Unable to connect to johnson2

Phone computer (Acer1) cannot connect to the internet. Our network, johnson2, does not show up on the list of available connections, though our neighbors' networks do.

Unplugged Linksys wireless adapter, tried it in different USB ports, but nothing worked. Tried one of our spare Cisco adapters, and after the installation failed because I was using the installation disk for a different version of adapter, I used the correct disk and was able to connect to johnson2.

A few minutes later, the connection failed. Johnson 2 showed up on the list of available networks, but when I tried to connect to it, an error message popped up saying that the signal strength was too low. Thinking that this was because the wireless adapter was faulty, I used Mom's adapter and was able to connect to johnson2. However, the signal strength was "Poor." Not sure how this could be possible, I got out my laptop and opened inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/), which identifies the signal strength of all detectable networks, and what channel they are broadcasting on. It confirmed the "poor" signal strength, showing that johnson2 was only at about -80 dB, even lower then our neighbor's networks. (usually ours should be around -15 to -40 dB, with -15 being the better signal)

So I unplugged the power to the router, watched the signal fade away from inSSIDer, re-plugged in the power, and watched the signal appear in inSSIDer at about 30dB higher, between -50 and -40 dB.

Going back to the Phone computer, I plugged in the original network adapter, and connected to johnson2 with no problem.
 The other wireless computers (Mom's, Rosie's, mine) probably did not have the same problem as ACER1 because their network adapters are more powerful so they can pick up a weaker signal. Hopefully the problem was just that the router needed to be restarted. If that hadn't worked, I would next try changing the frequency on which we broadcast. This can be done on a computer that is hardwired to the router, and connecting to the router's settings page using the IP address.

Just something strange I noticed while doing this: the signal strength of johnson2 in the office was considerably lower, by about 10-20 dB, than the signal strength out in the kitchen/family room. Perhaps the Linksys router could be re-positioned if this becomes a problem.