Forget it.... I finally got connected. Still have no idea what the problem was, but I reset everything several times. I had just about given up when it connected while I was not looking! I think all this techno marvelous stuff is done with smoke and mirrors anyway!
note: actually I have a suspicion that it was my Network Magic. I tried to unlock my network, but it wouldn't let me.... but it finally did, even though it reported it could not. I tried this several times, and each time it reported a failure to lock/unlock, but did anyway.
Latest update: Having more problems, I finally found an updated driver on a support site for techs, and not available to customers normally. »tsd.dlink.com.tw/
I noticed that there was only one driver in 2008 (v.1.30) on DLink support, but several old ones in 2007. This is unacceptable... customers should have access to the latest on the customer site. On the tech support site link referenced above, you can find v.1.40. When I installed it, all of a sudden I got a "very good" connection (4 bars!). Previously, all I got was 2, and along with that some Windows issues.
Now my problem is in getting rid of the old 552 driver... it won't uninstall.
Come on, DLink! You can do better....
edit: 1/23/10 - Finally got some time to troubleshoot this issue. Able to uninstall 552 hidden drivers by uninstalling the 556 and its drivers, and re-installing the 552, then uninstalling the 552 drivers and card, and reinstalling the 556 and drivers. What a mess!!! I came close to junking my complete DLink network, but this effort saved the day.