littleones

On my daughter's desktop, due to a corrupted HD I used Darik's Boot & Nuke and wiped the hard drive and reformatted it. Windows XP Pro was reinstalled. But I now cannot make an Internet connection. Prior to the HD being corrupted the Internet connection was perfect.

My daughter (who lives with her brother and his family) has her computer set up downstairs, hard wired with a hi-speed connection. My son's computer upstairs is also hard wired and hi-speed. He is running Windows XP Home.

Both my son and I run our wireless notebooks in the house problem free.

Following is the data that I copied off his XP Home machine:

1. Connect using: Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast (Ethernet NIC)
2. Address Type: Assigned by DHCP
3. IP Address: 192.168.1.100
4. Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
5. Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
6. DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1
7. Physical Address: 00-0C-76-A2-49-BF

Some of the windows in XP Home (son's machine) in the Internet connection section are different than what I show in XP Pro.

Anyway, I do hope someone can make sense of all of the above, and possibly assist us in getting back online.

BCCOMP

Hi,
When you reinstalled XP Pro did you go to the device manager to see if your NIC card driver is installed correctly (no yellow or red exclamation points)? Please list the specs of the PC (make, model etc). Also post any errors you find in the device manager.
Thanks,
Bill

littleones

Thank you, Bill, for your response. After pursuing the issue further (and according to your suggestion), it is evident that the problem has been located in the device manager. The six hardware items listed there all have a yellow exclamation mark next to them.

When I purchased the computer from Dell t was accompanied by a recovery CD (XP Pro OS), a User Documentation CD for the monitor, and a Drivers and Utilities CD. After the reformat of the hard drive, the three (3) foregoing CD's were reloaded. But in the device manager the six (6) yellow exclamation marks still were displayed.

Dell is sending me the the drivers I need (at no charge). Actually, the only drivers on the Drivers and Utilities CD were primarily for a wireless adapter. So, ideally, once I receive the necessary drivers we will be up and running again. If not, I'll seek your assistance again.

Regards,

John

BCCOMP

Let us know how you make out.
Thanks,
Bill
PS- Doesn't Dell have them listed on thier site so you do not have to wait? Just wondering.

littleones

Yes, the drivers for my hardware devices are on Dell's website. I am grateful for your suggestion.

Last night I downloaded them to my notebook, wrote them to a CD, and installed them on my daughter's machine. Presto! We are up and running and the system seems to be operating in top shape.

Bill, many thanks again.

John

P.S. Through this entire "ordeal" I believe I learned some new things about computers. If it had not been for TechSupportForum and all the positive input I know her machine would still be "down."

P.S. 2: With the fragmented files, malware, etc. that can compromise the computer through install/reinstall, surfing, etc., I had this question:
Would it be more prudent to erase everything I throw in the Recycle Bin versus simply deleting them?

BCCOMP

Hi John,
Glad you got it up and running.
If you do not need it then get rid of it. Make sure you run a good virus and spyware detection. Normally anything you download off the net goes into a temp folder which the contents can be deleted. I woukd run a full disk cleanup and defrag also.
If you have any more question about this topic, I would start another thread. It gets confusing and other members can not help you. (Thay might not see or is unaware of the additional questions. I am going to get this thread marked as resolved.
Glad I could help.
Thanks,
Bill