Empty Screen Network Connections (Control Panel)

[Metr01973]

Hi, I wonder if someone can help me as this problem is causing me MAJOR headaches, lol. A freind of mine asked me if I could fix her computer for her which I did and to cut a long story short it involved me doing a repair installation of Windows XP Home Edition (Genuine but no service pack installed). I upgraded her RAM to 768mb and everything was working fine. She picked up her computer on Saturday and as she's dosen't know anytihng about computers (she was turning off the computer by pressing the power button and not going to start etc, no wonder Windows was so broken) so I said I would give her and her husaband a hand reconnecting all the cables and BT Broadband. Now this is where the problem lies, after reconnecting all the cables for their BT wireless 2091 router (the computer I fixed is wired and their laptop is wireless) I cannot get the router or the computer to "talk" to each other but their laptop can connect by wireless and uses the router to connect to the internet so I know that the connection is fine. Now in the device manager under network adapters the following is listed -
The BT router (sorry I can't remember the proper name, I'm at home now)
MAC bridge mini port
family ethernet ?? (again I'm sorry for such a vauge description)

The computer reconizes that there is a router plugged in but when I try to connect to the internet, nothing. So I went to control panel/network connections and the screen where all the connections should be listed is completely blank. Surely there should be something in there or am I completely wrong, also I see that alot of machines have something called a 1394 net adapter, is this a driver that somehow went "missing" when I repaired Windows and would downloading it and reinstalling it on that computer make a difference? btw they tried to contact BT but they were useless, they tried resetting the router, turning it on and off, uninstalling and reinstalling the BT package/drivers, setting up a network connection via control panel, plugging it in via USB and ethernet but nothing.
Here's the computer that they have (RAM is now 768mb), I hope someone can help, they are driving me crazy phoning me every 2 mins and I'm not even getting paid for it (friends, eh), lol.
http://www.packardbell.co.uk/products/at-home/desktops/imedia/imedia-5064/productsheet-P700401801-46.html

[bAdWaYz]

It really sounds like to me that when you did the repair install of Windows it pooched the drivers for the NIC. The 1394 net adapter is a firewire port thats always going to be there don't worry about it as you more than likely won't need it and it isn't hurting anything by being there. I can see by the link you provided that the computer uses the SiS 650 chipset. It wouldn't be a bad idea to find the chipset drivers on the net and install them. It might also be a good idea to find the drivers for network adapter itself and install those. You don't really have to install drivers for a router unless its a USB router then you may need to install the drivers that came with it. If its not a usb router then install the chipset drivers and the network adapter drivers and I'll bet your problems will be over.

[Metr01973]

Thanks for such a quick response. Do you mean the drivers on the packard bell site I've listed below. If so, could I be really cheeky and ask you to list the ones you reckon I need to download and install, thanks. Sorry one last question, shall I unplug the router, install the drivers, restart and then plug the router back in. Also shall I use USB or ethernet or doesn't it really matter.

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/?pn=P700401801&g=2000 - I'm sorry if I'm being stupid and not making much sense but I'm really tired.

[bAdWaYz]

First of thanks for the link but that site really doesn't list the drivers you need. Go HERE (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/download/file/everest-home-edition) download Everst Home Ed onto a key or floppy then install it on the packbell computer. Once its installed take a look at the network devices list and post what it tells you in here. Also post what it comes up with for chipset. As for the router will that just depends what sort of internet connection do these folks have? If the modem has a ethernet port then its best to use it to connect to the computers ethernet port. USB isn't all that great for networking and if ethernet is there I'd go with it. Having said that if you use the ethernet option on the router then you wouldn't need to bother with drivers for it.

[Metr01973]

Sorry for the delay in posting back. After a good nights sleep I DL everest home and ran it on the packard bell and found the right the chipset, installed it but nothing. So after thinking what I had tried and what I hadn't tried, I realized that I hadn't uninstalled and reinstalled the driver and after that, everything sprang into life, lol. The first thing that happened was BT broadband help desk updated itself and then M$ decided to update itself and that's where it all went wrong. It updated and told me restart, so I did. It rebooted, got to the Windows splash screen with the moving bar, then click off it went and rebooted itself. If you left it alone it would keep doing this over and over like it was stuck in a loop, it wouldn't even boot into safe mode, nothing! So I created a boot CD - http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm and booted up from that and managed to salvage my friends photos, documents etc and burn them to CD. I then decided enough was enough and formatted the computer and started again. Everything is now back up and working (including the internet etc via ethernet cable) so all I've got to do now is take it back to her house, rig it up and give her a "crash" course in how to use and turn off a computer. Bloody M$ really do my head in, lol but I think the OS was so broken that the repair installation that I did obviously didn't fix all the problems. anyway bAdWaYz many thanks for the response you jogged my memory into action, lol.

[bAdWaYz]

Anytime Metr0 glad to hear you got things worked out. Sometimes the easy thing to do is start from scratch. When the windows file system goes belly up about the best thing to do is a reinstall. Just be sure to charge for the extra time it took to put everything back together.

[Metr01973]

I spoke to her and her husband yesterday and they bought me 2 tickets to see my favourite rugby team play (Leicester Tigers, £22 per ticket) and they also gave me £20. So in all not bad really considering I wasn't expecting anything. Plus the Tigers tickets can be really hard to get hold of, his younger brother plays scrum-half for the Tigers and England so after some name dropping he managed to get them, lol. Even his own brother only gets 2 tickets per game and they go to his parents I think. Once again many thanks for the responses.