[mcgsxr]

I would have thought myself a relatively competent user of technology - I have setup my own wireless network, have reloaded XP Pro to my desktop before, and always was able to get everything going again.

I recently bought a used Dell 5150 laptop.  It had been wiped of OS.  I don't have the original Dell discs, nor any discs with drivers etc.

I tried to load several distributions of Linux, but ultimately failed as the graphics card is not supported out of the box.

So, back to XP Pro.  Have it loaded, but for the life of me cannot get either the ethernet card or Trendnet PCI Wireless card to work (TEW-421PC).

I have no idea why not.

Help?

Let's focus on the ethernet card.  Both lights come on when I plug in the RJ45 to my router, but I cannot connect to the internet.

Can someone please advise?

Thanks guys,

[bpape]

Are you getting an IP address on your network?  Can you ping the router in your home? 

Bryan

[ebag4]

As I recall service pack 2 added software that made networking easier to configure, have you loaded SP2?

[bpape]

The other thing is that on laptops, many times there is a hard button you have to turn on to enable networking - at least wireless.

Bryan

[mcgsxr]

SP2 installed, according to the System information.

I am focused on Wired connection first, then we can play with wireless.

When plugged into my router, I cannot ping my router IP address.

I do have yellow ? next to Ethernet controller, but I also have a green installed network adapter - I suspect this could be the issue.  The installed is called 1394 Net Adapter.

Thanks for helping me through this guys,

[mizzuno]

go into a command line (run "cmd") and at the prompt type "ipconfig /all" make sure you are getting an ip address. You can also force the dhcp server in your router to assign you an ip address, try the following if you are having issues getting an ip address "ipconfig /release" then "ipconfig /renew" this should release and ask for an ip renewal.

Michael

[JRace]

Have you tried connecting directly to the modem?
Make sure you can get connected without the router first...then we can work on getting the router and the laptop to play nice.

[Rashiki]

I do have yellow ? next to Ethernet controller, but I also have a green installed network adapter - I suspect this could be the issue.  The installed is called 1394 Net Adapter.

That's part of your problem. The 1394 network adapter is not an ethernet connector -- it's for communicating between computers that are hooked together over a firewire connection. It looks like you need to find a better driver for your ethernet controller. The yellow indicates that there's a problem getting the driver up and running, so you'll need to fix that first.

[mcgsxr]

OK, found an updated driver, and now have an IP via cmd line ipconfig.

Next step to connect to the Net again?

[mcgsxr]

OK, able to connect to Net again.

Will now focus on Wireless, so my wife can use the darn thing!

I tried in the past to get it up and running, but was missing the install cd. 

I downloaded the drivers, and installed and ran the utility.  Next step is to reboot with the card plugged in.

When I do that, the s/w asks for the original cd-rom, which I don't have...

This would appear to be the time that it sorts out that I am using XP, and chooses the relevant driver and installs it.

Any advice on this one?

Thanks for all your help so far,

Mark

[mcgsxr]

Final update - SUCCESS!

I was able to get the wireless working, and just today (!) finally got the correct video driver downloaded - lots of wrong ones out there in the world I guess - plus, had to install .NET 2.0 to get the driver to work.

Was worth pursuing, now the kids have their own unit, and can play online games (Treehouse) when they want, and not pester me on my work PC.

My wife can also use it for surfing, without having to go upstairs to the desktop - though she still does, just to get away from the kids!

Thanks for all the help and patience guys,

[Bob in St. Louis]

Congratulations Mark. It is nice for each family member to have their own PC.
I just recently joined that club too. Very nice indeed.  aa

Bob