USB and WIFI card problems 2621-480 running Win2K

[QuiltPad]

I have a 2621-480, 6GB hard drive 466Mhz processor. I acquired this used as surplus, for next to nothing, and did a clean install of Windows 2000 SP1, then added SP4. I have the following problems:

USB devices are not recognized.
Two different wireless cards are recognized, can find the wireless router, but can't make a full connection.

Here's what's been tried:
1. Updated bios to the most recent one I could find on IBM/Lenovo's site: 1.20
2. Following a suggestion I found there, I first disabled USB in bios, did a repair on the Win2K installation, re-added SP4, re-enabled USB in the bios. Then attached the USB device (a thumbdrive, but I tried several of those plus a compact flash card reader - all of which work on other machines). At that point, Windows recognized "new hardware," but not the actual thumbdrive.
3. Downloaded and used the DOS-based Thinkpad diagnostics. They reported nothing amiss, but in order to test USB, you need some sort of talk-to-itself gizmo that I niether have nor know how to make, where to buy, etc.

For the wireless card - one older, one brand new, installed drivers as in documentation, etc.
Card confirmed working in other computers; wireless network confirmed working with other computers.
Checked all wireless settings with working systems to make sure they matched.

What happens:
Card is recognized, and can see our wireless network. "Connect" seems to work, but the display shows a brief transmission, but little or nothing received. It does show moderate signal strength. All attempts to do anything with the connection, e.g. see anything on the network, connnect to the internet, etc. fail. (A wired ethernet card works just fine on this computer.)

Control Panel reports in each case that the "device is working properly," but obviously it doesn't know everything!

So, do I just have a hardware problem that's more trouble to fix than it's worth, or is there some system change that I need to make to allow one or both of these devices to work correctly? This is just an occasional-use computer, but it would be nice to get these devices working with it so that it would be a better travel machine.

Thx for any help!

[truk]

I don't know how to pinpoint the problem, but I can tell you if it's hardware or not a long as you have a CD rom hooked up to it you can boot from. Go to:
http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/downloa ... ad-button=
and download an ubuntu live cd (the one that is trying to download) Don't even try this on dial up, as it takes a while on DSL. It is free and completely legal. Burn the ISO (you can use CDBurner XP if you have nothing else for ISOs) and try to boot from it. Once it has started (you will see a desktop like windows), insert the USB flash drive and see if it opens. DO NOT click the install icon on the desktop. If it recognizes the flash drive, it's not hardware. It might be able to use your wireless card, but it might not. If it can use the USB or both, you can rule out a hardware issue and look for alternative drivers.

Sorry, I know this is quite complex, so if you have any problems please ask. I hope this helps.
Truk