Windows 7 Will Not Detect Wireless Adapter?

have now been trying to get a wireless adapter to work on my computer for a couple of days now. I ordered a refurbished Cisco AE2500 and tried for hours to get it to work to no avail. I can't quite rember everything I tried to get it to work, but I will try. When I try to install from the installation CD it will not detect the adapter. I tried to download the drivers from the internet, but windows did not recognize them. I tried to update the drivers through device manage and windows update and that did not work. I updated all motherboard drivers and BIOS. I tried unplugging the power from the wall. I tried resetting the BIOS. After all of that, I decided that the adapter must not work.Today I went to Staples and bought a NETGEAR G54/N150 USB Micro Adapter. I ran the setup CD, put the adapter in and it detected. It would not connect to the router for some reason, and I thought it may have been because I set it to use the push to connect feature and the router did not have that feature, so, I uninstalled the software and tried to reinstall using just the stand alone windows driver and now my computer won't even detect it. I went through most of the things I went through with the first router again and nothing has worked