAlarm completely now, yet the problem persists.

[genie]

What version of Wingate do you have?

[keith]

I'm using the latest beta, RC2.

[ingeltra]

I'm using the latest beta, RC2.

this is definately a hardware thing and not software, ping timeouts always means a hub/switch/wireless ap /utp cable is malfunctioning.. check it out.