OK... Things are looking up..............
My 7 & 8 year old grandsons, who when they aren't out robbing trains (Butch & Sundance), specialize in destroying computers, had their box over yesterday..... SO, after blowing everything away and reinstalling Windows XP, I stuck the Trendnet card in the box - this is the GUARANTEED WINDOW 7 COMPATIBLE CARD...... Loaded the drivers, told it to connect
AND IT DID WITH NO PROBLEM..........
Finished with that box, I put my wife's system back up and stuck the Trendnet card in there............................................ AND IT STILL WON'T CONNECT WHEN USING WINDOWS 7..........
Oh, and the latest reply from Trendnet's help desk is..... See website X for RMA information and the limited warranty... Which I read to mean "Go 'way son, you're bothering us..." 'Cause, of course, it's more than a year old - by about a month, so they're going to do nothing... And, since the thing connects fine from XP, it's not the card........
SO, in the afternoon I made the trek to the computer store and came home with a D-Link Extreme N card....... Stuck IT in the box, turned it on, and Windows 7 said "Hey, NEW HARDWARE, lemme put a driver in here for you..." And it did... And the D-Link card connected immediately with absolutely no problem......
Today, I'll walk out to the middle of 3rd street, carrying the Trendnet TEW-423 and see if I can throw it all the way to the railroad track!
Also picked up an "N" router that I'll try later today......
SO, the "problem" has been relieved, and I've learned a lesson about believing yet another company's claims of compatibility.....