Setting up Internet Connection (XP User), Need help!

[curious2garden]

FYI... I really hate PCs. Begets owned a Mac, but jeeezzz! I've never had so many problems with anything else I've owned.

Why hate PC's? They do a good job and both Windows XP and Windows 7 are good operating systems. Further Mac's are just another PC as they are also using Intel chipsets now. The only thing special about Mac's is their OS X that only runs on Apple listed hardware unless you use a bootleg loader. However you are not stuck using Windows if you do not wish to.

I highly recommend Fedora. It's the Open source side of Red Hat and is very aggressively updated. You can read about it here:
https://fedoraproject.org/ and download from there if you wish as well.

 

[curious2garden]

Idk what to tell you, I typed in ipconfig and it did what I said. And then I typed.in ipconfig /all, and got the same.

I am just going to reinstall it again. It only takes about 20 minutes. So before I get started...

I need the Ethernet Driver, Windows Installer, and the .Net Framework?

Let me tell you if you did NOT see Ethernet Adapter listed then the problem isn't a driver the problem is the hardware itself is not being detected! So re-installing will not fix this. You need to find out why your Ethernet Adapter is not being detected. Turn off and unplug your computer, open the case, GROUND YOURSELF, remove and look for any burns at the connectors etc.. on the Nic card. Then put it back in and reboot. Until the hardware SHOWS your ethernet adapter software will not help you.

 

[ChronicObsession]

hey VLDK why are you reinstalling anyway? If you motherboard has a cracked integrated ethernet device, you may have badluck. Check in Control Panel, System, Device Manager, I am on win7 right now but if you naviage to the device manager you will see your ethernet adaptor and if there are any problems with it. I had to buy a PCI ethernet adaptor to solve a blown integrated ethernet port, so keep looking man! you can find this problem. PCs are easy. Macs are the hardpart, because computer noobs have to decide where to get all that money for a nice but not uber powerful machine. I could build a barebones machine with awesome accelerated graphics and solid state harddrive before I go out and get a MAC... LOL mac users. money is always the lazy way to apparent smartness but it's illegitimate in my opinion

 

[VLRD.Kush]

I tweaked around with it a while ago (4+ months its been sitting as a statue). I messed something up while trying to customize it. Let me go look around on the inside and see if anything is disconnected.

And I say that about Macs bc of the.viruses mainly. The most unsecured thing I do online is torrent. Yeah I know that can be pretty unsafe but I feel as if I take the right precautions. I always have my AntiVirus up and running, TrendMicro was what I had.... Regardless, I still manage to kash my PC out once every 5-7 months and have to get it wiped. Luckily I invested in a 2TB external for my important stuff.

*i can't see anything disconnected or burnt out inside

 

[ChronicObsession]

i have torrented a terabyte on my PC... a mac mini with 1 terabyte of space... LOL. HD movies yay! fuck you best buy and other businesses making money off of art! I encode them to my games PC for playback on a Sony 52" and I'm happy. I say put the money to hardware, not software lol

 

[curious2garden]

I tweaked around with it a while ago (4+ months its been sitting as a statue). I messed something up while trying to customize it. Let me go look around on the inside and see if anything is disconnected.

And I say that about Macs bc of the.viruses mainly. The most unsecured thing I do online is torrent. Yeah I know that can be pretty unsafe but I feel as if I take the right precautions. I always have my AntiVirus up and running, TrendMicro was what I had.... Regardless, I still manage to kash my PC out once every 5-7 months and have to get it wiped. Luckily I invested in a 2TB external for my important stuff.

Mac's as they gain market share are no longer free from virus. But the problem is more Trojans and Malware than virus. If you torrent you should have an outgoing firewall. I recommend ZoneAlarm free so your trojans can't phone home LOL. I'd also highly recommend Spybot Search & Destroy.

 

[VLRD.Kush]

I also had Spybot.


The thing I don't get is, how could it be hardware if it all worked before the reinstall? The computer ran "fine" before, but it would start lagging and freezing once more than one program was open and other misc. errors/ problems.

 

[curious2garden]

I also had Spybot.


