X30 / Chinese-made Atheros AR5005GS card wifi blues

[joeg]

Hi from Berlin,

My machine came with an Intel mini-pci wifi card that works fine at home with my Netgear WAG 102 Access Point. The problem is at the university where I teach, where my ability to connect has been hit and miss.

I decided to take the plunge on a no-name Chinese card based on the Atheros chip that came with no driver. After a long search, I found a file (I think on the Lenovo site) called atheros_V5.0.0.107_xp-whql.exe.

I've installed it both with and without the Atheros utility; the BIOS accepted it both ways without a hiccup. In both cases, I was able to "see" my home network, but I was never able to connect. After a day of frustration, I put the Intel card back in and was back where I had started.

I've seen some tips on the net that indicate it might be necessary to uninstall the Intel drivers, but I'm extremely reticent to do this because I don't really need the Atheros card and would hate to screw things up completely.

Hmmm, I suppose I should look at the settings of my Intel card and then copy them in for the Atheros. I didn't think of that yesterday.


Any comments or tips?

Thanks in advance.

Joe