Need help with an HP Pavilion

[tinpanalley]

Alright, I need some help here guys, I've hit a wall.
My parents have had a surprisingly powerful HP Pavilion Media Center m8330f that came preloaded with Vista. They were having any number of problems with it so we upgraded to Windows 7. The system info clearly showed that the 64-bit was possible on this computer so that's what I helped them install. We did a completely fresh install. (All via Skype, so those of you who live in places different from your parents know exactly what I went through )
Anyway, for days things were fantastic. Isn't that always the way?... As of three days ago they say their internet no longer works. I've had a look, (again via Skype on a laptop, obviously we can't run TeamViewer), and their network connection isn't working. I can't get a Windows 7 driver for the ethernet adapter because HP doesn't provide one.
Please... anyone... I've exhausted my knowledge with this and other fixes.
Thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

Post the PCI hardware ID string for the ethernet device. Perhaps someone can scare up a driver.

I would think that it would either be RealTek, Intel, Broadcom, or Atheros. Most of those do have Win7 drivers.

Edit:

Asus M2N68-LA
NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430

That's an NVidia nForce ethernet, most likely, which means that Windows 7 has built-in drivers to support it, I think.

 

[tinpanalley]

Post the PCI hardware ID string for the ethernet device. Perhaps someone can scare up a driver.
I would think that it would either be RealTek, Intel, Broadcom, or Atheros. Most of those do have Win7 drivers.

Where's the best place to find the PCI hardware ID string in Windows? In System Info? Normally I would use Speccy but they don't have it installed and I don't want to go through that whole process.

 

[Burpo]

Device manager, Network Adapters, right click on your network adapter, properties, "Details" (top right tab). then under Property, swicth to "Hardware Ids" for the vendor string..

However if it was working, I tend to think they installed a dial up adapter or some type of connection that's not correct. May have to uninstall all network adapters & reboot/refresh and let it discover it again & load drivers..

 

[inachu]

Looking on their website at: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...n&cc=us&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=3644705#N8595

They do not offer any driver for Windows 7 at all. Seems like only Vista is supported.

 

[Ketchup]

Well it was working, so I don't hear any indications that it is a driver problem. They may just need to check the cable, a different port on the router, etc. Look at the back of the computer and see if there are activity lights coming from the NIC. They may need to look in device manager and see if it is not being recognized properly. If not, the error code should help.

The computer is a fairly normal HP desktop in size (not a slim PC) so if it comes down to hardware a $10 NIC card (and some installation assistance) may be all that's needed.

The only driver possibility I can think of right now is if someone saw an optional Windows update for the NIC and told it to install. Should be pretty easy to undo if that is the case.

 

[Danrr]

↑ This

If the internet was working then the driver was working, it has to be something else.

 

[sm625]

Why would you need a driver when it worked fine for 3 days? I am assuming the internet was working for a while. Which means windows found the driver and installed it and it worked. Then something happened. It is unlikely to be an issue with the driver itself.

 

[tinpanalley]

I think, lo and behold, that my mom may have solved it herself.

Apparently she needed to create her "extender network" for the range extender which only became clear to her after some clicking around in the network and sharing center. So, I guess everything's fine. They have Fios which I don't understand so it's tough for me to know how things are set up but apparently all they have to do now is reconnect all their wireless devices.