Having a problem getting Wireless Laptop Internet connection working

[macarlin1]

I spent about an hour going through similar posts here but didn't really find what I needed. I'm hoping this is just something stupid on my part.
Here's the deal:
My sons laptop crashed. I did what I could to recover it but, no good. Was able to recover his important files (from help I got here) so I picked up a new harddrive (WD60gig) and installed WINXP Pro fresh.

My desktop is hardwired from a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband router that is connected to cablevision via a 3Com U.S. Robotics modem.

The problem now is trying to get an internet connection on the laptop.

Prior to the crash, he was able to connect using the wireless router.

I've tried going directly to the laptop from the modem just to get an internet connection but I haven't got that to happen yet.

Do I need to install the 3com modem software on the laptop?

I just installed Norton Antivrus 2005 on the Desktop.

How do I check for Firewall issues?

Any help is appreciated. Even just a pointer to a good article might do it.
Thanks.

 

[davids]

So Your laptop has a wireless network card? Install the drivers for that and make sure it is working, then on the computer with the router, the laptop card should show up, try to establish that first.

 

[macarlin1]

Laptop internet connection problem

Thanks.
I finally figured out that the ethernet card driver is probably the problem.
I downloaded 3 and hope at least 1 should work (checked toshiba website and checked specs on the laptop model).
BYTW model is TECRA-M2V S330 in case anybody has one and can tell me what other drivers I might need.

Thanks again for the response.