wireless cards

[COLiNx86]

A couple weeks ago my wireless stopped working after I reinstalled Ubuntu for about the 5 time. and it wasn't just the driver cause i tested it in vista (what my computer came with) and it didn't work. so does this mean it's broken for good? cause my Uncle ( who's good at computers) said that formatting and re-formatting your hard drive and reinstalling the firmware to much will cause it to stop working, is that true? so do I need to buy a new one? If so what is a good one to buy and where should I buy it. price doesn't really matter right now but if possible i would like to keep it under 60$.

[gn2]

PC or laptop, cardbus or express card?

It may also be possible to change an internal adapter.

[COLiNx86]

Laptop and i'm not sure if it was a cardbus or express card.
I did a quick search and it looks like I have a cardbus but still i'm not positive.

[forrestcupp]

anything with an atheros chipset will be good for Linux.

[Erdaron]

Ralink chipsets work right out of the box. However, I don't believe WPA encryption works for them in Linux, at least I couldn't get it to work. (This is a few months old statement, I haven't tried since). I have Linksys WMP 54G. Good card otherwise.

[LookTJ]

Did you hit a funtion(fn) key? For me, it would be fn+f2 to disable/enable my wireless card.

[macogw]

Yes it's dead, but your uncle's a liar.