IBM ThinkPad T42 would not connect to my secured home wireless network

Windows IP Configuration __An internal error occurred: a device attached to the system is not functioning. __Please contact microsoft product support services for further help.

Others have had a similar problem, but I've tried the solutions that worked for them, with no luck.

All of the sudden, my IBM ThinkPad T42 would not connect to my secured (WPA2-PSK) home wireless network.  It would either (1)stay in a constant state of "aquiring network address" or (2)not recognize any wireless networks in range.  Sometimes, it would connect to a neighboring unsecured network, but this network would still not show up in the list of available wireless networks.  So I tried plugging directly into the ethernet, which also didn't work.  I then ran the ipconfig /all in command prompt, and got the message:

Windows IP Configuration
An internal error occurred: a device attached to the system is not functioning. 
Please contact microsoft product support services for further help.
Additional information: Unknown media status code.

So I went to Microsoft Product Support Services, which didn't seem to offer any solutions.  I searched for this error message online, and found several similar problems - some users had virus problems.  Some users had winsock2 corruption, and some recommended reinstalling the drivers for my network adapters.  I'm computer literate, but not a computer wizard, so I was able to follow their directions for checking for winsock2 corruption (I think), and I think that's fine.  I ran a full symantec scan, but that came up with nothing.  I downloaded the drivers for my network adapters which are: wireless - 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter, ethernet - Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Mobile Connection, and was able to update my wireless driver, but not the ethernet driver.  The wizard for the latter said it "could not find a better match for your hardware than the software you currently have installed".  I got the wireless internet to work for a few hours last night, although I still got the same error message when I run ipconfig /all.  I started up my computer this morning, and the same problem again - constantly says "aquiring network address" although no wireless networks are showing up on the list.  Also, I tried system restore to see if I could go back to before the problem started, but after I tried several dates, system restore was still unsuccessful - it wouldn't even work.

So now I have my computer in safe mode, and it is connected to the wireless internet although the ipconfig /all still gives the same message, and I'm running symantec again to see if I can find something!

Please help me out!  If you think I may have missed something with the winsock2 or with the drivers installation, or if there's something I couldn't find on the internet, please let me know!  I'll try anything.

Note: I have Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3,
The network adapter drivers I'm running are:
wireless: Date - 5/2/2007, Version 4.1.2.156, Provider - Atheros
ethernet: Date - 10/24/2006, Version 8.7.9.0, Provider - Intel

THANKS!


Update: When I disable the Intel PRO/1000 MT driver, I can run ipconfig /all successfully.  So imagine it's something to do with this adapter or driver.  Any ideas?