LAN icon disappeared in network connections!

[MaxWeiss]

This morning, the power was going on and off for about four hours. Not sure if that's relevant, but it was happening.

I turned my computer on and the cable modem & router on and it wouldn't connect. I went to network connections and right clicked on the LAN connection in order to try and repair or disable/enable or whatever. Right when I right-clicked it, the icon just up and disappeared. I ran the network setup wizard and the long and short is that my computer doesn't seem to think it has a LAN connection any more. I tried restarting and disabling/enabling the 1394 connection and neither of those work either. The computer activity light on my router blinks about every second, which I think means there is no computer activity. My router also has wireless, which is how I'm connected at the moment.

Anybody know how to get my wired connection back????? It's XP-Home, SP2, if that matters.

[funkyworms]

Go to your device manager and see if your computer sees your network card.

[MaxWeiss]

It sees my "1394 net adapter" which I think is my network card. That's working fine and enabled.

[funkyworms]

No, that's firewire. Your NIC (network interface card) will be something like Realtek, Intel, Broadcom, etc. Did you go to your device manager?

[MaxWeiss]

I'm not seeing anything like that. The only thing I see that could maybe be it is this IEEE 1394 something or another... here's a pic of my device manager, if that helps.

[funkyworms]

That is a problem. Use "add new hardware" and see if your computer finds a nic.

[MaxWeiss]

It didn't find it.... oh dear... is there a way to find out what type of card I have without opening my computer?? I'm in the add new hardware wizard and I'm at a screen with all the manufacturer's of all the devices and it's asking me to pick one so it can know what it needs to install.

Also, thanks for guiding me through this. I really appreciate your help.

[funkyworms]

Hmm...will you check your Device Manager again to see if there are any "unknown devices" in it now? What's the make/model of your computer?

[MaxWeiss]

Nope, no unknown devices. I also just did a system restore which didn't help. Is is possible that the actual physical NIC itself is fried or something and I just need a new one or is that not likely???

What info about my computer do you need besides this????.....

[funkyworms]

Yes it is possible that it is fried or that there is a bad connection. Will you check to see if a light comes on when you plug in your network cable? Feel free to PM me with your AIM/jabber/yahoo name so we can get this solved more efficiently.