Dell Inspiron 4550, Ethernet Controller Issue

Hello, I have just reformatted my parents 6 year old computer for the first time since they purchased it. It is running fine, but the ethernet controller will not work. I have installed the drivers from online, and from the CD and neighter will let it read. Does anyone have any suggestions of things I could try to get it to read so I can get online? Thanks!

 

Did you check the device manager to make sure the driver does not have a ! or ?

For troubleshooting purposes, one thing you can try is to install a PCI ethernet card and see if it works. There are also USB to ethernet adaptors you can try.

 

There is a question mark next to the card for whatever that is worth.

 

That is definitely a problem. A question mark usually means that the drivers for that card are not installed. I know you tried some networking drivers already. Try going online to Dell's support site and getting their newest ethernet driver for that laptop. Going to google and searching for Dell support should bring up the site you need as the first result. After that, should be as easy as clicking download drivers and supplying them with your computer type.

Also, you can double click on the driver with a question mark to find out more about the problem. If it has a question mark, it should say a driver cannot be found for this device.