Brand new D-Link wireless access point, DIR-615. Two different laptops saw the SSID, tried to connect; but Windows reported that it was not able to find a certificate for the network. Connection was reported “successful”, but it didn’t work at all.
Hung on D-Link tech support for 90 minutes, their tech had heard of the problem before, did have to go hunting…but the answer was in the WAP itself. On the console, under Advanced, there’s an item named Wi-Fi Protected Setup. This is enabled by default; and it has to be disabled, in order for this WAP to work with any wireless NICs except those few which have an automatic setup arrangement built-in, apparently called WPS.