[last]

I've read page after page of this problem being fixed, but none of it is helping me any. My dad just bought a desktop computer running Windows XP (service pack 1) from a previous owner. We have the Reinstallation disk and installed xp immediately when we got it. I connected the cable modem to the new computer and all the lights are lit up (the icon in the taskbar says it's connected but under Activity the packets = 0) but the computer won't connect. In Network Connections it shows 1394 Connection Enabled. I checked the Device Manager and 1394 Net Adapter is shown fine under Net Adapters, but under Other Devices everything has a yellow ? and an exclamation mark. IPCONFIG /all says "windows ip configuration" and that's it.

I don't have any internet connection on the desktop at all and the only CD I have is the OS reinstall cd that says it's not used to reinstall drivers. My wireless internet is working fine and my laptop is running Vista.

Can anyone help? I'm not very computer savvy, so keep that in mind.

Edited by last, 12 January 2010 - 10:30 AM.

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You miss the network card driver and you probably miss some other drivers too. Look for the make and model of the motherboard and download the drivers from the manufacturer's site. If you need help with this write down the make and model and we will help you to find the drivers.

It is very important that you update windows as soon as possible. I would suggest that you download SP-3 from Microsoft, burn it to a disk or copy to flash drive and install on the deskop. I say this because the installation of SP-3 is best done on a freshly installed computer that has no antivirus or other programs that can interfere with the installation.

[The Skeptic]

You miss the network card driver and you probably miss some other drivers too. Look for the make and model of the motherboard and download the drivers from the manufacturer's site. If you need help with this write down the make and model and we will help you to find the drivers.

It is very important that you update windows as soon as possible. I would suggest that you download SP-3 from Microsoft, burn it to a disk or copy to flash drive and install on the deskop. I say this because the installation of SP-3 is best done on a freshly installed computer that has no antivirus or other programs that can interfere with the installation.

[last]

I ran Belarc to find the information and under Main Circuit Board it says
Board: Dell Computer Corp. 0F4491
Serial Number: ..CN48111479033K.
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A10 05/17/2004

And under System Model it says Dell Dimension 4600i

Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU
2.80ghz / 2.79 ghz

Is any of that what I need? This is all way over my head.
_____________________________________________
Network Adapters
- 1395 Net Adapter
Other Devices (yellow ?)
- ethernet controller
- multimedia audio controller
- multimedia audio controller
- PCI simple communications controller
- SM Bus controller
- video controller (VGA compatible)

Edited by last, 13 January 2010 - 01:05 PM.