Ethernet problem

edited January 2007 in Hardware
I've recently reformatted my hard drive but now don't have an ethernet controller. It just has a yellow question mark by it in Device Manager. I'm now having to run my modem through a USB port using my printer cable. Quite frankly it's a pain. Is there anyway I can get the ethernet connection back? Do I need to download some drivers? I don't even know the manufacturer of the motherboard as my PC was built by a friend. Really need some help on this one! Thanks!
«1

Comments

  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    I've recently reformatted my hard drive but now don't have an ethernet controller. It just has a yellow question mark by it in Device Manager.
    That is most likely because you need the hardware device drivers for the NIC (network interface adapter). Is your ethernet connection or NIC integrated (built in to your motherboard) or is it a seperate adapter card that is plugged into your motherboard?
    Paulfcb wrote:
    I'm now having to run my modem through a USB port using my printer cable.
    Am I correct in the following statement,... You have borrowed the USB cable from your printer and connected it between your broadband modem and your computer. Even so, you still do not have Internet connectivity?
    Paulfcb wrote:
    ...Is there a way I can get my Internet connection back?...
    Absolutely. We just need to get you the appropriate drivers.
    Paulfb wrote:
    Do I need to download some drivers?
    Yes. You need to determine the manufacturer and model of your NIC (network interface card (adapter)) or - if the ethernet port is integrated (built into your motherboard) the manufacturer and model no. of your motherboard. Then you need to consult the manufacturer's web site for the appropriate drivers.
    Paulfb wrote:
    I don't even know the manufacturer of the motherboard as my PC was built by a friend...
    So the ethernet connection IS intergrated (built into your motherboard)?

    Open up the case.
    Put it up on a bench or table or something so you can comfortably and thoroughly give your motherboard a good looking over.
    Get a strong flash light (and, if you're as blind as me, a magnifying glass! :sad2: )
    Now, look carefully on the motherboard for its identifying markings. There will be a model no. and possibly (in much smaller print) a version no.

    It's quite possible you will not see a manufacturer name. That isn't a problem. If we have the model no., that will lead us to the manufacturer.
  • edited January 2007
    I have an internet connection but I'm running my modem through a USB port. I've opened up the case before to have a look but can't find any manufacturer name or model number! The ethernet connection is on board.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    I have an internet connection but I'm running my modem through a USB port. I've opened up the case before to have a look but can't find any manufacturer name or model number! The ethernet connection is on board.

    Ok. So you definetly need to get the drivers for your motherboard. Here are a couple of sites that might be helpful for you. For more sites/resources online, just perform a search in your favorite search engine on "Identify Motherboard"

    http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Fromshop/mb/det.htm
    http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/moboid1.html
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    I just found this link in another thread. This little utility may do the trick for you. Please, let us know if it works.

    http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
  • edited January 2007
    I just found this link in another thread. This little utility may do the trick for you. Please, let us know if it works.

    http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
    Ok, if it's the mainboard number I need it's ms-6373. Would that be right?
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    Ok, if it's the mainboard number I need it's ms-6373. Would that be right?

    see what you come up w/ in Yahoo or Google w/ that number.
  • edited January 2007
    This http://driverscollection.com/?H=MS-6373&By=Microstar I don't know which one to download though.
  • SPIKE09SPIKE09 Scatland
    edited January 2007
    Hi Paul, Pterocarpous is giving good advice here, in this situation I use Belarc advisor, When you run it, it will display all of your system detail's chipset's etc very handy free tool.
    EDIT insufficient use of spacebar
    http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

    Too SLOW spikey:doh:
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    Ok, if it's the mainboard number I need it's ms-6373. Would that be right?

    I ran a search in Yahoo on "ms-6373". It looks as though your motherboard is manufactured by a company called MSI (Microstar).

