No internet on the laptop....

[Greco101]

I bought a used laptop so I don't know much about the history of it. They said the cd drive was broke and it had spyware. Often, when a cd drive goes bad in a laptop you just pop out the one screw, pull it out and reseat it. Nope... it was bad. Bought a new one, wiped the hdd and reinstalled XP. I tried connecting to the internet to update and all that good fun stuff but it wouldnt connect. I turned off the laptop, unplugged the modem...waited... plugged the modem back in... waited... restarted the laptop. Nothing. I figured obviously it was a software issue so I burned them with my desktop, installed them on the laptop. restarted. Nothing. I began thinking it was hardware failure but ran a diag. and it showed up fine althought I'm not too familiar with Dells so it could just be telling me, "YEP. It's there alright... don't know if it works though...Pass."

Any ideas? I tried talking to Dell and was lucky enough to get ahold of someone from india or something... Take a look at part of the convo...


Agent (Sanju_148902): "ARE you trying to connect using the Ethernet cable?"

Michael Greco: "yes, because I do not have a router or hub"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "All right"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "How are you connecting it?"

Michael Greco: "I have to unplug the cable from my desktop, then plug it into the laptop"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Do you have extra cable?"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "I guess if you disconnect the chat will end."

Michael Greco: "Yes."

(Sanju_148902): "Since when are you facing this issue?"

Michael Greco: "I just bought the laptop off of craigslist a few days ago"

Michael Greco: "so since I got it a couple days ago"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Thank you for your time, my records shows that you have an Inspiron 5150 XP Home as the operating system. Is this
the system you need assistance with?"

Michael Greco: "Yes"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Who is the internet service provider?"

Michael Greco: "cox"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Okay."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "How many computer do you have?"

Michael Greco: "2"

Agent (Sanju_148902): "How are they connected?"

Michael Greco: "with a cable?"

Michael Greco: "Can I be transfered to someone else... you seem to be new."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "We will have to connect the laptop with the cable and then try to troubleshoot."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Michael, we need to determine how the other computers are connected."

Michael Greco: "I have already told you I do not have a network hub or wireless.... I only can have one plugged in at a time."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Michael, we need to connect the cable so that we can troubleshoot it."

Michael Greco: "That'd be pretty pointless considering IT WONT CONNECT."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "WE will have to connect so that we can try to establish connection."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "We can come to know about the problem."

Agent (Sanju_148902): "Without plugging the cable we can not try to create connection."

[xRyokenx]

What the hell kind of tech support is that? That guy and/or company he works for need a slap to the face and then to be banned from tech support, lol... terrible. One more reason to avoid Dell at all costs.

[Greco101]

I know...

Still no internet. I installed every damn driver I could find for the 5150... no luck. I googled it and and found a lot of people can't find the damn ethernet driver after a format. You'd think out of all this someone would have posted an answer or a link but nope. ghervfudijcn

[xRyokenx]

If I knew a way to fix this, I would post it... I've found that a lot of things have little quirks, some stupid things inhibit others, sometimes a file that's glitched in some way and needs to be deleted or it's being dumb like when I have to set an IP for my wireless and then tell it to get one automatically, things are quirky with computers in general. Maybe that helps, I can hope it does, but it may not, I dunno...

But yeah, good luck with getting it to work.

[Luke122]

Did you reboot the modem when you connected the cable to the laptop?

[Greco101]

Did you reboot the modem when you connected the cable to the laptop?

Definitely learned my lesson on that one hahaha

[Greco101]

install the A17 bios and then intall the laterst INTEL PRO drivers

it will work

-Jeremy

a17? It had a37 and I installed the a38? Are you thinking of the desktop 5150 desktop? link?

[Greco101]

you said you have a 5150 inspiron.. sorry I didn't realize that..

I have the 6400 | 1505

Sorry for the confusion.. You did upgrade BIOS to latest firmware, though, correct?
Still not working... hmm

If you peel the sucker apart, the board may tell you exactly what it is, look for the Ethernet controller chipset.

-Jeremy

I'm buying a 1505 tomorrow with the T2500

What am I looking for in the laptop?

[Greco101]

I don't understand what that would achieve? To see if I downloaded the wrong drivers from dell?

[Xpirate]

I don't understand what that would achieve? To see if I downloaded the wrong drivers from dell?

Doing what Minty suggested will help you determine what chip your laptop is using for the network connection. This will help you see if you are using the right drivers.