Hi TooTallTom..........
Well, after what seemed like ( and probably was!) hours of fiddling around, my problem was basically that I needed to upgrade my Intel Wireless network driver. I have a Toshiba laptop and went onto their website and downloaded the latest drivers. I now have Intel(R)PRO/Wireless 2200BG installed and everything is working fantastically !!
Try the same and hopefully it will work for you too........