    Here's their support page:
    http://www.msicomputer.com/support/TechSupport.asp
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    The drivers are Operating System specific
    If you are running Windows 2000 or a version of Windows XP or Windows Media Center Edition, then the following link is for the drivers download you need
    http://driverscollection.com/?file_id=22012
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    SPIKE09 wrote:
    Hi Paul, Pterocarpous is giving good advice here, in this situation I use Belarc advisor, When you run it, it will display all of your system detail's chipset's etc very handy free tool.
    EDIT insufficient use of spacebar
    http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
    Too SLOW spikey:doh:

    Nice utility SPIKE09. I remember using that one years ago but forgot all about it. Thanx for the reminder! (Gonna download the latest release for myself, too.) :bigggrin:
  • edited January 2007
    The drivers are Operating System specific
    If you are running Windows 2000 or a version of Windows XP or Windows Media Center Edition, then the following link is for the drivers download you need
    http://driverscollection.com/?file_id=22012
    I thought I was getting somewhere! I downloaded all the drivers successfully and I appeared to have my ethernet connection back. However I couldn't repair the connection as it couldn't renew my IP address.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    I thought I was getting somewhere! I downloaded all the drivers successfully and I appeared to have my ethernet connection back. However I couldn't repair the connection as it couldn't renew my IP address.

    Check your adapter's network configuration. Make sure you don't have it configured w/ a Static IP address.

    Unplug your broadband modem's power cord
    Remove the USB cable that was connecting between your computer and the broadband modem
    Connect an ethernet patch cable between the broadband modem and your computer's ethernet port
    After you've done all this, restore power back to the broadband modem (it should've remainded without power for at least 1 minute)

    Then do the following:
    Click on the START button
    Click on RUN
    Type in CMD
    Type verbatim the following: IPCONFIG /RELEASE
    Type verbatim the following: IPCONFIG /RENEW

    Close the command window
    Try your Internet connection again
  • edited January 2007
    Check your adapter's network configuration. Make sure you don't have it configured w/ a Static IP address.

    Unplug your broadband modem's power cord
    Remove the USB cable that was connecting between your computer and the broadband modem
    Connect an ethernet patch cable between the broadband modem and your computer's ethernet port
    After you've done all this, restore power back to the broadband modem (it should've remainded without power for at least 1 minute)

    Then do the following:
    Click on the START button
    Click on RUN
    Type in CMD
    Type verbatim the following: IPCONFIG /RELEASE
    Type verbatim the following: IPCONFIG /RENEW

    Close the command window
    Try your Internet connection again
    It worked! Fantastic! You are mind of information! Remind me to shout you a drink if you visit the UK! Thank you!:smiles: :cool::thumbsup:
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    It worked! Fantastic! You are mind of information! Remind me to shout you a drink if you visit the UK! Thank you!:smiles: :cool::thumbsup:

    :celebrate :cheers:

    Congratulations! You did it! Now you know what to do.

    F.Y.I. Whenever you change the device your broadband modem connects to you must remove power from it for at least one minute (in order to get it to let go and be ready to accept a different device) then restore the power.

    This is true if the "different device" is a router, switch, different computer, even a different NIC on the same computer. Or, in you case, switching from USB network connectivity to ethernet. Still those are different devices ergo the same rule applies.

    :woowoo: :woowoo: Now you're the expert. Return the favor by helping a friend. :thumbsup:
  • edited January 2007
    New problems tonight! My ethernet connection is down again and it looks like something is operating in the background because the cursor always has the timer on! Pterocarpous, I hope you can help me out again!
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    New problems tonight! My ethernet connection is down again and it looks like something is operating in the background because the cursor always has the timer on! Pterocarpous, I hope you can help me out again!
    Hi Paulfcb. If you haven't done so already, please, restart your computer.

    What, if anything (at all) has changed? e.g. new program install or uninstall, hardware installed or removed, power outages or other anomalies that might have caused your computer to shut down or reboot, anything you can think of.

    Does this happen after restarting your computer? or does it happen after trying to open a particular program (including your Internet browser)?
  • edited January 2007
    Hi Paulfcb. If you haven't done so already, please, restart your computer.

    What, if anything (at all) has changed? e.g. new program install or uninstall, hardware installed or removed, power outages or other anomalies that might have caused your computer to shut down or reboot, anything you can think of.

