Wireless - can't get IP

Having trouble with the wireless connections in Knoppix. Please bear with my convoluted descriptions of the details, as I am pretty new to knoppix and linux in general and not particularly technically inclined.

I've found the appropriate windows drivers for my wireless card and installed them using ndiswrapper and it has worked beautifully, everything seems to work great... my wireless card is available to knoppix and I am able to scan for and detect wireless networks with no problems at all. The problem occurs when I try to connect to the networks. I've sifted through every post in this forum relating to wireless issues and tried all manner of different methods to connect. I'm able to configure the information for the networks with no issue, but I am unable to obtain an IP address through the dhcp client, which fails on every attempt. If I utilize "ifconfig wlan0 up", I am able to get kwlan to even indicate that I've connected to the network, but I can transfer no data and view no web pages. Further... when I "pump -i wlan0" or utilize the network card config utility, this connection will be broken. I can't ping anywhere or do anything beyond my box. In addition, these are networks that I am able to connect to with no problems through XP and OS X.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide any information about the routers because I am currently forced to use the internet by searching for unsecured wireless networks and buying food that I don't want at cafes that offer free wifi because I am poor. Most can be assumed to have no MAC filtering and would utilize dhcp, as they are set up to be free to patrons.

oh, I suppose I should also mention that I'm using knoppix 5.1.1.

thanks in advance

Check to see if your steps is the same as mine on the Network FAQ. See is there anything missing on your side.

Good Luck

Rgds,
Chip