reformat or buy new computer?

[karatelovr]

I've tried everything I know and searched all kinds of message boards and talked to all kinds of tech support people on the phone. I still cannot connect to the internet. The NIC and the modem are coming up under "Unknown" with a yellow exclaimation mark.

Someone on another board (who had the same issue) did an FDisk and reloaded. My question is, should I bother attempting this on a 3 year old computer? I've always run Windows XP, but I can't imagine all the updates that I would have to d/l if I restored using my original factory XP disk. Not to mention, everything else works fine right now, music, games, word processing, Excel - I would hate to do all this work and not gain anything (ie, still not get the NIC to connect).

Also, if I do decided to reformat, are there any good articles out there for non computer people that will walk me through the process?

[caperjack]

I've tried everything I know and searched all kinds of message boards and talked to all kinds of tech support people on the phone. I still cannot connect to the internet. The NIC and the modem are coming up under "Unknown" with a yellow exclaimation mark.

Someone on another board (who had the same issue) did an FDisk and reloaded. My question is, should I bother attempting this on a 3 year old computer? I've always run Windows XP, but I can't imagine all the updates that I would have to d/l if I restored using my original factory XP disk. Not to mention, everything else works fine right now, music, games, word processing, Excel - I would hate to do all this work and not gain anything (ie, still not get the NIC to connect).

Also, if I do decided to reformat, are there any good articles out there for non computer people that will walk me through the process?

can't answer you question on to format or leave it the way it is that would hwve eto be your decision .
as for if the nic /modem will it work after format ,it won't if its broke now ,but it most likely will ,if it not working now because of spyware /trojans /or a virus .
have you tried in device manager right clicking on the nic and modem and deleting them and rebooting and let windows reinstall drivers .

[karatelovr]

Yup, also tried installing drivers that I had downloaded off their website (burned a cd while at work). The computer knows the name of the card (Intel Pro 100+ Management Adapter) but puts it under the category "unknown" with a yellow exclaimation point. The WAN Miniport (ATW) does this as well (aol's version of adapater). My system is clean in the way of viruses and spyware. All I did was move my comptuer from one room to another and now it doesn't work. :cry:

[Thong_Ispector]

Just a thought...

Spend $10 and buy a New Network Card with drivers you know will work...

[caperjack]

Yup, also tried installing drivers that I had downloaded off their website (burned a cd while at work). The computer knows the name of the card (Intel Pro 100+ Management Adapter) but puts it under the category "unknown" with a yellow exclaimation point. The WAN Miniport (ATW) does this as well (aol's version of adapater). My system is clean in the way of viruses and spyware. All I did was move my comptuer from one room to another and now it doesn't work. :cry:

I agree with ThongInspector , it seems to be a matter of the wrong drivers or even a dead nic card .they do give up the ghost like all computer parts .

also the title of you post ,reformat or buy a new computer ! not really a good reason to buy a new computer ,unless that is someone else is going to buy it for you !lol then any excuse is a good one .:)

[karatelovr]

I agree with ThongInspector , it seems to be a matter of the wrong drivers or even a dead nic card .they do give up the ghost like all computer parts .

also the title of you post ,reformat or buy a new computer ! not really a good reason to buy a new computer ,unless that is someone else is going to buy it for you !lol then any excuse is a good one .:)

I went ahead with the reformat (although I did try a new NIC first - still same problem, the computer knows the name of the device but puts it under "unknown" and with a conflict.

The problem I'm having now is trying to d/l SP2 without getting a virus and spyware. I run AdAware and Spybot every 5 minutes and it finds hundreds of things. My antivirus software is McAfee and it came from AOL - I can't d/l that right now either. I had to reformat twice b/c of all these probs. The last time I d/l ZoneAlarm first thing and that seems to be working ok.

[caperjack]

before any format you should always aquire the neede software and drivers first .hard to do i know if your computer isn't working right! some options if avaible in you area
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/ballew_04sept20.mspx

[karatelovr]

before any format you should always aquire the neede software and drivers first .hard to do i know if your computer isn't working right! some options if avaible in you area http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/ballew_04sept20.mspx

Thanks for the info! I didn't know that about the service centers. I'm actually considering buying my next computer from Best Buy b/c of their service center - although I like Dells a lot and I rarely have serious issues. Problem is, nearest BB is about 45 minutes and lugging around a tower is never fun :confused: Good to know I have the option though!

[dlh6213]

Apparently you've already figured out how to reinstall XP, but I'm going to include a link here for complete instructions in case anyone else reads this thread and needs to know:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread6632.html

It may help to read this thread as well:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread16365.html