I think what Agent Data was trying to ascertain was a more complete picture of your problem.
What does device manager have to say about the adapter, is there any exclamation marks or down arrows associated with the properties of the adapter?
If you type ncpa.cpl into the search box and hit enter, then select and right click the problem adapter and choose properties, then select the "configure" button is there anything there, under the "advanced" tab that may help, some devices actually have a "radio" on and off control there.
Have you tried uninstalling the associated third party software from netgear, and then open "services.msc" by typing services.msc into the search bar and hitting enter, scroll down to "WLAN AutoConfig" double click and start it and set the startup type to automatic and allow Windows 7 to manage the device?
Have you tried assigning static values for the IPv4 information under the properties of the adapter and seeing if you can ping any other network node inside your network and outside?
According to this,
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Hardware&p=Netgear%20802.11b%2fg%2054Mbps%20Wireless%20Network%20Adapter&v=Netgear&uid=WG111&l=en-US&pf=6&pi=14&c=Networking&sc=Wireless%20Network%20Cards&os=64-bit there is no information regarding the compatibility of that device with Windows 7, but I also know that some people have been able to get it to work, I'm just not exactly sure what they had to do, to get it working and it may be that they used older XP or Vista drivers in compatibility mode, or it may have been that they were successful with 32 bit Windows 7 and not 64 bit Windows 7.
I suppose you could save yourself a lot of headaches by acquiring a device from the Windows 7 hardware compatibility list. Or if you have the patience then perhaps there's a member out there who has the identical device who has a magic bullet that worked for them.
