notebook doesn't recognize wireless adapter

I was not sure if this problem would be better served in another forum or not. But, I'll start here.

I have a Compaq Presario 705us notebook that all of a sudden is not recognizing any wireless card I insert. I have tried three different types (Motorola WN825G being the latest). It recognized the original wireless card for two years up until about three months ago. I have reinstalled drivers, uninstalled to no avail. In fact, whenever I try to install drivers now, there is no trace of it anywhere on my notebook. I installed the drivers for the Motorola card today and the utility is not listed anywhere in PROGRAMS.

Any ideas to solve this would be appreciated.

I have XP home, HS cable, 256MG RAM

 

It is possible that the PCMCIA drivers got erased. If you cannot do a Repair of the XP Install, it may end up that you may have to either dig into the Device manager to see if any devices are showing '!', so that the drivers can be manually installed, or worst comes to worst, a Format and reinstall ends up being quicker, especially if the install on the machine has been there for over two years as you stated.

 

I did a reinstall of XP Home and thought that would take care of the problem. It did not. I uninstalled the PCMCIA drivers, let Windows find them and reinstall. Did not work. What I find so very strange is that when I take the installation CD for any wireless card, there is no trace that the install ever took place! I have tried this with three different cards and the drivers, utility program are nowhere to be found. I find that very puzzling.

I'm reluctant to do a format and reinstall since I don't have the original software that came with this computer (bought it from a relative who doesn't have the original software.) If all else fails, I suppose I will have no choice. I'm just curious if something changed in the bios for some reason. I went to the setup and could find nothing out of whack there. Strange.

 

Check the Network parameters in the Computer's Device Manager. Make sure that the Network Card drivers are installed correctly; i.e. there is No IRQ conflict, and No Ghost installation. http://www.ezlan.net/faq#ghost