Kapitano's Guide to Wireless Networking (Part 2)

(1) Get another lift for the half-hour journey to the warehouse, and swap the faulty card for one that looks identical.
(2) Get home to find the installation procedure, configuration options and instruction manual are different. And not just because the instructions are written in english this time.
(3) Find that both cards (your new one and mother's old one), plugged into both laptops (yours and hers), seem to function and sense the network hub, but can't see the other computers on the network, or access the internet. And incidentally your ISP intermittantly isn't working from any of the computers.
(4) Be distracted by a house call from the local avuncular annoyance with an ancient computer. He tells you "The light on the thing isn't going", which turns out to mean his modem isn't working, and furthermore he'd like you to drop everything and fix it right now, because he's decided he's your friend.
(4a) Half an hour later, sigh gently when he's back at the door, saying he's done everything you suggested, and the light on the thing still isn't going. But mentions in passing that it goes perfectly on his laptop. Remind him gently yet again that his PC is old and crap and has been since 1995. Get rid of the twit.
(5) Tinker around some more without success, before giving up for the while. Lie on your bed and doze, with the dog sitting on the end, crunching biscuits.
(6) Wake up 90 minutes later to find both cards work fine in both computers. And you've absolutely no idea why.

And that, my friends, is Kapitano's guide to home wireless networking your laptop. I hope it was useful.
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As for the other reticular saga, here's the condensed version:

Last year, Christina C bought a secondhand laptop for her son. It was sold as 'nearly new' and 'internet ready'. It ran Windows 97 (yes, that's what I told them), and came with a big bundle of software installed, all for UKP100.

No one in the house could figure out how make it surf the information superhighway, so I took it home to examine and/or mend.

The computer was 'nearly new' in about 1996, runs Windows 98SE at 133MHz on a 2GB disk, has MS Powerpoint installed (that's the big bundle of software), contains a now-unrechargable battery, and has a card to connect to a LAN - which, if they had a LAN, they could indeed connect to the internet. No CD drive, one floppy drive.

It also has drivers for a modem, running at a magnificent 28kbps, and no ports or cables to connect it. And in fact no trace of modem. Presumably there was once a PCMCIA modem card. Presumably. Oh and it's also a horrible colour.

Now, how do you tell a bright eyed 9 year old child that his computer is so rubbish even other rubbish calls it rubbish? And his permanantly short-of-cash mum that she's been conned?

Answer: You describe the problems in simplified language, and then mum says, "So what you're saying is, it's a heap of crap and that man in the shop ripped us off."
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There was a note from the postman saying a mysterious parcel wouldn't fit through the letterbox, and it was waiting to be collected from the Post Office. The Post Office can't find it, and I'm not even sure who it's for. Go again tomorrow and see if they've found it. Whatever it is.