can't connect to internet

hi, i'm hoping someone can help. recently i had to do a reinstall of windows sp 2 after having problems with my computer. my mom's coworker was the one who did it and i got my laptop back yesterday. now i can't connect to the internet. i checked the device manager and noticed the ethernet controller and everything below it is unplugged. i tried to reinstall them but it wouldn't let me. i'm wondering is this what's causing me not to be able to connect to the internet or is it something else? my laptop uses a modem which is working fine since i'm currently using my bro's laptop which uses the same modem. any help will be appreciated. thanks.

 

I've never had a laptop, but presumably they come with the equivalent of a motherboard driver disk?

If so, and if your moms co-worker was unsure of the correct process of a re-install, perhaps these drivers weren't installed.

On a standard pc they should be installed directly after Windows and I'm sure this should be the case for laptops also.

If it was installed correctly then maybe hardware problem or cable.

 

If by modem you mean a USB attached modem then the Ethernet adapters don't come into it. Much more likely is that the modem drivers have not been reinstalled. Does the modem appear in Device Manager?

 

Yes, I agree with plodr the laptop probably needs LAN or more likely WAN drivers. The drivers should be available on the manufacturer's website under support and then your model number.

 

If it's an ADSL router then the only drivers that would be needed are those for the NIC. LAN and WAN are irrelevant, as a NIC serves both from one set of drivers.

However, although it wouldn't be very convenient, it seemed possible that they were sharing a USB ADSL modem, in which case it would be the modem drivers that were needed.

I never referred to an internal dialup modem at all.

 

i have a Dell desktop and had to order a Windows installation cd so i could reformat. i went to Dell's website, entered my Service Tag ID and it directed me to the driver download page. i actually hadn't asked/read about the exact instructions to do a clean reinstall so i ended up purchasing a usb external drive, took it to a friend's house and downloaded what i needed.

i downloaded all the required drivers and saved them to removable media. this can be a flashdrive, usb drive or re-writable cd...could be floppies if you have a floppy drive and the drivers are small enough.

after i reinstalled Windows and got to my desktop, i installed the basic drivers which included the ethernet driver. without that you won't be able to get online if you have a cable connection.

whichever vendor your system came from should have a similar setup to download the basic, required drivers you need, at no cost.

 

yes, i got the modem from the phone company, it's working fine since my bro uses the same modem.

 

my computer came with only the computer itself and instructions.

my laptop is a sony and i just noticed that when i click on properties, it doesn't say sony anymore, it says intel(R) Pentium(R). is this normal?

 

What is the make and model of the laptop?

Just to clear things up about the modem--do you use a wire/cable to connect to the modem or are you using it wirelessly?

 

it's a sony vaio vgn-tx700 series, 2006 version. is that right? i don't know anything about computers so you might have to be more specific to


i do use a wire to connect to the modem.

 

See if you can narrow down the model number. Something like XXX-XXXX
Are you in Asia? Because they are suggesting a model number of VGNTX70Z. Does this match your label model number.

 

i found VGN-TX750P. i live in the usa. is the product key the model number?

 

I thought you sounded awfully American. Either that or you watched a lot of US TV on the internet.

That model helps. Here is the page for your laptop.

If you are running XP which I believe you are then this should be your network driver. Give it a try.

 

Looking that site over I still think you need separate Wireless drivers. Do you use a wire to connect to your modem or you do it wirelessly?

I'm not sure which driver under wireless is correct for your machine but I would try the intel one and see if it installs or if you get an error.

 

um ok so what am i supposed to do? how do i download that file and am i supposed to download all those other files from the first link? remember i'm a dumb american i have a usb to use but i don't trust it. i use it a lot at school and i'm scared its infected with a virus and im using my brothers laptop which i don't want to infect

 

i use a wire to connect to the modem. this is my first laptop so i really don't know much about them. my last computer was a desktop which lasted me 7 years and i only had 1 bad virus on it and that's all. i think i prefer them to laptops.

 

Ok, you use a wire, so the first link should be the correct one. The links are from Sony/Vaio so they are safe.

Download the network file and follow the installation instructions. Basically, just download the file to your brother's laptop, copy it to USB, plug the usb to your laptop, copy the file from USB to your desktop and then run it. Make sure you run it from an account with Administrator rights.

I would suggest rebooting at this time.

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If you want to be extra safe make a restore point on your laptop now and then download and install the network driver. But there is only one network driver available for that model and you should get an error if it is not correct or unable to install.
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If you are afraid to put the USB on your brother's computer than you can download the network driver to his computer and burn it to CD. Then put the CD in you computer and copy it to your desktop.

 

Neither the time difference nor the terminology are helping us here In the UK, when broadband is delivered by phone, the ISP companies supply an Assymmetric Digital Subscriber Line service (ADSL), and most ppl connect to it using a USB modem or by using an ADSL modem router. The USB modem serves a single computer and requires its own drivers to be installed in the comp. The router can serve several computers or other devices, and if used only in wired mode does not require any drivers to be installed, but the Ethernet adapter on the PC to which it is connected does need drivers installed. To use the router wirelessly the wireless adapter also needs drivers.

It was the use of the word modem which threw me, as it seems in the US generally to mean what we here would call an ADSL router - i.e. a DSL modem to which you can connect more than one computer. As I said, when used in wired mode such a device only requires that the drivers for the Ethernet adapter in the comp be installed, and it does sound as though you all have tracked that down and are getting there with the OP.

Good luck

 

i had to download the files from school. i'll try things when i get home and let you know how it goes. thanks

 

i downloaded the network driver but now i'm having the same problems i did before i did the windows reinstall. i will get the internet has encountered a problem and needs to close and an msn dial up connection notice. i tried to remove all of msn on my computer because it's causing a lot of errors but i couldn't, also i can't download anything. any suggestions. thanks.

 

I guess we ought to figure out if you have any internet connectivity and if the error is related to the ethernet driver or some other software.

First, What does Device Manager look like now? Any yellow (?/!)'s ?

What does network connections show for all connections? Start>Connect to>Show all Connections. Or Control Panel>Network Connections. Does it show the Local Area Network as having any activity?

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You said

what is the exact error? What program has to close? Is it Internet Explorer?

Have you been able to load even a single web page? Do you have Firefox on that computer?

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Are the MSN(dialup notice) and the "internet has encountered a problem...must close" separate problems or do they always happen together? For the MSN problem try Control Panel>Internet Options>Connections tab and see if you can mark the circle for never dial a connection. If it is already greyed out then it must be some other setting causing the problem.

 

hi. i'm able to download now and i checked the device manager and the only yellow question marks are ugx, other devices and modem device on high defintion audio bus. i was able to download almost all the files for my system except for 4 files. i did download mozilla firefox which i'm currently using and i downloaded internet version 8, but when i click on properties it says i still have service pack 2. is this normal? i tried to download malwarebytes and it wouldn't let me download updates. i'm worried that my computer is infected again, because i found old cleaning files like mgtools in my c drive and my modem keeps disconnecting at times. the local area network does have a connection.