Compaq N410c, W200, Ubuntu 8.04 can't connect

After being away from Ubuntu for nearly a year (I take long breaks), I decided to start using it again, and to re-familiarize myself with it.

I discovered that I have lost wireless connectivity on my laptop (stats in sig). It can connect when I plug in an internet cable, but not wireless. Here is the weird thing: If I enable roaming mode I can see my network and I can connect after putting in my password, but I cannot manually configure it to connect at all. At best I can see a connection with 70% signal strength, but I can't connect with either Firefox, Pidgin, or other applications.

My problem is that in roaming mode the laptop becomes so unstable it is unusable. Manual configuration is now so unreliable that I can't connect to the router at al. Other laptops can connect, and so can my PSP and DS Lite. I have reinstalled the driver, but that had no effect.

I'm sad. My little Linux laptop, that was such a beast and so awesome, has been crippled. Help me help the poor thing!

 

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=684495

:major

 

I've used that guide in the past, without any success, unfortunately. Though I suppose technically, that doesn't mean it wont' work this time... I'll give it a shot and see if it helps. Thanks

 

This is weird... when I type in "sudo iwconfig eth1 <essid for connection>" the terminal tells me the essid is not a valid command. Odd, because it works and can connect in roaming mode. I am puzzled now.

I see lots of potentially useful links in that guide though, so I will be doing research on this.