ok well. im back up and running 2000 (for now). everything is running great. a little PITA getting all the drivers again but its back. and i saved all my important data thanks to knoppix. then i reformatted and reinstalled the OS.
the wireless is working fine as well. theres just some things im a little confused about.
first the wireless works fine, but the signal is weak. when i go far (as in the other side of the apartment) i thought the antennas were supposed to increase the signal, but they really havent done much. when installing the antennas, i noticed the lid is metal, and not plastic. could this be blocking the signal?
second, the internet via ethernet doesnt work. when i try to add another network connection, the wizard doesnt give me the option to add another LAN connection. but when i installed the drivers for the wireless card it automatically made it a LAN connection. any idea there?
this has def been a learning experience, thanks for all the help
edit:
also tried installing AIM 6.0 and it says i dont meet the system requirements of 42 MB free space, 128MB ram, and running XP/2K. i have near 25GB free space, 512MB ram, and i am running 2K, whats the deal? anyone have a similar problem?