missing network adapter (a/k/a geek squad woes)

[terryZ]

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?

[Midknyte]

did you check the bios and make sure that the nic is enabled?

[terryZ]

did you check the bios and make sure that the nic is enabled?

no, i haven't. how do i do that?

[Midknyte]

When you first power up the system, you need to hit f1, f2, or whatever the prompt tells you to get into the "system setup".

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERB...614faq42.shtml

Q: How do I enter the BIOS setup utility?

A:
When the computer is turned off:

Turn on the computer and immediately press either the F1 key or the F2 key at one-second intervals to enter the BIOS setup utility.

When the computer is running:

Restart the computer. As soon as the computer begins to restart, press either the F1 key or the F2 key at one-second intervals to enter the BIOS setup utility.

A specific model number would help. Q6600 is the processor, not the system model number.

[terryZ]

A specific model number would help. Q6600 is the processor, not the system model number.

thanks.

model is FX7024.

[terryZ]

i looked in the bios ... LAN is set to enable.

seems there is a "ethernet adapter" icon under "other in the device driver. with a yellow !

but when i try to "update driver" for it, it starts searching my documents folder. nothing there for it.

*sigh*

[photolady]

Did you get another disk that might have the driver on a driver cd? If not, then check Gateway for drivers, not windows.

[Midknyte]

Intel PRO/100, PRO/1000, PRO/10GbE Network Adapter Drivers - 32-bit

Supported Computers and Parts: Gateway FX7024 Desktop Computer [Part #1015229R]

http://support.gateway.com/support/d...&uid=233082334

For some reason, I only see a 32-bit vista driver on their site. Did you upgrade to 64-bit?

If so, you'll have to go to the Intel site and download the 64-bit drivers. Something like these:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filt...=159&submit=Go!

[terryZ]

Did you get another disk that might have the driver on a driver cd? If not, then check Gateway for drivers, not windows.

unfortunately, no. there was only the operating systems disc. no separate driver disk. i wish there were. i dl and installed a video driver from nvidia with no problem (pc has nvidia 8800 card). i have NO idea why the network adapter driver is not in windows already.

http://support.gateway.com/support/d...&uid=233082334

For some reason, I only see a 32-bit vista driver on their site. Did you upgrade to 64-bit?

no, my new machine is 64 (reflected in my signature) .. the old one - the one that was repaired - is 32. sorry for the confusion.

i did find this file on gateway:
D20157-001-003.exe

and these instructions:
1. From the Start menu, in the Start Search field, type: C:\Cabs\D20157-001-003\preinstall.cmd, and then press ENTER.
2. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Allow/Continue.
3. Follow all onscreen instructions to complete the installation.

if this sounds reasonable, i'll try this tonight when i get home.

btw> thanks for all this help.

[terryZ]

IT WORKS!

thanks all soooooooooooooooo much.

currently updating windows.