[candras]

Well I woke up about 2 days ago, turned my computer on (it's about 6 years old) and it wouldn't connect to the internet. I checked the modem, router cables and made sure they were all working right multiple times. The computer in the other room works and so does the laptop. But the main computer won't. My sister told me that it was probably the network card in it, but I'm not sure.. so before I buy one I'd like to hear others opinions on it. Thanks.

[Law]

Most likely yea from what you are explaining if the other computer works then there shouldn't be a problem with your network.

Things you want to check before you go out and buy another network card:

Physical Layer Problems:
The Ethernet cable, sometime they do go bad, try using a known working one from another computer to test this.

The port on your switch or router, try another known working port.

Check to see if the network card is installed in the slot properly and is not loose, if the card is build-in, check BIOS or device manager to see if it's enable.

Reinstall or update driver if you have to.


Network Layer Problems:
Test the TCP/IP stack with the ping 127.0.0.1 command

Check IP configuration with ipconfig /all (verify configuration such as subnet, default gateway and DNS matches with other computer in the network)

Use ping to test connectivity to the router by pinging the default gateway, example command (ping 192.168.1.1)

Once verified that you can ping default gateway, use ping again to test DNS and Internet connectivity by pinging a website, example command (ping google.com)

Application Layer Problems:
Software firewall or Anti-virus can cause you to lose Internet connectivity, it is always wise to disable or configure them properly during the test.

Example of application layer problems are usually proxy servers, typically these are use to cache website or surf the web anonymously. Once a proxy server goes down, the web browser can no longer function properly but ping should be able to work. Only if you use transparent proxy which redirects all request on port 80 to a proxy server but the rest of the Internet traffic is direct connection. Typical setup for those who browse the web anonymously using free proxy server on the web.

[candras]

thanks

I tried the ping, and all the things you said and it didnt work at all still.

I also bought a new network card and it didn't work. Is my computer just broken?

[BoysNightOut]

The PC I assume doesn't have a built-in ethernet port on the mobo then.

If the other network card didn't work, if you have some sort of diagnostic software available I would run it and see if you can find out if possibly the card's PCI slot has died. Try a different slot perhaps, as I assume you put it in the same slot the old one was in.

If you've tried everything else...dang...Law knows his stuff...perhaps you should invest in a new machine...6yrs is pretty old for a PC nowadays

[candras]

I had to re-install windows to get it to work again.

[BoysNightOut]

Welp, reformatting is always the last-resort solution, but usually fixes the problem if it's not a hardware issue =) I can't say how many times I've reformatted in the past 2 months, maybe 7 or 8 now? And once last night too? LOL.

Which is why I'm moving to Linux...so much cleaner.