The thing I don't get is, how could it be hardware if it all worked before the reinstall? The computer ran "fine" before, but it would start lagging and freezing once more than one program was open and other misc. errors/ problems.

Hardware dies over time, power surges and dirty power are frequent causes. But if you are not showing a NIC card in the Device Manager or in the ipconfig /all command then your hardware is not being detected. If re-seating the card doesn't fix it you need to buy a new NIC card. They are relatively cheap at NewEgg.com. After the big Pomona Computer Fair closed down I started buying most of my hardware via NewEgg.

Oh and try MOVING the PCI slot your NIC card is in. It's possible the PCI slot on the motherboard died. I've had that happen too

One last thing it's possible you have a boot sector virus. You'll need a boot disk so you load your OS straight into RAM then clean the boot sector. You can't clean a boot sector that's being used. So I'd use a boot disk then scan my computer to see if a virus is detected.

 

[VLRD.Kush]

It's just a little silver box on my MB. There isn't a NIC card in any of the PCI slots.

 

[curious2garden]

It's just a little silver box on my MB. There isn't a NIC card in any of the PCI slots.

So you have an integrated Nic to the motherboard. Bummer, those die too. Anyway if I were you I'd reboot in safe mode and see if that detects your NIC card. You said you built this computer right? So when you wiped the hard drive and re-installed did you install the drivers that came with the motherboard? But you see the problem is even without drivers the NIC card should be detected and Windows should prompt you for drivers. So frankly without any NIC card showing the last thing I'd try before buying a NIC card would be scanning my computer's boot sector.

Finally does your computer have an open PCI slot you can add in a NIC card?

 

[ChronicObsession]

I also had Spybot.


The thing I don't get is, how could it be hardware if it all worked before the reinstall? The computer ran "fine" before, but it would start lagging and freezing once more than one program was open and other misc. errors/ problems.

something may not be repairable just by using RIU alone, my friend. I am sorry for you it sounds like something is baked. You need to check everything. ESD electric static discharge, surge to your home electrical supply, other shit, these can all affect the computer. You need to error check your ram, review the harddisks, and of course diagnose the mother board. it sounds like something on the motherboard has failed and that is beyond the scope of discussion. You would need to download some diagnostic tools and stuff. I may be over reacting but like I said, it was my business and still is, to fully diagnose a PC that is acting like a terd. Many times it is the operating system (windows) that fucks up the business, but also their can occur a hardware failure on PC Towers, where enthusiast system builders subject their parts to static electricity from their bodies and what not. anyway man I will be checking up for another hour to help you if you could tell usmore

 

[VLRD.Kush]

I did grab the appropriate driver zip folder from MSI's website.

And yes I do have open slots. I'm not going to mess with it anymore tonight, I'm getting tired. I'll try the safe mode thing first thing tomorrow.

Any other suggestions, and ill try them too and post back.


Again to EVERYONE... THANK YOU!!!

 

[curious2garden]

I did grab the appropriate driver zip folder from MSI's website.

And yes I do have open slots. I'm not going to mess with it anymore tonight, I'm getting tired. I'll try the safe mode thing first thing tomorrow.

Any other suggestions, and ill try them too and post back.


Again to EVERYONE... THANK YOU!!!

Well I'm sorry it wasn't something simple. But it's still fixable. Having a spare NIC card isn't the worst thing either. I'd pick up something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166004

Or something like this (if you don't have a spare PCI port and you DO have a 32 bit system)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186164

Or better yet you have Wireless. But that you have to be careful to match protocols b/g/n etc.. You are right to pack it in when you're tired. Sometimes when you come back fresh it all works easier.

 

[VLRD.Kush]

I ended up dropping it off at my local shop. I know the guys up there so they cut me a deal on getting the drivers all installed. He said that MSI boards are a pain to get all setup and their website is no where near as user friendly as it should be.

Its whatver though, gotta know when to fold 'em I guess. Im happy now though!

 

[likethegood]

Just wondering what exactly was wrong with your pc? I just get curious when it comes to pcs I love to work on them.

 

[VLRD.Kush]

The guy said it was just a bunch of missing drivers. Apparently my MoBo is getting to be an antique in technology terms.

