[hllug] I'm so confused.

We decided that we needed a better router than the Belkin54g we've got so I went to newegg and ordered a new wrt54g. Two days later I found one at a garage sale (looked new) for $10 so I bought it.
I powered it up, hooked my Kubuntu box to one if its four ports, opened my browser, logged into the router(@192.168.1.1), changed it's default IP to 192.168.2.1 (on account of 192.168.1.1 is the dafault IP of our DSL modem and this has worked for me on numerous occasions), logged back in on the new IP, set it for WPA, typed in a passphrase and, finally, plugged in the cable from our DSL modem.
Should be good to go, but it isn't. Neither my laptop nor the two little Dell desktop computers I used to wag to LUG meetings (each of which has a wireless card installed) can "see" the router. I tried resetting it to just an open link, w/no security, and that changed nothing. 

Wired connections work just fine.
I first thought that maybe the used one I bought had some sort of problem so, when the new one came in, I hooked it up, configured it identically and got the same results. My gear can't see it.
I don't know why wireless hardware hates me but every time I touch something that's supposed to be wireless it turns into an adventure. :(
I've set two of these things up for Windows users, using the CD that comes with it, and had no problems at all. I've got an XP machine gathering dust in the spare bedroom. I guess I can hook it up and try configuring it with the CD but I don't want to do that. I want to know WHY it isn't working. Google was absolutely no help and the user manual I downloaded (pdf document) didn't help in the least. 

Suggestions?
--
Don Crowder
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A proud user of Kubuntu 11.04 (Linux)
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