No LAN

Help - our kind neighbours have given us a 5 year old Dell computer for the kids to use. I have attached an ethernet cable from the back of this machine to my D-Link wireless router but after calling Bigpond & D-Link have been told there is no LAN on the computer for us to connect to. I have no idea what they are talking about and from what I can see the computer has been reverted back to a basic computer. I have installed XP students home edition. Please help Sue

Hi upthebunnies, and welcome to the WTT forums. Sorry to hear of the problem with your computer and its failure to connect to the Internet.
There will be a number of steps that we need to go through to see if its a hardware error (an electrical or mechanical failure in part of your computer,) or a software/operating system error.
Please work through the foillowing steps:
1 Click on Start
2 Click on Control Panel
3 Click on Network Connections
There should be an entry that refers to a LAN, it should read something like "High Speed Local Area Network" and should say "Enabled" (If it says "disabled" then please right click on "Local Area Connection" and click "Enable"
Please confirm that you have an entry like that, and if not please copy out on a piece of paper all on that page and type it into your next reply.
4 Next make sure your Ethernet cable is securely connected to the Ethernet port on your computer (it should push in with a positive click) and the other end into either port 1,2,3 or 4 on your D link ( it doesn't matter which…. ) but make sure you get that positive click, perform the following >
5 Click on Start
6 Click on Run
7 type in the white box

cmd /c "ipconfig /all > postme.txt & ping bbc.co.uk >> postme.txt & notepad postme.txt & del postme.txt"

Note the command I have given above needs to be accurately performed (otherwise it won't work… ) an easy way to make sure you do this correctly is to highlight it all in my post ( make sure you highlight it all including the last inverted commas and press down the Ctrl key and at the same time press c (Ctrl+c) this will copy it (although nothing will seem to happen…)
Then click once in the white box ( that wil open after step 6 above) so your curser is flashing at the extreme left edge and then use (Ctrl+v) that is to say hold down the Ctrl key and at the same time press v
When you click on OK a notepad window will open with the technical details that I need from you, (maximise it so its easier to see) then please highlight all the text in the window and press (Ctrl+c) and then in your reply in this topic use (Ctrl+v) to past it in.

Hopefully this will help me determine the next steps
Regards
paws

Hi Paws, Thanks for the prompt reply. I can respond as follows: There is nothing in the folder at all when I go into Network Connections. My ethernet cable is in correctly, the lights are on both ends re the d-link & back of computer when plugged in. I typed the details in RUN & the following reply was given: Windows IP Configuration Ping request could not find host bbc.co.uk. Please check the name & try again. Hope this makes sense? Many thanks Sue

Hi Sue, if that is all you got then its likely that your computer has not been fitted with a network ( ethernet facility) its unusual but not impossible. This means that the hardware does not support connection to the Internet this way. To make doubly sure,and to check its not something unusual like Windows not having Networking included in the initial setup please follow these steps: 1 Click on Start 2 Right click on My Computer 3 Click on Properties 4 Click on Hardware 5 Click on Device Manager 6 On the list of devices present on your machine look for: Network adapters If you can find an entry for this then click on the +sign to the left of it and copy out the details and post them back to me If you don't have an entry for Network Adapters then it means we need to check if Windows has installed Networking on this computer, so you will need to do this: Here's how: 7 Click on Start 8 Click on Control Panel 9 Click on Add and Remove Programs 10 you will have to wait a short while until the list is populated 11 Down the left side of the open window click on Add and Remove Windows Components 12 you need to ensure ther is a tick/checkmark in the white box to the left of the following items: Networking Services Other Networking File and… Ok/Next your way out (following any onscreen directions) When you have done this close down your machine in the usual way, wait 30 seconds with a blank black screen and then restart it then wait 5 minutes (by the clock …not a second earlier,) now check via Control panel if any entries have appeared Network Connections. Post back and let me know how you get on…… if no joy then you will need to get some extra hardware either an PCI Network card (for using the ethernet wire twix computer and D link or a USB network wireless adapter, for a eireless connection twix your computer and Dlink…. these are both very cheap to buy and easy to fit (you only need the one! so make your choice and let us know when you have got them. The cost should be only a pound or two or a dollar or 3…you may be able to find what you need in your local computer shop or check on ebay as this will give you details of adapters available and the sort of price you should be paying. in your locality…. Regards paws