Did the card come with it own wireless configuation utility? Sometimes cards will have a conflict between the windows zero config utility and the utility that card came with. Go into your network settings and make sure it is using the one you are trying to use. For example if the card is set to use the windows utility and you use the oem utility you probably won't get any signal.
I hope he didn't force an express card into a pcmcia slot or vice versa.
To get to your network settings go to the control panel and then network connections. From there right click your wireless card and choose properties, somewhere in there is the option to use the windows wireless config util. I'm in vista so I'm doing this all from memory.