Sooo... ummm... help?

[CivBase]

You probably haven't been wondering why I haven't been on lately.  Well, my internet has been doing backflips lately.  First, my (well, my parents') laptop lost connection to the internet.  After a little searching on my dad's work computer, we found the net password and put it in.  Everything connected back up... but IE is not working at all.  It says all of the pages cannot be found; I suspect a virus, as everything else works and I know for a fact that that computer is messed up.

So... not too bad, right?  Well, when we reconnected the laptop, my computer lost connection.  Well, it didn't loose connection, it just said "acquiring network address" and would never actually connect.  So, I googled the problem on my dad's work computer and I found a site that told me to uinstall and reinstall my ethernet adapter.  So, I went into the device manager and uninstalled what I thought was the ethernet adapter... but now I'm not so sure.  I don't know what to reinstall either, so it was really an extremely dumb move on my part.

Here is what I have left for network adapters:

• 1394 Net Adapter
• Direct Parallel
• Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
• Inetl(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport
• Linksys Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster v2 - Packet Scheduler Miniport
• NETGEAR FA312 Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packed Scheduler Miniport
• WAN Miniport (IP)
• WAN Miniport (IP) - Packet Scheduler Miniport
• WAN Miniport (L2TP)
• WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
• WAN Miniport (PPTP)

And under other devices, it has "Network Controller" with an exclamation point in a yellow circle on it.  I know nothing about internet, so I have no idea what device I'm missing.  If anyone else knows, that'd be great to have that info.

I tried moving Firefox from my computer to the laptop via jump drive and it worked, but that's about the only positive thing I can think of.

If you can't help, sorry for wasting your time.  If you can and do, thx!  If you can and don't... jerk.

[ScarleTomato]

you said you were able to connect but not browse the internet? Try pinging google.com on the laptop and see if you can get a response. If you can the laptops problem is with the browser.

my first guess is that it has something to do with your router. try unplugging it for ten seconds and reboot your computers and see if things start magically working again.

is your desktop wireless?

[Axeminister]

Usually when you have a messege telling you "aquiring network address" and it never seems to stop doing this, then your firewall is blocking access. Try unhooking your internet connection cable then reboot your pc. Then turn off the firewalls and rehook  the internet connection cable, follow the prompts.
If you uninstalled something important then when you reboot it will say the device manager has detected a new device and will ask if you want to install it.

[Nielk1]

Grab another browser and tell us if that works. You can grab a 'portable' browser that doesn't need to be installed and can run off a thumb drive.

[CivBase]

you said you were able to connect but not browse the internet? Try pinging google.com on the laptop and see if you can get a response. If you can the laptops problem is with the browser.

Firefox, email, and WLM work fine, so I'm positive that it's the browser.  I'm even posting from the laptop right now using Firefox.

is your desktop wireless?

Yes

If you uninstalled something important then when you reboot it will say the device manager has detected a new device and will ask if you want to install it.

I've seen nothing so far.

Grab another browser and tell us if that works. You can grab a 'portable' browser that doesn't need to be installed and can run off a thumb drive.

Well, once I got Firefox up on my jump drive, I used it to install Firefox onto the computer, so it's now the computer's official browser and works without the jump drive.

my first guess is that it has something to do with your router. try unplugging it for ten seconds and reboot your computers and see if things start magically working again.

Usually when you have a messege telling you "aquiring network address" and it never seems to stop doing this, then your firewall is blocking access. Try unhooking your internet connection cable then reboot your pc. Then turn off the firewalls and rehook  the internet connection cable, follow the prompts.

Well, my problem with this is that my computer doesn't even detect that there is an internet connection.  My network that linked to the internet was deleted when I uninstalled whatever it was and no matter what I've tried, I cannot get it back.  How can I make my computer search for an internet connection?

[ScarleTomato]

well i don't know what is was that you uninstalled, but i would hazard a guess that the "Linksys Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster v2 - Packet Scheduler Miniport" is your active network adapter. Uninstall it and if the card is still in the computer it should automatically detect it when you reboot. if not goto control panel -> add new hardware and follow the wizard

NETGEAR FA312 Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packed Scheduler Miniport could also be the one you're using. In your shoes id just uninstall both of then and see if they come back.

also do you know if you were using the windows wireless management software or a third party program?

[Nielk1]

My IE often has a white page that goes 'donk' if you click it. I have to start several IE instances before I run steam to ensure Steam's Embedded IE is right. Its just bad settings since its crappily made (in my case).

[CivBase]

My IE often has a white page that goes 'donk' if you click it. I have to start several IE instances before I run steam to ensure Steam's Embedded IE is right. Its just bad settings since its crappily made (in my case).

Well, it says it can't load the page and that it has no internet connection... but I do have internet connection.

And I'm kinda hesitant to uninstall both of those networks... I know my router is a Linxy's brand (WRT54G Wireless Broadband) and my modem is RCA (Broadband... but I don't know what specific model).  I'd go with Linxy's being what I want, but I tried putting the CD in to "install" the router (to check to see if I could reinstall it afterward) and it said I couldn't do it without an internet connection.  Like I said, My Network Places doesn't even say that I have an internet connection.

[CivBase]

So... how do I create an internet connection?

[Red Devil]

Start/Control Panel/Network Connections/New Connection Wizard

[Nielk1]

Although that will do NOTHING for a case where only one browser has an issue.

[CivBase]

I've tried the connection wizard, and it doesn't set up a connection.

Next > Connect to the Internet > Choose from a list of Internet service providers (ISPs) > Finish

It pulls up a window that's labeled Online Services and all that's available in it are "Refer me to more Internet Service Providers" and "Use MSN Explorer to sign up for Internet Access (US only)"

I don't want MSN, and the referral thing doesn't work no matter what I do in it.

I suck royally at everything related to networking... am I doing something wrong?  Am I missing something along the way?

No, my browser does not have an issue.  The fact that I don't even have an internet connection is the issue.

[Nielk1]

Firefox, email, and WLM work fine, so I'm positive that it's the browser.  I'm even posting from the laptop right now using Firefox.

You clearly HAVE an internet connection.

[CivBase]

Oh...

Well... that problem was resolved already.

I'm talking about my computer, not the laptop.

My bad.

Anywho, if it helps, I can't even search for wireless networks.  My problem isn't connecting, my problem is setting my computer up so that it searches for a connection.

[Red Devil]

Choose Set Up My Connection Manually instead of Choose from a list of Internet service providers (ISPs).