 

[Dr Kynes]

Sorry bro. heres a tip now that you got your interwebs tube hooked up again. go to http://www.drivershq.com/ download and instal the driver detective program, but dont register it or pay for anything. execute the program (it's different for every pc, so you must use it on the computer in question) it will give you a shitton of useful info for free, including: What devices are installed, who made them, their model names and numbers, are their drivers up to date, are they working properly, and other such shit.

now grab a pencil and a paper. write down the manufacturer, model nam and model number of each of the following:

mother board
video adapter
ethernet adapter
wireless adapter
sound card
modem
web cam

after that is done, go to the googles, and visit the website for each device. download, and save the driver installation file for each one into a directory created specifically for the purpose (i use c:\restore) some of them have funky names, so sub directories with the device name can be helpful.

then go to microsoft's website and search for "Windows Xp Service Pack 2 Redistributable" save that file in your directory as well. (they will try to get you to take service pack 3, dont do it! more on that later)

once you got all that, burn it to a dvd. put that dvd in with your windows xp installation disc, and keep it. next time you have to wipe your HDD youlll have service pack 2 and all your drivers ready to install.


a few notes on Service Pack 3 for XP:

if your computer is old, dont use it. it was never tested for older computers, and generally causes them to either slow down terribly, or crashes them out to the blue-screen core memory dump-reboot-blue screen-core memory dump-reboot.... cycle.

in a few days or a few weeks, your shit will most likely fall down again, dont panic, thats gonna be service pack 3 failing on you. after wiping your drive clean again, install Windows XP. then install service pack 2. after it reboots it will ask you to configure automatic updates. automatic updates should be configured to OFF. then install your drivers. never re-enable automatic updates, never download or install service pack 3, and your shit will keep running, like mine does. (motherboard configured in 1999 and still rocking)

service pack 3 doesn't always fuck your shit up, but it happens often enough to make me sad.

 

[VLRD.Kush]

Sorry bro. heres a tip now that you got your interwebs tube hooked up again. go to http://www.drivershq.com/ download and instal the driver detective program, but dont register it or pay for anything. execute the program (it's different for every pc, so you must use it on the computer in question) it will give you a shitton of useful info for free, including: What devices are installed, who made them, their model names and numbers, are their drivers up to date, are they working properly, and other such shit.

now grab a pencil and a paper. write down the manufacturer, model nam and model number of each of the following:

mother board
video adapter
ethernet adapter
wireless adapter
sound card
modem
web cam

after that is done, go to the googles, and visit the website for each device. download, and save the driver installation file for each one into a directory created specifically for the purpose (i use c:\restore) some of them have funky names, so sub directories with the device name can be helpful.

then go to microsoft's website and search for "Windows Xp Service Pack 2 Redistributable" save that file in your directory as well. (they will try to get you to take service pack 3, dont do it! more on that later)

once you got all that, burn it to a dvd. put that dvd in with your windows xp installation disc, and keep it. next time you have to wipe your HDD youlll have service pack 2 and all your drivers ready to install.


a few notes on Service Pack 3 for XP:

if your computer is old, dont use it. it was never tested for older computers, and generally causes them to either slow down terribly, or crashes them out to the blue-screen core memory dump-reboot-blue screen-core memory dump-reboot.... cycle.

in a few days or a few weeks, your shit will most likely fall down again, dont panic, thats gonna be service pack 3 failing on you. after wiping your drive clean again, install Windows XP. then install service pack 2. after it reboots it will ask you to configure automatic updates. automatic updates should be configured to OFF. then install your drivers. never re-enable automatic updates, never download or install service pack 3, and your shit will keep running, like mine does. (motherboard configured in 1999 and still rocking)

service pack 3 doesn't always fuck your shit up, but it happens often enough to make me sad.

+REP.... Definitely going to do this tomorrow after work.

On a side note, After finding out this computer is getting to be a dinosaur, I started thinking I should look into a new one all together. Of course I want a laptop; mainly music, internet, GRAPHIC DESIGN. Anyone know of some good prebuilts, or have a good custom configuration they could suggest??