Hopefully you can help
i have an acer aspire 1710 with xp pro and sp2 installed. i have a WLAN 802.11g mini-PCI Module for wireless connectivity. i was using my wireless connetion the other day, until my notebook froze( it often gets hot and freezes) and i had to restart. my wireless connection didnt come up so i went into the control panel and opened up my wireless connection icon and it said "incompatible driver version found. unable to load application". i also have a yellow question mark in my device manager, with the heading "network controller". i have downloaded the driver that came withe the laptop from the makers website and deleted/repaired/installed it but no luck. Since this problem occured, i have restarted around 6 or 7 times and one of the times, my WLAN 802.11g did actually work until i restarted again. i have ran adaware, spybot, and panda activescan, and macaffee and have fixed all problems found but still no luck.
thanks for your help. let me know if you need more info.

even more detail.

i think that it is a hardware problem since i recently reformatted and have had the same problem occuring. i also bought a linksys wirless card for my pc slot and spent some time with their tech support trying to get that installed but we had no luck. the drivers wouldnt allow the wireless card to install, so i had to take it back. could there be something wrong in my bios that is blocking the wireless connection. Every once in a while, 1 out of 10, my computer will recognize it when i start up. I would really like your advice towards what is or might be happening. My notebook is also freezing more often and hesitates at startup until i pound the keys and touchpad, then it starts up again. I think that it is just getting hot and i need to replace the fan. I am not sure if they are related. thanks

Beating on the keyboard only worked for Fonzie in the TV series Happy Days
Stop it... before you damage your hard drive

If the fan is spinning then you need to reapply the heat transfer paste between the heatsink and the cpu.

It is easy and costs much less than a special fan so I would try that first.

What other cards are in the desktop system, that might be creating a conflict...

i might have been exaggerating when i said i was beating on it. ha ha. it seemed like it would just get stuck in standby adn i had to do more than just tap any key to wake it up. I will defintely try your suggestion, and hope it works.

since i reformatted, i only have a LAN broadcom ethernet connection( not sure of the specifics at this time but i can get back to you)
i also have the 1394 LAN connection that i always find on many computers, and then my question marked wirless card network adapter.
thanks

i have actually put vhs tapes (all they are good for anymore, haha) under the edges of the feet for a temorary solution and my laptop has been working beautifuly!! i have restarted it about 5 times and it has not froze or hesitated, and is also identifying my wireless card properly. Hopefully i havent damaged anything yet. i would still like to try the heatsink compound, i read it is only 3 bucks at radio shack.
thanks for all your help. i think you might have saved me from a diagnostics test $$$$ at best buy.

They make nice laptop stands ,and are designed to allow the fan to get more cool air .
http://www.xbrandproducts.com/

that is funny that you mentioned that because i was just wandering if there was such a thing earlier today. i thought i would be the inventor of one and never have to work a day in my life.haha
thanks a lot!!

Fraid not ,if you Google laptop stand, they have manny different shapes and sizes! keep thinking though there are many millions out there to be made.lol

Hopefully you guys are still with me. i opened up my wireless icon and seen that there was a diagnostics tab with a built in test. i ran the test when i first booted up my computer and everything passed. i ran it again, after my computer had been running for 35 minutes and it failed some of them. Hopefully you can make something of this.

control registes failed
sprom format validation failed
memory tests failed
interupt test passed
loopback test passed
LED test passed

I had the same problem. I solved it by removing all Broadcom software through Control Panel | Add remove Programs.
After that, I open Device Manager, right-click the question marked network controller, and select "install driver".
Always select manual options, and it will end up by asking you for the correct .sys file.
Now you're done.
Dany

I have the same problem.
@rbk25: Have yu found a solution or did you send it to the acer support?