reformat xp and now cant connect to the net

[stacked2008]

I reformatted my computer for my mother...she bought my computer
i brought it over to her place and hooked it all up for her and connected the ethernet cable(shes got cable) and tried to open internet explorer and says your not conected? Now i wondering by reformatting the hard drive did i screw
something up....everything was fine through the format setup???

I was thinking my ethernet card wasnt working..but when i plug it in the little
lite comes on beside the cable....do i need special drivers? for the ethernet card...or when you format the drive it wipes out all the drivers??

everything was working good before(i was with bell sympatico)
i even called there internet provider(persona) and he walked me through
to connect and it shows at the bottom right corner that i am connected
(those 2 little computersl inked up that shows your connected) but whe you double click on internet explorer it doesnt work

I have windows xp

 

[superdave1984]

I was thinking my ethernet card wasnt working..but when i plug it in the little
lite comes on beside the cable....do i need special drivers? for the ethernet card...or when you format the drive it wipes out all the drivers??

There's your answer.

 

[stacked2008]

so i have to re install the drivers? ok so if i cant connect to the net how do i
update the drivers? or are they allready on the computer?


where can i get those drivers?

 

[bobojuice]

From the computer manufacturer's website if its a premade pc, or the manufacturer of the network adapter (if you are using one) or motherboard manufacturer if it's onboard, or the manufacturer of the chipset of your network card. (intel, realtek, via, broadcom, etc...)

 

[KSoD]

so i have to re install the drivers? ok so if i cant connect to the net how do i
update the drivers? or are they allready on the computer?


where can i get those drivers?

Sorry to sound brutally honest here. But this is stuff you should have thought of before you formatted. If you do a format EVERYTHING, yes everything, is gone. Drivers applicaitons all personal data. All gone.

So now you have to go online, maybe using the PC you are using to ask these questions??? Then get all the drivers you need.

So make a list in your device manager. Right click on my computer>properties>Hardware>device manager before you even ask.

Then go online and find those devices. If they come up with Generic PCI device then you have to figuer out what it is. If you have a mother board CD then i would suggest try that first. If not the go to the site of your PC maker (Like Dell or HP) and see if they have your drivers there.

AFter you get all these drivers a bit of advice. Burn them to a CD for reference later if you have to do this again.