network adapter

[melissa_kay]

i'm having trouble getting internet on my computer. i am using a linksys wireless-g router and a cable modem for 2 laptops in my household. it worked before but today i installed a new hard drive in my dell inspiron 1545, re installed the operating system (vista) and downloaded the wifi driver from dell and also installed that. there is no switch to turn on wifi like on some laptops and i tried fn+f2 but this does nothing. the internet doesn't even work if i plug it straight into the ethernet cable. when i try to connect to a network it says that there is no driver installed but in control panel i can see that it's there. help?

[jmnew51]

Power down your cable modem, your wireless router and computer for about 1 minute, then turn everything back on starting with the cable modem. See if this helps.
Jim

[z1p]

Hi mk and welcome to CTH, Let's see if we figure out what is wrong.

What is showing up in the device manager under network adaptors?
Do they have a '?' or a '!' on them?

Can you run ipconfig/all in a cmd window and post back its output?


-z1p

[melissa_kay]

in 'device manager' there is a ? next to 'other devices'(nothing actually says 'network adapter')...when expanded it shows: ethernet controller, network controller, sm bus controller, and video controller which each have a ! next to them. when i open any of these options it says that they are not configured correctly. also when i logged on this last time a window popped up saying to insert the disc with my sm bus controller...?

all the cmd window tells me is...

host name:gatito-pc
primary dns suffix:
node type:hybrid
ip routing enabled:no
wins proxy enabled:no

[ViprXX]

how exactly did you reinstall the operating system? did you know theres a hidden factory image that will restore your pc to when you first bought it. meaning it will install all the correct drivers for all the hardware. if you didn't reinstall the os with the factory restore just backup any files you want to keep, cuz restoring will delete every thing, then follow the instructions below that I got from Dell's support site.

Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory Image Restore NOTICE: Using Dell PC Restore or Dell Factory Image Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and removes any programs or drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up the data before using these options. Use PC Restore or Dell Factory Image Restore only if System Restore did not resolve your operating system problem.
NOTE: Dell PC Restore by Symantec and Dell Factory Image Restore may not be available in certain countries or on certain computers.


Use Dell Factory Image Restore (Windows Vista) or Dell PC Restore (Windows XP) only as the last method to restore your operating system.

These options restore your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you purchased the computer. Any programs or files added since you received your computer—including data files—are permanently deleted from the hard drive. Data files include documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages, digital photos, music files, and so on. If possible, back up all data before using PC Restore or Factory Image Restore.
Windows Vista: Dell Factory Image Restore
Turn on the computer. When the Dell logo appears, press <F8> several times to access the Vista Advanced Boot Options window.

Select Repair Your Computer.


The System Recovery Options window appears.
Select a keyboard layout and click Next.

To access the recovery options, log on as a local user. To access the command prompt, type administrator in the User name field, then click OK.

Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
NOTE: Depending upon your configuration, you may need to select Dell Factory Tools, then Dell Factory Image Restore.


The Dell Factory Image Restore welcome screen appears.
Click Next.


The Confirm Data Deletion screen appears. NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with Factory Image Restore, click Cancel.

Click the check box to confirm that you want to continue reformatting the hard drive and restoring the system software to the factory condition, and then click Next.


The restore process begins and may take five or more minutes to complete. A message appears when the operating system and factory-installed applications have been restored to factory condition.
Click Finish to reboot the system.

Hope this helps. good luck.
Later

[z1p]

hi viprxx,

Thanks for helping out here, but I don't think this will work as mk said she replaced the disk, so I expect the restore partition is lost with the old disk. But how the drivers were installed may well be the issue.

mk,

Where did you get your drivers? Was it from this page?

What drivers did you install? Did you follow the driver install instructions available through the link near the top of the drivers page?

I recommend uninstalling the drivers for the devices
and re-installing in the order Dell specifies.

[ViprXX]

yeah, your right Z1p, after reading it again, I didn't read it correctly. I'm sorry for the wrong advise. you can download all the drivers for your dell from the link below.

http://support.dell.com/support/down...&catid=&impid=

hope it helps this time unlike last time. haha
Later

[z1p]

Originally Posted by ViprXX

yeah, your right Z1p, after reading it again, I didn't read it correctly. I'm sorry for the wrong advise. you can download all the drivers for your dell from the link below.

http://support.dell.com/support/down...&catid=&impid=

hope it helps this time unlike last time. haha
Later

NP we all head off in the wrong direction at times, that's why is so good to have a group of folks helping out. It keeps us honest.

BTW - thx for helping out, thats what keeps sites like this going.

-z1p

[melissa_kay]

thank you for clearing that up...

i have installed all the drivers (i think) that dell offers and now the internet works but only if i plug it in with a cable. still no wireless. the only thing left with an ! is network controller (which is a good sign because there were 4 things before). there doesn't seem to be a driver for this. i have looked all over for info on this but it seems that most ppl use this interchangably with ethernet controller. this makes no sense to me...

[z1p]

Progress is good, but lets see if we can put your problems to bed. There are a bunch of different wireless network cards (WLAN) that could be in your laptop. So the 1st thing we need to do is to figure out which one you have.

Well do try getting the info two ways.

First run ipconfig/all again and post that back.
2nd, go back to the device manager and see exactly what it says your wireless device is.

hopefully, that will give us the info we need.

[melissa_kay]

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Gatito>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Gatito-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : insight.rr.com
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet
Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-23-AE-26-3D-E2
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection*:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Tun Miniport Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Gatito>

under network adapters it says:
marvell yukon 88E8040 PCI-E fast ethernet controller

[z1p]

Ok. I'm assuming that you are still have a ! on the wireless network controller.

You can find the driver for the Marvell WLAN card under Network on the page we linked to earlier or you can just follow this link which brings right to the download page for the driver.

Let us know how it goes.
-z1p

[melissa_kay]

thank you but i have downloaded and installed this driver 3 times now (overwriting each time as to not over do it) still when i boot up a window pops up and says that a driver is needed and it gives me options to find it. no matter which option i pick windows cannot find the network adapter driver which it what it says i still need.

when i installed the ethernet controller i finally could connect to the internet but not wirelessly. in control panel under network adapters the ethernet controller shows that it is working and installed. just below network adapters is an icon that says 'other devices' and when expanded i find network controller with, yes still, an !.

also i get a bubble from the icon menu at the bottom right of the screen that tells me that windows has blocked some startup programs could this be connected?

[z1p]

does it tell you what start up programs?

[melissa_kay]

Conexant Universal Device Install/Uninstall x86 Application

QuickSet.exe

Digital Line Detection

all say not yet classified