Member Avatar for ryan_larue

hi, im new to daniweb but i dont know were else to turn

I have posted this same thread on intels community and 200 veiws later, no one has gotten back to me with any possible solution.


last month i had given my friend a Gateway 500x desktop computer as an upgrade from there windows ME machine

I have restored this computer multiple times and this is the first time i have ever had this issue

before i gave it to him, i did a complete system restore loading Win XP media center edition along with complete updated drivers, everything was working just fine. now i go and hook it up and the internet wont work. i tryed to reinstall the driver and do manual connections and it still wouldnt work. after i did all of that, the motherboard wont reconize the DVD/CD drives or any other accesory. at this point the ethernet port has completely vanished from the system so i did another clean install. the problem is still there!! it is extremly frustrating and at this point i do not know what to do.


what i think is it could be a potential BIOS problem


i have replaced the motherboard and processor about 4 years ago


specs are:


Intel Celron D 2.6 GHz

El Paso motherboard? (i dont know exactly, its the most common)

768 Mb of RAM

windows XP Pro 32-bit

80 Gb ATA Hard Drive


i would really like to know how to resolve this problem

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Dani AI

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With BIOS back to reporting onboard devices (per ), focus on isolating Windows/driver problems from a failing NIC or cabling. The steps below are concise, ordered, and aimed at producing definitive evidence one way or the other.

Start with the physical/network basics: verify link/activity LEDs on the PC and on the modem/router, swap the Ethernet cable and try a different router/modem port or a direct modem connection, and check a second known-working PC on the same cable/port. If a working machine gets an address and normal Internet, DHCP/routing is likely fine.

Check Windows next: look in Device Manager for the Intel adapter (or any “Unknown device”). If it’s listed with an error, right-click → uninstall (choose to delete driver files if offered), reboot, and reinstall the correct vendor driver obtained from Gateway or Intel (transfer installer with USB if this PC is offline). If the adapter isn’t listed at all, that points toward hardware/BIOS or deeper driver stack trouble.

Reset the TCP/IP stack and test DHCP with these commands, then reboot:

ipconfig /all
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
netsh winsock reset
ping 8.8.8.8

If DHCP still fails, temporarily assign a manual IP in the same subnet as the working machine (increment the host octet so there’s no address conflict), set the gateway to the router IP, and test connectivity.

To fully separate OS vs hardware, boot a Linux live CD/USB or a diagnostic boot disk and test networking there. If the adapter is absent or still nonfunctional outside Windows, the onboard NIC or motherboard traces are suspect — a cheap PCI or USB Ethernet adapter will quickly confirm that. Note: switching Windows editions (MCE vs Pro) rarely fixes disappearing adapters; concentrate on drivers, BIOS integrated-LAN enablement, and hardware substitution.

Agreeing with , mimicking a working PC’s network settings is a fast test. Contrary to , the XP edition itself is unlikely to be the root cause.

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Member Avatar for rch1231

First I would check the BIOS setup and see what it is seeing. If the BIOS setup (CMOS) is seeing the CD ROM and other items then look for an option to "Reset Configuration data" in the section that has the PCI IRQ settings and set it to YES. When you reboot it will return to NO after a clean boo to the OS. Let me know what happens.

Member Avatar for ryan_larue

ok good news, the BIOS problem is fixed, everything is there that needs to be and its booting properly

new problem, it is not connecting to the internet still
the port says its connected with "100 mbps" and its "limited or no connectivity". I tryed the repair feature, didnt work, i used CP and the ipconfig line; the default gateway was blank. the internet provider is still giving them service.

could this be an authentication issue or a port configuration problem?

Member Avatar for rch1231

Did you reset the local modem or gateway. Check for link light on network port and on modem/gateway. If no link light check or replace cable. IF there is another computer find out what it's settings are and mimic them adding 1 to the ip address it has (i.e. if the other computer is use for the address on this computer) and the same gateway and netmask.

Member Avatar for zxor 2

you should have used xp home or professional this is the reason why....when xp Media Center Edition it was released ad a multimedia software...different from the xp home and professional ..It is an xp but this is designed to use with different devices not connected to our systems today......you should wipe the entire harddrive clean and yes the mirror as well and install a new xp home or pro this time...
find the divers from gateway for the modell no and serial no that will tell you what you will need.. and one other thing ..according to the stats you gave u need at leas 2 GB of disk space to use XP and bump up the ram to at least 1 GB for better performance

Edited by zxor 2 because: n/a
Member Avatar for ryan_larue

XP media center edition is XP pro with a media center on it, thats the only difference. plus they do alot of multimedia stuff and thats why i loaded XP media center

the RAM is max out, if i add more to the motherboard, problems WILL occur

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