missing network adapter (a/k/a geek squad woes)
to make a very long story as short as I can …
i have a gateway q6600 desktop running vista home premium with a nvidia 8000 card. 1-1/2 years old. bought from best buy. also bought a 2 year geek squad warranty still in effect.
5-3-09. was playing wow. major artifacts. eventually pc died. took it into geek squad at best buy that afternoon. first thing they said is it's probably the drive. (i'm no pc expert but my first thought was graphics card. w/e.). they said they would have to send it to the national service center since they don't do any repairs locally.
5-5 pc shipped from my local store. 5-7 pc received at national center. 5-13 pc repaired (grahics card and motherboard replaced) and shipped back. 5-15 pc back at local store. 5-16 i pick up the pc and bring it home. almost two weeks without it - which caused me to go into wow- and sl-withdrawal and then to microcenter and buy a new pc (see my signature).
fire up the repaired pc. windows says it can't start and needs to repair. one hour later, windows gives up. repair not possible. i call geek squad. they tell me (as i can see on the repair ticket) that the system was booted up three times (i wonder if "boot up" means to the desktop or simply to the initial splash screen). they say maybe it's the hard drive (is that the only diagnosis they ever offer?). conversation ends.
i have the operating systems disc that came with the pc. i install windows. all seems fine.
EXCEPT ....
there is no network adapter in the hardware device listing. everything else is there .. monitor, sound, etc. just no network adapter.
i am wondering if there is something that i can do to remedy this before i'm forced to return it again to best buy (be aware that is it a $10 cab ride to best buy - each way - since i don't have a car),
when i plug my network cable into the pc, the slot lights up. so i know there is power there. updating the driver is a moot point since windows doesn't see the adapter itself at all.
the only thing i found through google is the possibility that there is a motherboard driver that needs to be installed. i have no idea how i would do that.
any suggestions?
