Hi Joe. My wireless network problem was very similar to the one numerous users have had and it was actually discussed in one of the threads @ the networking forum at LQ.
However, the main problem was that the network card was failing to obtain an ip address. The interface (eth1 in my case) had all the parameters right, i.e:
ESSID, The channel to scan, etc.
As per the tip on a thread, i reaized that i had two network cards on both the PCMCIA slots, one being wireless and the other wireline. So i issued: "ifconfig eth1 down" command, and then restarted the computer (plugged out the wireline card) after the PCMCIA slot were shutdown.
Then after reboot, i issued the command "iwconfig" with the parameters for the ESSID, and i believe i followed that command with "/sbin/iwconfig". Rebooted and the card collected the ipaddress on boot.
I honestly feel i may have typed some needless commands (/sbin/iwconfig) etc etc, but i remember someone saying that you had to issue that command for the configuration to be stored. I am a linux noob and so my workaround may not hold 'class'.

But it worked and me = happy with 'links' as my mozilla = NO WORK.
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As for the question asked about whether i typed the error message or otherwise, i actually did type it and it is likely that there was a typo. My bad. Shall carry out the action as per your suggestion and post the results.
Thanks