Problems with an older HP laptop

HP ZT1175 stock with Windows XP installed.

When I first got this machine back in 2002, I was able to repeatedly connect it to a network when I traveled via a normal CAT5 cable. I later wanted to sync up some files with my Dell XPS-400 desktop so I bought a crossover cable and connected the two machines. When I did this, the connection showed it was there, but I couldn't set up any permissions to see the other machine's files. After getting frustrated, I just left it alone.

On my next trip, I attempted to connect with the CAT5 cable. It appeared to connect, but I was unable to get anywhere. I resorted to dial-up and the same thing happened. I called my ISP (Earthlink) and was walked through a reset TCPIP procedure (I can include the command if needed) and was able to dial up, but not connect via the network card.

When I returned, I took the thing into work and had a network guy look at it for me. He installed the latest drivers for my card and could not get past this problem. He recommended I get a wireless PC card to fit in the slot on my laptop. I did so. Last weekend, I went to the local restaurant that provides free WiFi and tried it out. Once it booted up, it showed me that I had a 54MB connection and verified the wireless connection belonged to the restaurant... but I could not get anywhere! I talked to my son who used to go up there and he said I should have received a disclaimer screen accepting terms and conditions before it allowed me to connect; it never came up.

I am currently going through the Malware thing as I did recently on my Desktop. What other information do I need to provide to get past this mess? I'll have to make the changes then go somewhere where I can connect the cable or use the wireless card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Wrong forum?

 

Well... a friend at work that does networking and other junk suggested we trash the thing and do a clean install. It had been 5 years without anything of that nature and since I have a new Dell, I figured why not. He formatted the disk and installed XP and some virus software... did as many updates as we could find to get the version up to snuff. It worked great! I was customizing it for my kid; pix, music, address book and stuff. The last think I did was install all the latest drivers for this model laptop... big mistake... now, it hangs on shutdown (Saving your settings)... different various icons are hosed... right click on My Computer > Properties... does nothing... click on System in the Control panel... nothing... nothing shows up in the event viewer... networking works but now I can't get to shared drives any more. Anyone had this problem? If so, what did you do to fix it... my friend says that he needs to format and reinstall XP again... if there is a way around that, I'd LOVE to figure it out! Thanx!

 

I was able to get into System Restore in Safe Mode and successfully restored it to the point prior to my changes. I will now add pix, music, AOL, MS Office and forget the HP updates... if it screams for them, then I may update whatever, but as your mother said...