Solved!

The problem was AOL's new Active Virus Shield (AVS). I discovered this by running the wireless PC in Safe Mode with Networking as suggested by a user on a networking forum. When the connection worked automatically in Safe Mode, it was clearly some application that was blocking the connection. My first suspect was AVS since it is active right from startup looking for updates (even with scanning and startup options disabled)....

I'm running a desktop under Win2k sp4. With a Linksys router. I have wireless connectivity to another win2k desktop and a winXP laptop. TCP/IP with NetBIOS activated on all does the trick. I have internet connection on all as well as file sharing. Took me only about 3 weeks of intensive research and troubleshooting to get it all going! ;-)

The problem is that my wireless desktop will not connect automatically on startup. Each time...