What happened to reliable wireless in a mac mini...?

My Mac Mini is having fits with its Airport card. If it recognizes it then it will connect for about 30 seconds then drop the signal and will not reconnect. The rest of the time it won't even acknowledge that it has an Airport card. If I switch over to XP it sees the card in the device list but places the yellow exclamation mark over it and says it "cannot start" in the troubleshooting box. After trying three archive/installs and numerous permission and disk verifications/repairs I have achieved nothing. I took it to the Apple store today and what do you know...it worked on all their networks. The guy said he took the cover off and checked the connections and it was all good. My question is this, what could be causing both operating systems to fail to recognize the card or drop the signal and so on? I'm almost to the point of doing an erase and install but I really don't want to due to the loss of XP and all the programs that go with it for school. Classes start the second week of January and I have to have this thing in top shape. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!

I think at some point, either you or the Apple store (or indeed any Apple approved service provider) will have to open it up and check it out. If it's under warranty still, then it doesn't make sense for you to do it, and since an Apple store have already looked at it and found nothing wrong (possibly the physical act of transporting it 'made' the loose connection) then it may bet better to look for an approved service provider instead, and let them have a look at it over a longer period than the Apple store was able to give it.
On the other hand, if the warranty has expired, then assuming you have some confidence in your skills, opening it up and checking it out yourself may be the better way to go, since you can devote as much time as it needs, and keep the top off as long as it takes to test the system out.
If you haven't opened the mini yourself, then watch one or two of the Intel mini disassembly videos, such as those at the bottom of the page at http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/ to familiarize yourself with the internal layout and components. If you don't feel confident however, don't attempt this, even if you read reports of 'how easy it is' to open and disassemble one!

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