I'm having a problem with my stupid XP wireless networking. I have the 3com card with the Xjack on it and they recommend that we use windows to control it....
For those of you that dont know, windows is suppose to be able to just control the card (provided the right drivers) and you can have windows connect to various networks and manage access point passwords, etc....

Anyway, now for some reason windows refuses to control it. I can only control it with 3coms software but this causes alot of problems. For example, when I click on the network icon in the system tray, I should be able to click "advanced" and setup my network prefs etc... but now when I click on the network icon i just get a screen where everything is greyed out. What gives.

I think this has something to do with another network card I installed (dlink) .... I uninstalled both drivers and boths software to only find the same kind of behaviour. If someone could help me out that would be greatly appreciated (besides formatting). Ive gotton to the point Im going to throw my laptop out the window

Are you using any security features? When troubleshooting wireless networks especially with Windows XP I recommend disabling all security features and starting from scratch. Also make sure that your broadcasting your SSID at first. I've noticed ALOT of problems with Windows XP machines and not broadcasting SSID's. Once you get that ironed out THEN start adding security layer by layer. I usually see people start from the top -> down when troubleshooting wireless when they should be going down -> top. Makes it MUCH easier.

What kind of security features are you talking about.... are we talking software firewall and that kind of stuff? As far as I know that stuff is off. And even if they were on I dont know how to get to them now anyway...

When I double click on the network icon in my system tray, a window should come up and I should be able to click on the "advanced" button where I can set those security BS options and other network settings. Instead everything is greyed out...

This wasnt always the case either. It use to work, mind you. I think what im looking for is some kind of registry cleaning or something to that extent..... but im not sure exactly what to look for or to do. I even did a system rollback to like a week and month earlier, to a time when it use to work, but it still doesnt work

Well I can share somethings that I ran into with DLINK, CISCO, and 3COM wireless cards.

1) 3com cards would let me reconfigure them, by reinstalling them (laptop models), what I mean is by pulling them out and then pushing them back in.

2) Alot of the settings can be configured through Device Manager for the particular card. Including SSID, Speed, WEP keys, Etc.

3) You logged in as an admin right?

4) Uninstall and reinstall the device? Latest Drivers?

5) Is it just you or are another wireless devices having problems accessing the WAP?