attempting to configure wireless card tl-wn353g hangs computer

[keitho@strucktower.com]

I have an old Dell server onto which I have just loaded debian for dual
boot with windows xp. No gui- all console. The wireless PCI nic card is a
TP-Link TL-WN353G (NOT the wn353gd). Works fine with xp. Uses the realtek
driver included in the tree for recent debian releases and seems to be
recognized properly.

Debian boots, and works except for the wireless. Debian completely hangs
if I configure /etc/network/interfaces. AFAIK nothing in that file should
hang the machine. By "hang" I mean no keyboard input is responded to- I
can open the cdrom tray or push the power button are my only choices.

I have tried a few other OS's from live cd's- TRK, Ubuntu, and Knoppix-
they all hang on boot-up unless I remove the wireless card.

Could this be an IRQ problem? If so, how do I fix it?

Here are what I could think of as relevant system queries:

root@adam:~# dmesg|grep -i rtl
[    6.491200] rtl8180 0000:00:0e.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) ->
IRQ 17
[    6.892806] ieee80211 phy0: hwaddr 940c6dca45b1, RTL8185vD + rtl8225z2

root@adam:~# dmesg|grep -i "irq 17"
[    5.845465] 3c59x 0000:00:11.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[    6.472190] ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.2: PCI INT C -> GSI 17 (level, low) ->
IRQ 17
[    6.472593] ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.2: irq 17, io mem 0xfe000400
[    6.491200] rtl8180 0000:00:0e.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) ->
IRQ 17
[    7.233935] au8820 0000:02:09.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) ->
IRQ 17

root@adam:~# lsmod |grep -i rtl
rtl8180                30898  0
mac80211              165768  1 rtl8180
eeprom_93cx6           12423  1 rtl8180
cfg80211              112970  2 rtl8180,mac80211

root@adam:~# modinfo rtl8180
filename:      
/lib/modules/3.0.0-1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8180/rtl8180.ko
license:        GPL
description:    RTL8180 / RTL8185 PCI wireless driver
author:         Andrea Merello <andreamrl@tiscali.it>
author:         Michael Wu <flamingice@sourmilk.net>
alias:          pci:v00001186d00003300sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001799d00006020sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001799d00006001sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008180sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001799d0000701Fsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001799d0000700Fsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008185sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        mac80211,eeprom_93cx6,cfg80211
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.0.0-1-686-pae SMP mod_unload modversions 686

root@adam:~# lspci |grep -i rtl
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE
802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20)

root@adam:~# grep -i rtl /var/log/syslog
Dec 14 13:11:18 adam kernel: [    6.491200] rtl8180 0000:00:0e.0: PCI INT
A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
Dec 14 13:11:18 adam kernel: [    6.892806] ieee80211 phy0: hwaddr
940c6dca45b1, RTL8185vD + rtl8225z2

/etc/network/interfaces
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
	address 192.168.1.22
	netmask 255.255.255.0
	network 192.168.1.0
	broadcast 192.168.1.255
	gateway 192.168.1.1
	dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1
	dns-search workgroup
	wpa-ssid "sat4"
        wpa-psk 9015aa443decdd5a97b227b6blahblah

Thanks for any help you can offer,
Keith Ostertag