Wireless troubles (Atheros w/less adapter)

[hackapelite]

I can't get my wireless adapter to work on Ubuntu (8.04.01) on my Lappy (Compaq Presario C700 [C731TU]). It says that proprietary drivers for"Atheros Hardware Access Layer (HAL)" and "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards" are being used, but no wireless appears in network manager and the wireless indicator light stays off. Naturally, I've tried pressing the button on my lappy a thousand times, but it's never done a thing - it seems that it's being detected, but stays off for some reason.

Here's some output on my terminal mockaround:

====================
markus@PRESARIO:~$ sudo lshw -C network
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Ethernet controller
product: AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:02:01.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:1b:38:bd:bd:cb
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=full ip=10.1.1.4 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 module=8139too multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
markus@PRESARIO:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

markus@PRESARIO:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1b:38:bd:bd:cb
inet addr:10.1.1.4 Bcast:10.1.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21b:38ff:febd:bdcb/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:22018 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:19206 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:24323595 (23.1 MB) TX bytes:3395427 (3.2 MB)
Interrupt:21 Base address:0x1000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1334 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1334 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:66700 (65.1 KB) TX bytes:66700 (65.1 KB)

markus@PRESARIO:~$ sudo ifup lo
ifup: interface lo already configured
=====================

I tried ifdown and then ifup, but that didn't help.

If I have to resort to using ndiswrapper, should I get the drivers for Vista, XP or 2000? Currently I have a DSL modem hooked up via an ethernet cable, if that helps any...?

[hackapelite]

Okay, now it appears that the drivers for my w/less adapter are only available for Vista, and I hear that ndiswrapper only supports XP drivers (&older?). Can anyone confirm this? If this is true, I assume ndiswrapper is no option for me, correct?

Anyone know what else to try? Why aren't the Linux drivers working...? Does anyone know if this is distro-specific and would possibly work on another distro (I'm a noob so excuse my stupid questions)?