Can't Access Device Manager & Wireless Card

i recently discovered that my wireless card (Netgear WG511) was not working. after trying unsuccessfully to reinstall the software that came with it, i tried to see if it showed up in the device manager. this is when i receiveed the following error message: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." i cant find any malware or viruses. the only thing i can recall recently doing to this laptop was running the Windows Installer Clean Up to get rid of something that popped up everytime i booted up. i also tried to run system restore and discovered that even those it's been running for years my only restore point was from a reboot i did a half hour ago. I tried to re-install XP from my reinstallation disk, but was told i cannot because it is older than the version i am already using. everything else seems to be running properly & i can connect to the internet via a hard wire to my router. any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1 Scan saved at 4:24:46 PM, on 7/26/2006 Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600) MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)