Fixing Wireless Ethernet Bridge or Getting New One for Gaming

[P-K?]

First off, I've heard it many times that online gaming really doesn't work well with wireless, but I've had favorable results in the past and I don't feel like feeding a good thirty feet or more of cable across my house.

I have a PC/Mac hybrid desktop that I've had for a good solid month. It kicks ass, but I couldn't get a wireless card installed into the machine (I had a computer shop with Hackintosh experiences building a custom one) so I had to stick with a thumb drive Wireless. It sucks ass. I just got off of TF2, yet again, because my ping rocketed up to 500.

For a couple weeks I was using a Linksys (say what you want, they've worked for me) Wireless Ethernet Bridge (2.4 Ghz, 802.11b) connected into my internet port, picking up the signal from the router downstairs. It worked great up until recently. I had to unplug it from the wall when we had a recent storm. When I plugged it back in, it refused to work. The computer, on both OSes, doesn't think its even plugged in. I've tried restarting it, letting it spool overnight, plugging it directly into the router to reset it (or something: I was following suggestion)and giving it nasty stares.

I don't know what is wrong with it. Don't know if its the cord that connects it to the machine, something broken inside (I was told it was 3 years old) or if I need to buy it flowers and tell it how pretty it is.

If this one doesn't get fixed, I'm gonna have to get a new one. So does anyone know what I can do for this thing, or if there's a better inexpensive alternative bridge that would work. Worst case scenario, and probably more economical, would be to drill some cords and get a mile of cable.... but I find it would be an annoyance and obstacle: my computer is a floor up and two rooms across from my cable modem.