alonewiththemoon | connection woes

If anyone has any advice for me, I would love you--my home computer (pc frankenstein, windows xp) is constantly losing its internet connection. RCN confirmed that the modem is communicating properly with the outside world, and all the little lights on the modem are behaving normally, so the problem must be somewhere on my end. Connection can be restored by shutting down the computer, turning off the modem, unplugging the ethernet cable and letting it all sit for at least five minutes before restarting, but eventually the connection quits again. Customer service at RCN suggested that I try a new ethernet cable or update the network card drivers. I did both of those things, as well as power cycling the modem and resetting it god knows how many times, but the problem is persisting. Typically, I get about three page loads and then the connection stops working. Sometimes however it will work properly for hours. Is there anything else that springs to mind that would cause intermittant connectivity? According to the hardware profiles, everything involved with networking is working properly.

I'm not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but this problem did start after I dropped a curtain rod on the modem. It wasn't very heavy though. I also upgraded my Norton systemworks and firewall about a month ago, but this problem is only about a week old.

This is exactly the sort of frustration one does not need when it is a million degrees out. My celtic-teutonic body was not designed for these conditions.