Windows 7 Network Problems

Sometimes when I start my computer up, it has trouble connecting to my home network. The icon in the tray shows the Monitor/Ethernet symbol with a blue circle constantly spinning. This goes on for a few minutes. After that, the blue circle is replaced with a red "X".

Any gadget that requires the Internet. For example, my Weather gadget will not update (it just says "Loading") and my System Monitor gadget won't acquire an IP address. Also, I cannot access the files from other computers through the Homegroup. Finally, when I try to open up the "View network status and tasks" section of the Control Panel, that window freezes and can only be freed up by ending the task in the Task Manager.

But the odd thing is, I can browse the web just fine. Even when the red "X" is there, there appears to be no affect on my browsing capabilities.

Restarting the computer fixes this problem, but I'd rather not restart whenever this happens.

Any ideas on what to do?
TIA

BTW, this is an HP Desktop with Windows 7 64-bit connected through ethernet to a router on Comcast cable.

What level of encryption are you using on the network? Also what router do you have and do you have the latest firmware?

Quote from Aitrus : What level of encryption are you using on the network? Also what router do you have and do you have the latest firmware?

The router is a Belkin F5D7230-4 that is updated to the latest firmware (It is at 8.00.06 and the update button on the router setup page says there are no new updates). The encryption technique is set to TKIP + AES, and that cannot be changed.

Quote from DinkinFlicka : The router is a Belkin F5D7230-4 that is updated to the latest firmware (It is at 8.00.06 and the update button on the router setup page says there are no new updates). The encryption technique is set to TKIP + AES, and that cannot be changed.

What version is your router? 7000?

I am curious about this because I upgraded my wife from Vista to 7 months back and we have an issue where everytime she reboots even though our home network is saved as automatically connect we have to manually connect it after each reboot.