Hi Mr Smartepants, I installed windows then the drivers, re-started and then inserted the card. When that didn't work I un-installed the drivers and tried the other the way around ie. inserted the card and then used the 'have disk' method to install the drivers (re-start was again required) but the same result. I subsequently uninstalled the drivers and software and went through the registry deleting any references to the card before re-installing it again - same same! I also used the 'devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1' line at the command prompt to check and remove any phantom devices from device manager in case anything there was using up all the resources (a few extra instances of my mouse were all I found). I have been trying again to sort this out most of the day. I know the card works because I've been using it on another laptop to access the net all day! Nice handle by the way