Funny how this happens after my folks finally decide to turn off the surgeprotector instead of shutting down the PC properly.
Basically each and every driver under the "Network Adaptors" section of the Device Manager have Code31'ed on the PC. For those who don't know, Code 31 is the code for "Can't load Drivers".
Every driver is in it's proper place and up to date. Assistance please, and not sarcastic remarks. (for those wondering, i'm currently using my Dad's laptop as he asked me to set it up for use of our router. Obviously, mission accomplished.)
:Update: I was able to get my Router Adaptor Reinstalled, so I can now get back on wirelessly. However, I can't find the disc for the other drivers, so atm they are still "broken".
OS?
Windows Vista, (note the Problems&Solutions programs was NO HELP AT ALL, and when I tried to reinstall the drivers via the built-in "Search for drivers online" bit, it was unable to reinstall due to missing files... but it forgot to list the missing files.)
vista = fail
Disk dfrag then restart pc two or thrre times. If that don't work uninstall the Network card let windows find the device and drivers when you restart again.
Killing the drivers first might let them install again instead of trying to install while they are still in but broken.
NIC might be fried.
I am going with what Red Devil said. Based on the first sentence in this topic, that sounds like that could be a problem right now.
Now realizing you edited this topic since the first time I read it, you may just forget what I just said.
Just look up the model number online, you can find the drivers easily.
Well, its possible but not likely for a power spike to go through your ethernet cable. But if it happened then it might just have killed your NIC (network adapter).
I would suggest first finding out whether your NIC is dead or whether its just an OS problem. You can do that by burning a linux LiveCD such as ubuntu and trying to boot into that instead. If networking works right out of the box, then that means that its almost certainly a software problem.
You COULD also try and reseat your NIC (assuming it's not built into the motherboard), it might help, though its unlikely. Another thing you could try and do is use the WIN+Pause/Break hotkey combo, and then go into device manager, and see if any of your devices there pertaining to networking have an exclamation point or other warning symbol next to them. You can then try uninstalling them from there, rebooting, and see if everything reinstalls properly upon bootup.
Um, Zero, it was the Device Manager from which I found out that the drivers could not load... However, good enough advice. ;)
Thank you for that informative post. It makes things much easier.
*leaves thread* :-P