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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 4:56 PM
Default Issue with Network Adapters and getting on the internet...
Problem in a nutshell:
Can't connect to internet: Network and sharing center does not list any connections being available, despite having an ethernet cable plugged in. Yes, I have tried a different ethernet cable, and yes internet is working properly, I'm still on my laptop using wifi. Yes, I have contacted my ISP, just in case, and all problems are confirmed to be a PC issue and not an issue with my modem or ISP. I was getting error code 10 on my Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller, but have since resolved that and the device is saying it's working properly. I have updated all of my adapters that show in the list (Control Panel: Hardware and Sound: Device Manager: Network Adapters) from realtek/intel for my PC which is Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. I downloaded the updated drivers on my laptop and used my flash drive to put them on my desktop, and also scanned for new hardware. I honestly dont know which adapters are supposed to show in the list, but my boyfriend (grrrrrrr) thinks he deleted an adapter (why? how? I have no freaking clue). When I go to Change Adapter Settings in the control panel, It's just a white screen, there is nothing displayed to be changed. My PC says it cannot find any networking hardware. The comp is a desktop, only a couple years old, and has never given me this problem before.... Usually I can figure out PC problems on my own, but this one is really frustrating me. My tech support (the person I talked to seemed like a total moron) did not give me any help and couldnt/wouldnt give me any advice on what to do to solve the problem and said it was a hardware issue (they didn't even have a clue as to what piece of hardware is having the issue) and to take it to a shop to get it repaired, which would cost me like $200.... that i dont have lol. So if anyone has any ideas what this could be please let me know. My boyfriend and I built the comp ourselves, so we can replace parts ourselves if necessary. I would like to try everything I can on my own before taking it to a shop. I will put up my specs and some screenshots as soon as I can.
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Née whiterider
retired moderator
#2 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 5:13 PM
Is the ethernet cable plugged into the motherboard, or into a separate network card?
Have you tried starting the computer in safe mode with networking to see if it can connect then?

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 5:38 PM
I hope I'm doing this right, 1st time I've uploaded photos on here.... I'm gunna laugh if I do this wrong. I labeled each file for the name of the window that each picture shows. The first 2 show my specs, the other 4 are screenshots of what's going on. All of them are in .png format. The pics that are labeled with "No Networking Hardware" and "Not set up to use connections" are the same window, I was just showing that the Broadband/Dial-up Choices only show up if I check the box that says "show connections this comp is not set up to use". If anyone needs these posted in a diff way/format, let me know and I'll do my best to change it.

Edit: In case it helps for whatever reason, this is my motherboard: ASUS Motherboard P8Z
Screenshots
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 5:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Nysha
Is the ethernet cable plugged into the motherboard, or into a separate network card?
Have you tried starting the computer in safe mode with networking to see if it can connect then?


I have started my comp in safe mode with networking and still have no connections available. And the ethernet is plugged into the motherboard.
Scholar
#5 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 6:09 PM
Is this problem new? When did this issue start?

It does indeed look like your boyfriend somehow deleted the network adapter. How? No clue. First time I've seen this. If you can find out how he did it it may be easier to reverse it. All I can think of at the moment is for you to redownload your motherboard's drivers and reinstall them (did you already do that?).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 6:13 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ajaxsirius
Is this problem new? When did this issue start?


It started 2 days ago - the day before yesterday. I also should mention that I tried doing a system restore, as my CCleaner program makes restore points weekly for me and those end with error codes and failures. I will put up a screenshot of the error code for that if it helps anyone.
Scholar
#7 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 6:16 PM
Quote: Originally posted by steph1417897
It started 2 days ago - the day before yesterday. I also should mention that I tried doing a system restore, as my CCleaner program makes restore points weekly for me and those end with error codes and failures. I will put up a screenshot of the error code for that if it helps anyone.


Try reinstalling your motherboard drivers.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 6:19 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ajaxsirius
It does indeed look like your boyfriend somehow deleted the network adapter. How? No clue. First time I've seen this. If you can find out how he did it it may be easier to reverse it. All I can think of at the moment is for you to redownload your motherboard's drivers and reinstall them (did you already do that?).


These are the drivers I downloaded: Windows 7 LAN drivers, Windows 7 Ethernet/Network Connection Drivers, and the Realtek driver I listed in the OP. Idk what other drivers I would need.... how do I even figure out which drivers I'm supposed to have?? I have interrogated my boyfriend he doesn't even remember what he did... he likes to fiddle with things on the PC that he has no good reason to fiddle with....
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 7:08 PM
I have to leave home for a couple hours, I'll check this thread again when I get back for any more replies. Thanks guys.
Theorist
#10 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 9:41 PM
Might be worth looking for a System Restore point and using it?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 19th Mar 2015 at 10:47 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Mistermook
Might be worth looking for a System Restore point and using it?


Every restore I've tried doing ends with an error code. Everything goes great and as soon as it starts doing it's thing (meaning the loading bar starts moving) within a couple secs it just says "catastrophic failure" and aborts..... not sure what that's about at all. I have about 7 diff restore points between the 11th and 17th of this month and none of them work. To keep my comp from having a ton of restore points, they automatically delete after their like 1-2 weeks old. I'll try it again so I can give you guys the error code it says when I do it.
Theorist
#12 Old 20th Mar 2015 at 1:05 AM
Quote: Originally posted by steph1417897
Every restore I've tried doing ends with an error code.


That could mean there's more going on. Does it do that even when you try to do a System Restore in startup Safe Mode (F8>System Restore)?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 20th Mar 2015 at 7:29 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Mistermook
That could mean there's more going on. Does it do that even when you try to do a System Restore in startup Safe Mode (F8>System Restore)?


