Posted on 08/25/2006 11:01:59 AM PDT by Babu
I'm at my wit's end -- maybe some FReeper who is smarter than I can tell me what clue I am missing. Here is what happened:
My wife's computer's hard drive crashed, so I purchased and installed a new hard drive, formatted it, and Windows XP Pro was and is working fine. The wife's computer is as follows:
Then the problem came when I tried to get on the Internet. We have a cable broadband always-on connection, run through a wired/wireless Linksys router. Two other computers use the connection, another desktop with a wired connection to the router, and a notebook with a wireless connection to the router. Throughout this, both other computers have retained their Internet connection without interruption.
When I was unable to get connected to the Internet after running the usual checks and dug deeper, I went into the Device Manager, and found that the Network Adapter is not showing, so therein obviously lies the problem. I have used the Find Hardware, etc., to no avail, and the computer just does not recognize the Network Adaptor. I thought perhaps a card had become loose when I changed out the hard drive, so I shut down and opened up the case, but the ethernet cable plug is not a separate card, but seems to be part of the massive Mother Board. I checked all around to see if there was perhaps an unplugged plug or loose cable that occured when I changed the hard drive, but nothing of the sort--everything is very secure.
I tried putting in the Dell Driver disc that came with the computer and installing the supposed driver for the network adaptor, but because the computer does not recognize the network adapter, there is nothing to attach the driver to. I tried reformatting the computer hard drive again from scratch, thinking that something had possibly gone amiss the first time, but the result is the same -- still it does not find a Network Adapter, so I still cannot connect this computer to the Internet.
I have a computer consultant I trust and I use when I just cannot figure something out myself, but he isn't available for over a week, and my wife would like her computer up and running ASAP (It's bad enough she lost her email addresses and favorites in the hard drive crash), so it would be best if I could figure the problem out now. Besides, on occasion, I have found problems that stumped me have stumped the 'computer guy' also, so I think Free Republic is probably a better source than my local computer consultant!!
From other technical threads I have read, I know there are a lot of really knowledgable types in this area that frequent this forum, so perhaps some fellow FReeper has the right tip for me. Please, though, if you would be so kind, don't get overly technical with the language -- I am only a "shade-tree computer-mechanic", I'm sure you get the drift. Sometimes some of the tech language here on the computer threads goes a little over my head. (And you Mac folks, please don't just tell me to buy a Mac, thanks anyway, but I'll work with the equipment I already have)
Thanks in advance!
Now all I need to really top off my day is hear the news that we sent a cruise missle thru old Stinky's window in Iran ... I suppose I hope for too much happiness at once, but hey, a guy can hope! :)
Sounds like a really handy item to have around. If I didn't have more than one computer in the house and some flash drives, I would have had to have gone right down to Fry's Electronics and bought one.
LOL
What an optimist! I love it.
If all else fails ? buy a new computer.. lol.. it might give him a good excuse to go to Best Buy tonight with his wife and pick out a new one with dual cores.
Not a lot, got one at best buy for between 15-20
Sounds like a winner to me.
The best and most complete computer tool ever made. LOL !!
Let not thy heart be heavy but be of good cheer ... what goes around does come around, and those who do good deeds may be pleasantly surprised in their time of need ... :)
I didn't know they made them USB. Comp USA sells 'em for 20 bucks apparently. I'm kinda lucky because I build my own systems and usually stick with Intel motherboards. The one I'm using now has 8 USB ports and 6 PCI slots. Its very flexible when you run into hardware problems. I also usually run dual boot W2K and XP, so separating hardware and software problems is a snap. Loading and maintaining 2 OS's is a bit of a drag though.
Congrats!
Here is another bit of advice. Go to: http://www.gtopala.com/ and download his nifty piece of freeware (I'm sure he would accept donations!) called SIW (System Information for Windows).
It generates a comprehensive report of your computer that can be saved to a text file. Put that test file in a safe place and if you should find yourself in this position again you can review it for any of those "unknown device" messages you may see in the Device Manager.
Ain't computing fun?!
A favorite site of mine to give you a quick detailed and itemized list of your computer configuration, and all the hardware and software (plus any updates) you are running can be had at: www.belarcadvisor.com. I usually just print it out and put it in the essential file on the computer, and also leave the icon on the desktop to pull up an up to date copy at any time.
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