i have a broadcom nic and i installed the driver:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
bcmwl5a driver present, hardware present
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and the light turns on, i followed the ndiswrapper tutorial and i got it to scan around for AP's and it was able to find mine (named "sheky"):

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"sheky"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:12:17:09F:37
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-38 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:2 Invalid misc:791 Missed beacon:0
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
even when i scan:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# iwlist scanning
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

sit0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:12:17:09F:37
ESSID:"sheky"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality:0/100 Signal level:-51 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Encryption keyff
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0
Cell 02 - Address: 00:0F:66:BB:13:64
ESSID:"59FIFTY"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality:0/100 Signal level:-82 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0
Cell 03 - Address: 00:04:5A8:38:A9
ESSID:"deathmetal"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality:0/100 Signal level:-80 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0
Cell 04 - Address: B2:B6:8E:30C:3A
ESSID:"C_335"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
Mode:Ad-Hoc
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality:0/100 Signal level:-73 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Encryption keyff
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i don't use WEP i just have my router accept the MAC address of the NIC cards using ifconfig, it's 00:90:4B:93:AA:92 correct?

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:90:4B:93:AA:92
inet addr:155.33.152.215 Bcast:155.33.255.255 Mask:255.255.0.0
inet6 addr: fe80::290:4bff:fe93:aa92/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:27 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:9145 (8.9 KiB) TX bytes:1028 (1.0 KiB)
Memory:d0200000-d0201fff
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

but for some reason i just cant get the wireless to work. i activate it in System-->Administration-->Networking but it just won't work. Please help.

what is the IP/netmask of your AP ?

local ip:192.168.1.1
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

to communicate each other, they must be on the same network.
reconfigure your wiereless card :
ifconfig wlan0 down
ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
this to begin, after when you understand how it work, try other thing

tried that, still didnt work, any other suggestions?

note i say you ifconfig, not iwconfig !!

I know this was a problem for the bcmwl5 drivers, and might effect the bcmwl5a too ^_^

Run 'sudo gedit /etc/ndiswrapper/bcmwl5a/*.conf', and replace every instance in every file of 'RadioState|1' with 'RadioState|0'

From 'breazy', you shouldn't need to play with ifconfig; the gnome network options works fine

all the files already had RadioState|O.

if this helps at all, my wireless IS sending packets just not many at all like its received 233 and sent 79 since i've been logged on (an hour). AND the wireless strength is 100%. So I know it SEES the router, just the two arent communicating.

are you configuring correctely the route :
route add default gw 192.168.1.1
route add 192.168.1.0 gw 192.168.1.2

I had to add this one:
route add 192.168.1.0 gw 192.168.1.2
but still my router is only receiving a few packets. i feel as if im missing a very simple step, can you just run by me all the commands to do after i see the light on my NIC go on.

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.0 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.255 UGH 0 0 0 wlan0
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

perhaps i need to download some package off Synaptic?

Out of all this, I can see you're getting an IP assigned to you through DHCP. I would suggest a ping to your router IP address and perhaps a ping to another computer connected to your router. If that all goes well, try to ping www.google.com. If you dont get a reply, then its a problem with your DNS registration. I would check your network services to make sure you are obtaining the DNS server IPs when you get your IP from your router. I had that issue once before.

Using these troubleshooting tips should help you narrow down your problem.

iwconfig after nic light goes on
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"sheky"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:12:17:09F:37
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-38 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:35 Missed beacon:0
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

dhclient wlan0


//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# dhclient wlan0
There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.pid with pid 14070
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.2
Copyright 2004 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP

sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:90:4b:93:aa:92
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:90:4b:93:aa:92
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.1.1
bound to 192.168.1.101 -- renewal in 35962 seconds.

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ping'ing 192.168.1.1 (router)


//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# ping 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.100 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.100 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.100 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
22 packets transmitted, 0 received, +15 errors, 100% packet loss, time 21010ms
, pipe 3

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

route

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
root@ubuntu:~# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
155.33.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------