had a play with my old router/modem and found the access code to set it up.........10.0.0.138
found the setup pge and away we go.........everything restored except the encryption. then found the page for encrpyting and set that.
then to the wifi card..........found the website and downloaded the latest drivers and connection updates and i now have full wifi access and a wifi card that works.
plus as a bonus! i have access to AOL again. may get some peace from shirl now.
so now i have for sale a netgear router/modem plus a netgear wifi card and a wifi dongle. i'll get them on the classifieds as soon as i can.