I have not tried doing the restore while in safe mode. This might sound stupid, but, I would assume you mean starting the comp in safe mode and once my desktop shows up do a system restore like I usually would from the control panel? Or are you saying that from the screen that allows you to select safe mode, before you even make it to the desktop, that there's a button in there I should be clicking to do the system restore? (in which case I don't recall there being an option on that screen to do a system restore). Does that make sense? lol. If I don't let me know.

I will try everyone's suggestions in the morning and hopefully fix at least one of the problems going on. I'll upload more screenshots as well.
Theorist
#14 Old 20th Mar 2015 at 2:21 PM
Quote: Originally posted by steph1417897
I have not tried doing the restore while in safe mode. This might sound stupid, but, I would assume you mean starting the comp in safe mode and once my desktop shows up do a system restore like I usually would from the control panel? Or are you saying that from the screen that allows you to select safe mode, before you even make it to the desktop, that there's a button in there I should be clicking to do the system restore? (in which case I don't recall there being an option on that screen to do a system restore). Does that make sense? lol. If I don't let me know.

I will try everyone's suggestions in the morning and hopefully fix at least one of the problems going on. I'll upload more screenshots as well.


Well really it's just "have you tried several different angles to coax your computer into sucking it up and performing a system restore." It's possible there's something interfering in system restore, but it's also possible that system restore has been corrupted somehow and you probably want to isolate that because if system restore has been corrupted AND you're missing network drivers it all starts to look like worse things than just deleting drivers.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 20th Mar 2015 at 6:14 PM
These show what happens when I do a system restore when I'm not in safe mode. I get the message "System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed. Details: The specified object was not found. (0x80042308)" I have read a lot about this error code, but there doesn't seem to be a consistent solution, or really any solution.
Screenshots
Theorist
#16 Old 20th Mar 2015 at 11:05 PM
Yeah, you're into magic computer country - where Windows doesn't report well enough or analyze well enough to tell you what's broke.

Do you have Windows disks or something like that you could plug in for a repair install? Because that's pretty much where I think I'd be headed if the computer was my own - migrating anything personal and essential off the boot disk and crossing my fingers that it's not a hardware issue? Trying to track down exactly what an error means at this level makes me want to pull my hair out, so generally I go nuclear, mirror my Documents and such to an external and pull the trigger.

Sorry if that's not entirely helpful. I completely empathize with this sort of thing, but in my opinion you're probably more frustrated by trying to figure it out than just starting to think about killing the disk contents with fire and starting over. Repair installs aren't quite that, but once you've established "can't repair install" (and try to do it two or three times, to be sure, since sometimes I think it says it can't when it means it won't) then I've found it's a lot easier to just "Something screwed up. Time to reinstall or buy a new drive." And really, buying a new drive is probably cheaper than sending it to get fixed. Buying two new drives is probably cheaper than computer repair labor unless you've got a pet IT person to feed cookies and beer to.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#17 Old 22nd Mar 2015 at 7:46 AM
I'm not too fearful since my comp is running okay w/o lag or anything, there seems to be a lot of things I can still try, it's just tedious to try all these things, especially if I've never done them before and not knowing if what I try will work for sure or not. Worse comes to worse, I can do a complete reinstall of windows, etc. If that doesn't work I'll probably freak out for a little while, lol; then send it in to get fixed. If anyone thinks of anything that might help, let me know, I'll check this thread periodically from here on out. Here's what I've ruled out/tried thus far:
- is not a modem/ISP issue
- is not hard drive issue (from what I can tell)
- motherboard drivers are up to date
- network adapters up to date
- system restore
- system restore failure is not virus related
- CCleaner not allowing system update preferences to be active/program uninstall
- no viruses present
- and have tried everything suggested in above posts ^

Things to still try:
- re-establish IP address
- update LAN settings (once/if available)
- repeatedly punch self in face until new thoughts occur

My main goal at this moment is getting back online so I can have the tech-support I subscribe to try to fix the other issues. Btw, Asus P8Z Motherboard Geforce 980 Driver Download for Nvidia experience will auto update and override Geforce 670 GTX GPU and overclock, overheating both GPU and CPU, which is why I thought it may have been a virus at first. Uninstalled dormant 980 drivers, 670 currently running clean w/o overheating.

Thanks everyone for the feedback/suggestions, please PM me, or @ me w/new ideas so I see them.
Former Hamster
retired moderator
#18 Old 22nd Mar 2015 at 8:00 AM
One thing you may want to do - run your antivirus program in safe mode. If you've got MalwareBytes, run that too. (And if you don't have it, get it. It's definitely good to have and the free version is good enough.)
I say to do this because I was having problems with my internet connection. I had ran Avast and MalwareBytes and nothing came up. After I ran them in safe mode, it turned out there was something there that wasn't caught before. Got rid of it and my internet connection has been fine since.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#19 Old 22nd Mar 2015 at 8:29 AM
Quote: Originally posted by mustluvcatz
One thing you may want to do - run your antivirus program in safe mode. If you've got MalwareBytes, run that too. (And if you don't have it, get it. It's definitely good to have and the free version is good enough.)
I say to do this because I was having problems with my internet connection. I had ran Avast and MalwareBytes and nothing came up. After I ran them in safe mode, it turned out there was something there that wasn't caught before. Got rid of it and my internet connection has been fine since.


Yay! At this point I get an overwhelming feeling of joy when I hear something I haven't tried, lol. I will do that 1st thing in the morning, thanks
 
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