I return to the vet, & after another check, I find I have no option but to setup wireless at his house & setup the office with a wireless card.

The house is easy (the PC runs win 2000, so I switch it from using usb to ethernet broadband access). I place the modem/wireless router on the windowsill, hoping that the signal will be strong enough to reach the office.

I install a d-link g510 pci card into the office pc, but installing the drivers causes some problems (the dlink wireless utility doesn't want to start). I get the latest driver & I also realise that I need to install the drivers before plugging in the card (whatever happened to plug and play?). So: uninstall the drivers, reopen the pc, remove the card, start the pc, install the latest drivers, shutdown, plugin the card, close the pc, start the pc, and hey, the dlink drivers start correctly (grumble grumble).

Now I go to setup the wireless security, and… hmmm, the windows xp wireless tabs & options look a bit different, somethings like wpa security don't exist!

Ok, I'll try the dlink utility instead… everything is setup correctly, but the link adaptor remains disconnected…

I eventually realise that the PC is running xp SP1. Do I want to do an SP2 upgrade on this computer? After some thought, I decide to go ahead… the risks are minimal, & it should be done sooner or later anyway.

The install takes about 40 or 50 minutes, and after the reboot… yippee, I can get a wireless connection. Signal strength is 40% – 50%, which is fine, since I am running a wireless system myself, which sits at 25% – 35%, but no noticeable dropouts.

I try a ping to an internet website: no response, I ping the wireless router: its fine.

I reboot: still no internet.

Its getting late again (and the vet is getting busy with customers, so I decide to hand back the PC & arrange for another visit).

At this stage, I feel I'm so close to getting the internet working… probably just a simple setting somewhere. Or it might just start working spontaneously a few minutes after I leave.