Using a Proxim/Orinoco WD-8480-WD PCMCIA wireless card that Ubuntu seems to recognize (It's assigned it an Atheros driver automatically), although it does show up as "Unidentified wireless (wifi0)" under the Network Tools menu. At two separate locations (UT-Knoxville, a college, and Long John Silver's), where wifi on this PC used to work normally (Under Windows2K), no wireless networks are "automatically detected" by the card (Either in the drop down list that happens when we click on the Connection button on the top toolbar or in the Wireless Networks tab of the Network Connections manager).

If we manually type an SSID into the Wireless Networks tab, it will eventually (2-5 minutes later) show up in the drop down list with a very low signal strength (Once again--these signals aren't actually weak. Other PCs connect just fine, and this PC used to before Linux). Establishing a connection takes multiple attempts, and when it does happen, pages load normally until the system disconnections within the next 2-3 minutes.

Ubuntu obviously recognizes the card, can see wireless networks when told to search for them specifically, and even properly transmit data over wifi when connected. But for some reason, it seems unable to hold a strong connection to these networks or seek out others on its own.

Any ideas here?