Accessing URL using IE on Win XP Pro fails intermittently

[homeadmin]

I am running Win XP Pro and sometimes IE is not able to load a URL. Even while IE is having trouble, I can get the IP address of the URL from nslookup and ping the address directly. Ping of the URL does not work. After a few minutes (maybe 1-3) the problem clears up.

Some other facts:

- this problem used to be much worse when I was connected using dialup. Now I have DSL. I see the problem less frequently and it seems to resolve itself faster.

- because I saw the problem when I was using dialup I am assuming that the cause of the problem is local to the machine and not elsewhere. Just in case: I am connected via 802.11b to a Linksys router/wap in turn connected to the DSL modem.

- I have a Win ME system connected behind the same router and never see a similar problem on it. In fact, when I get frustrated with the laptop I go to the desktop machine and it always works.

- I have a local firewall with DNS traffic cleared in both directions. Again, because the problem is transitory I assume that the static configurations of all other software are not implicated.

- Finally, the problem seems to occur most frequently if I have walked away from the machine for some period (>= 10 min?) and then come back to it.

Any insight appreciated,

Gary