Desperate Need of Computer Help

[Berzerker]

I'm lookin at the motherboard so what does this card look like? I see a plastic plate held in by two white jaw-like clamps and its about 3/4s" wide by 5 or 6" long and there is an empty slot next to it. When I do setup some of the options mention PCI slots populated and unpopulated so I do think an empty slot should be there. I think dell calls it a network adapter but I cant find an image of the thing

[Berzerker]

actually, there's 2 of these 1" by 6" panels coated in green and they each have an extra slot, kinda like a 4 lane highway and divider. They run next to and parallel to the northern or top of the board, and they look identical. Its easy enough to unplug them and put them into the extra slots but I dont know what they are. Everything readable is in technobabble, nothing that just says NETWORK CARD.

[Whoha]

give us a picture of the motherboard.

[Berzerker]

I cant, or dont know how. I cant even find an image on the net and I've been looking

[Berzerker]

well those 2 green 1 by 6 panels are the 2 256 mb cards, oops.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Berzerker
the router receives a wirelss signal from a cellular network and then it is wired to the computer w/ethernet. The router has a power plug and thats it.

Spencer - I'm not sure it is the network card, that just seems to be the first thing an incoming signal reaches. It could be software, drivers or something. But I checked my dell OS recovery disk and it says right on the disk it cant be used to reinstall drivers.

Dell gives you two disks, one with the OS and one with the drivers that are specific for your system (unless they ****up as they did for me and send the wrong stuff disk twice so I had to get em off their website). So assuming the wireless card was installed by dell you should have the drivers for it so look for the correct cd.

[SpencerH]

Geez I wished I would stop speed reading your posts. :Bangs head: Now I understand your setup.

OK, their was (or is) an ethernet wire from your router to your desktop. The thing the wire is connected to on the PC is the NIC. It will have a female ethernet connector and a small green LED that might light up when you connect the cable. The E510 should have a built in NIC that is attached to the motherboard about halfway up the side of the case. You cant remove that one if thats the one you've been using. An alternative is that you have a seperate NIC installed in the PCI slots at the bottom of the case.

Most likely you have the built in and not a card in the PCI slots. If thats the case, you'll need to add a card to take the place of the defective built in. If you do have a card in the PCI slots that you've been using try taking it out (remove the screw that attaches it to the case) and putting it back in. If you've had a surge that probably wont help since NICs seem to be very sensitive to them, but it'll give you practice for installing the new card.

[Mercator]

The network card is the thing the network cable is plugged into...

However, the Dimension E510 has an integrated network card, so the network cable is plugged into the motherboard (socket is in the same rectangular area in the back of the computer where most of the other devices are plugged in, like your monitor, mouse and speakers).

So you obviously can't "re-seat" the network card and if it is indeed a hardware problem all you can do is buy a separate one and plug it into one of the empty PCI slots...

The PCI slots are the slots on the motherboard that line up to the removable metal plates at the bottom of the back of the case. You should have four slots (hmmm, or maybe 3?), two (or 1?) of them are PCI slots. I'm guessing they're the bottom two. (The other two slots are one PCIe x1 and one PCIe x16. I have no idea what those look like, but I assume they look slightly different.)

The CNET review also has some (tiny) pictures of the back and inside and specs as well (though they're slightly confusing me, because I'm not sure if they exactly match Dell's specs).

Edit: cross-post, too slow...

[Berzerker]

It will have a female ethernet connector and a small green LED that might light up when you connect the cable.

I'm getting a flashing amber or orange light

An alternative is that you have a seperate NIC installed in the PCI slots at the bottom of the case.

the bottom and front of the case next to vents? I have something there that goes into PCI slots I think. It shows up on that photo from cnet reviews, some heavy blue cables appear to lead to the card in the lower left of the photo. It looks a bit like an 8 track tape and its blue

I've found the network adapter device and it says its working fine.

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Berzerker
the bottom and front of the case next to vents?

No, the bottom and back of the case. See the pink encircled area in the attached image. The two horizontal white things are the PCI slots.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Berzerker


I'm getting a flashing amber or orange light



the bottom and front of the case next to vents? I have something there that goes into PCI slots I think. It shows up on that photo from cnet reviews, some heavy blue cables appear to lead to the card in the lower left of the photo. It looks a bit like an 8 track tape and its blue

I've found the network adapter device and it says its working fine.

**** I wrote along post but it timed out.

I ve circled the area on the back where the onboard NIC connector is located. Did you connect the ethernet cable there?

Alternatively there may be a card in a PCI slot (side view circled) with the same kind of NIC connector but it will be located where the blue arrow is (rear view).

[Berzerker]

thx Merc and Spence

Did you connect the ethernet cable there?

Yes, and there is a plate or panel (card) in the lower of the 2 slots but no ethernet connector on the outside. There is however a black piece of plastic hanging off the back of the computer and it may be covering up the connector. I'll try to remove it tonite

[SpencerH]

OK.

Did you try totally removing the NIC from the system and re booting?

START
Control Panel
System
Device Manager
network adapter (plus sign)
Right click on the Network adapter (usually should only be one)
Uninstall
Allow uninstall
Once it's done
restart

On restart XP should "find" the NIC and will install using the dell drivers that are usually installed on the C drive. I'm assuming this is a Dell with the original setup.

If XP finds the card and installs the drivers plug the ethernet cable into the NIC and give it a try.

If it still doesnt work then the best bet is that the NIC is fried. Did you have a surge?

If that's so you'll have to buy a new network adapter for $15 -20 and install it in the PCI slots.

[Berzerker]

Did you try totally removing the NIC from the system and re booting?

No, I dont know how to remove it and I dont want to mess something up worse. But I'll give your suggestion a try, uninstall the device drivers and let the comp reinstall them.

[Berzerker]

ok, I went thru that process. Before the message I got was '

local area connection
network cable unplugged

now after uninstalling and restart the comp did acknowledge the "new" device but gave no indication it was reinstalling drivers and the new message is

local area connection 2
network cable unplugged

I didn't swap slots or anything