Virgin Media Wireless USB Adapter on Windows XP

I've asked at both Virgin Media's Community support forum and Microsoft's Answers forum, and not yet managed to find a lasting solution to this problem, so I really hope by extending my query to thinkbroadband I'll finally eradicate it for good!

I've got a Wireless USB adapter from Virgin Media (a Netgear WNDA3200) which is connected to a PC that runs Windows XP SP3.
It used to work fine up until two weeks ago. Then all of a sudden, Windows started seeing the adapter as a Virtual CD-ROM drive. I couldn't connect to the router via wireless anymore, so I've been using a 30ft ethernet cable in the meantime.
In My Computer if I right-click on the virtual drive and select Eject, suddenly Windows will see the wireless adapter and connect wirelessly to my router. What I want to know is, how do I get it to do that from the moment a user logs in?

Assuming that your PC port to which this wireless dongle is being connected to is working and supports USB 2, then try a new driver for your USB wireless dongle may solve it! Just find its corresponding manufacturer's website and model no., you may be able to download its latest windows SW driver! However, you should uninstall its existing OLDER diver from Window's Program Un-install Menu first and then reboot Window to clean up its memory footprint. Finally progress to install this new driver and re-configure its wireless's protocol-type, SSID and Password in accordance with your existing router's wireless requirements. Hopefully it will clear it!
Good luck.

Cheers OCdragon, I've done all this. Also the exact matching driver does not exist on Netgear's site, as it's a Virgin Media-specific model of adapter.
The drivers are on the dongle itself but as I mentioned, I can't access it in My Computer (once I click Eject on the virtual cd-rom drive, the drive disappears from My Computer, but the dongle is only detected down in the system tray).

I've also tried other drivers for a slightly different model number of adapter, as recommended to me by Virgin or Microsoft Answers forum users.

I had similar issues until I disabled my laptop's own wireless card before using the dongle. Is the light on the dongle flashing? It should be orange. It's seeing a CD drive because on initial setup there is software on the dongle which contains the drivers. These should be bypassed once you've done the installation. Do you have a powered USB hub or one that you could borrow? My dongle is flaky if I don't have my laptop on mains power by the way and is never any problem on the laptop connected to a powered USB hub.