dvid

i just bought a laptop recently an Advent..which has a RALink Wireless card , however when i try to connect to the internet no networks show up :/...when i enable the card via the keyboard the icon in appears with a red score through it saying disconnected or not exist. ive managed to get internet access about 3 times for a good couple of hours but it randomly cuts off and after words i cant reconnect...its frustrating...any ideas as to how to solve my problem?...im sitting more or less beside the router so i dont really think it has much to do with that...