making desktop pc wireless... HELP!!

hi
my boyfriend has a desktop pc, and wanted to make it wireless, he lives in a shared house, and theres a virgin media router downstairs, he can connect too.
He brought himself a belkin wireless adapter ...
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/belkin-150n-wireless-u...
the link above is the one he brought, but he couldnt pick up a signal with it at all, it was now and again picking up the name of the router downstairs, but wouldnt stay connected ,and half the time the name of the router wasnt even coming up to try to connect. He installed the belkin cd and everything but no nothing worked.
So he took it back for a refund,
now i have a laptop which already has a modem inside it l, and mine connects fine to it, picks up signal straight away and works perfect, so how come my laptop works wireless connecting to the downstairs router, but his pc when he had the wireless adapter wouldnt work?
When we took it back, the lady in pc world said something about certain adapters only work with certain routers ,and was going on about N and G routers etc, but we didnt really understand lol ,
Like i said its virgin media internet with the basic virgin media router, which is downstairs, my laptop works perfect connecting to it, but my bf wants his pc too connect , is there a certain wireless adapter we need to buy to make it work?
Anyone that can help would be fab
Thanks

Look at the stickers on the virgin router and tell us the model number (they've used various devices over the years)

Belkin is generally not a good choice, and yes N devices don't always work with everything.

Claims to meet Wireless N standard sometimes need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Interworking between manufacturers can be very hit and miss especially if the devices are 802.11n (draft) which a large number still are.

It could be down to other things too such as positioning of the USB device. I would always recommend that someone using a USB wireless adapter gets a 1 or 2m USB extension lead so they can place the device appropriately. Given the small size the antenna will be small and in-efficient, front end RF gain will be low &c.

Try another brand - maybe the same as the router and also get an extension so you can move it around to find the best place.

Hi, I have a PCI Wireless adapter card fitted inside my desktop computer, they are easy to fit.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/220221

Edit. Sorry MrSaffron this post meant for the op.

Edited by deleted (Wed 06-Oct-10 15:50:25)

Did the replys on your duplicate post not help?

Edited by deleted (Wed 06-Oct-10 16:26:04)