I have a  2178cl Compaq notebook running XP Pro that I can't get to connect
to a wireless network in my house. If I plug in an Ethernet cable from the
router it works fine. I also ran the system restore disks from Compaq with
XP home with no good results. I started this project about six months ago
with a Microsoft wireless notebook kit I bought. It has a MN-700 base and a
MN-720 notebook adapter. After many different configurations I just blamed
it on Bill Gates and went out and bought a Linksys WRT54G v2.2 base station
and a Linksys WPC54G v2 notebook adapter. I have another desktop computer in
another room with a Linksys WMP54G PCI wireless adapter that connects to the
network with no problems. The notebook sees the network and shows full
strength but refuses to connect. I'm running it without any encryption to
make it simple. I've tried the Linksys software and through windows but it
always sees it but will not connect. I reloaded the operating system but
that didn't seem to make any difference. I talked to Linksys tech support
for an hour and we got it to connect but the next time I started it the same
problem came up and it wouldn't connect. I'll reload XP again so that I'm
starting fresh. Does anybody have any idea why this thing just refuses to
connect. Is there a chance there is a hardware problem with the notebook?
Would a different brand of base station or adapter possibly help?

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