Hi I've got broadband internet on my computer from our cable
television(?) we have a netgear wireless access point me102 (see:
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/ME102.php) attached to the
cable box and a  wireless usb adaptor ma101 (see:
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/MA101.php) which plugs into my
pc upstairs and I recieve the broadband wirelessly. I then have to put
in security  codes for the ssid code and a passphrase using software
from our phone/tv company.

We've just bought a laptop and a wireless pc card (generic make) but I
can't recieve the internet on this laptop. Using what I have already
how do I connect the laptop to the internet connection?

Do I need to buy something else like a router (and if so a specific
example would help - any make) and how/where would this connect or do
i just need to configure the laptop somehow?

Many thanks
Saintly

I think I understand why you can't access your internet connection
from your laptop. Are you setting the ssid/passphrase for your laptops
wireless connection? Also, if you can give the name/maker or any
information regarding

"put in security  codes for the ssid code and a passphrase using software
from our phone/tv company."

the software in the above statement, it would help.

Hmm well I don't know where to add an ssid or passphrase on the
laptop. On my pc I  put in a cd which installed a netgear
configuration utility onto the PC which then gave an option to put in
the above two codes. I installed the configuration  utility on the
laptop but it wont access it when I click on it. (Software supplied by
blueyonder my internet service provider). Is there another place to
add these without this "utility" thing? Thanks

It's been some time since I have used a wireless card, so bear with
me. If i had my old wireless card installed, I could have walked you
throuh step by step. There should be an icon in Control Panel such as
wireless, or netgear maybe. If not, if you click your Network
Connections icon in Control Panel , you should see all your network
adapters including your wireless adapter. If you right click and
select properties, there should be some place where you would enter in
your ssid/passphrase.

Consult this page for further information. 
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q313242

It's noting to do with an SSID or Passphrase by the sound of it. It
sounds like you are going to need a router to make the connection to
your ISP. They will have registered the mac address of your PC which
is being passed by the access point, installing a router will enable
you to add more PC's (up to 253) when yo like.
Simply plug a Cable/DSL outer into the Cable modem, then turn the
modem off and on again after 10 secs.

You cn find a choice of cbale routers at
http://www.broadbandstore.co.uk
http://www.cable-warehouse.co.uk

hope this helps..

It's definitely an ssid/passphrase problem. Keep in mind that he
didn't add his ssid/passphrase anywhere on the laptop yet, if I'm
reading correctly. What happened was that ssid/passphrase was set for
the network adapter by the Netgear configuration utility. But the
Netgear configuration utility is not working on this laptop, so he has
to enter it manually. I'm assuming that the Netgear configuration
utility doesn't recognize the card, so it can't modify it's
configuration.