    Does this happen after restarting your computer? or does it happen after trying to open a particular program (including your Internet browser)?
    Nothing has changed! My cursor is just flashing "working in background" continuously! Very strange.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    Nothing has changed! My cursor is just flashing "working in background" continuously! Very strange.
    Ok. Please, try my suggestion in my previous post (post # 18) and post back here letting us know what happens (what you observe). Please, respond to the other questions in post # 18 (+ any other questions others may pose to you) as well. We need your detailed observations in order to be able to assist you in diagnosing the problem.
  • edited January 2007
    I've rebooted the PC and the cursor still shows "working in background" even though nothing is running. I'm confused!
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    I've rebooted the PC and the cursor still shows "working in background" even though nothing is running. I'm confused!
    I know I'm throwing a lot of questions at you, but hang in there, we'll sort this out

    I know this can be tedious but I need you to answer each question I (and others) pose to you.

    (1) What operating system are you running?
    (2) Does this spinning hour glass happen right after you boot into the desktop?
    -OR-
    (3) Does it happen after trying to open an application? (e.g. your Internet browser, etc.)
  • edited January 2007
    After shutting the power down overnight I thought it had cured the problem. No glass spinning when I rebooted the PC. However when I opened up Mozilla Firefox it's started again! I'm running Windows XP.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    After shutting the power down overnight I thought it had cured the problem. No glass spinning when I rebooted the PC. However when I opened up Mozilla Firefox it's started again! I'm running Windows XP.
    Ok. That's very helpful. Thankyou.

    So, the spinning hour glass starts when you attempt to open Mozilla Firefox, yes?

    (1) Does Mozilla Firefox ever eventually open?
    (2) Are you running Mozilla Firefox 2.0? If so, that version of Firefox has a "Safe Mode". Navigate in your Start Menu to the Mozilla Firefox program group and click on the "Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)" icon.
    (3) If the problem persists or if you do not have Mozilla Firefox 2.0, please, try to open Internet Explorer.
    Does Internet Explorer open successfully?
  • edited January 2007
    Just rebooted the PC and the hour glass thing has started straight away even before I open any browsers. A couple of other things - some of the icons in the bottom right hand corner keep continuosly hiding and reappearing again. Also when I navigate through the start menu it sometimes dissappears for no reason at all. I'm trying to provide as much info as I can.
  • edited January 2007
    False alarm! Uninstalled Sky News desktop alerts and it's cured it. Thanks for your time!:respect:
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    False alarm! Uninstalled Sky News desktop alerts and it's cured it. Thanks for your time!:respect:
    Great! Good job figuring that out, Paulcb (and you are most welcome)! :D

    BTW, the area in the lower right had corner of your Desktop (to the right of the Task Bar (where the system clock is located)) is called the System Tray. Any icons you see there represent applications or processes that are running in the background waiting for you to call on them or monitoring some sort of activity. (Not all processes or applications running in the background show up in the System Tray, however.) You can control many of these applications by right-clicking on their respective icons in the System Tray and choosing a selection from the menu that will enable you to either close the application or modify it's options (including whether it is loaded on system startup). This is a good place to start when your system slows down inexplicably or when you are experiencing problems like the one you described. I'll say this, in my experience, 99% of the applications that "want" to run in your system tray are causing unnecessary overhead w/ respect to your computer's resources (memory, CPU, etc.). The majority of these applications can simply be started when you need them, then turned off or closed again.
  • edited January 2007
    Hello again! Once again I've had to reformatt my hard drive. I've gone here http://driverscollection.com/?file_id=22012 to get the ethernet drivers but it won't let me run the downlaod. How come?
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    Hello again! Once again I've had to reformatt my hard drive. I've gone here http://driverscollection.com/?file_id=22012 to get the ethernet drivers but it won't let me run the downlaod. How come?
    What exactly do you mean by "won't let me run the downlaod(sic)"?

    Please, be very detailed when describing issues you are experiencing. Let us know every step that you take and everything that you observe.
  • edited January 2007
    I've clicked to download the file in Firefox. The option to click OK to open with compressed folder is "greyed out". IOW there's no way I can open it.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Paulfcb wrote:
    I've clicked to download the file in Firefox. The option to click OK to open with compressed folder is "greyed out". IOW there's no way I can open it.
    Download it to your hard disk drive first - THEN open it. As a rule, you should never open anything directly off the Internet. Ideally, you should download the file to a location you prefer (e.g. your Desktop), scan it w/ your AV software, THEN open it.
Sign In or Register to comment.