Hi, I'm on a Windows XP Optiplex, and for the last few days I have been having a problem connecting to the internet, just suddenly knocked me off, and will not connect, always have the red X in the internet connection taskbar...

I have tried many steps correcting this problem, which I will outline here....

First I thing did was contact my internet provider, and they assured me my modem is working fine, and I am able to prove this is true by the fact I can connect fine with another desktop computer, the one I'm using now, I then disconnected the ethernet CABLE from the problem computer and plugged it into my laptop, and it connects just fine, so I know the cable is not the issue.....

I once had this issue a few years ago and just ended up reformatting the computer and that seemed to fix the problem, so I tried this again but for some reason it did not do a clean install, all programs stayed intact, so the problem remains....
And its my wifes desktop so a complete reformat is a last resort....

So considering its does not seem to be a modem problem it must be a problem with the computer itself, any suggestions?

After 3 days of trying I am at a loss what I can do now, short of taking it in for repairs.....

On a side note, I just tried to run Malwarebytes and get this error-

Run-time error, - 2147024769 (8007007f) ' : automation error
The specified procedure could not be found

I was working fine the other day...


Sounds like the installation is corrupt. A repair install would fix the windows errors, but wont correct for program corruption. A full clean install is likely needed at this point. If you know of someone who has a Windows XP Disc, you can perform a clean installation using their disc and then use your systems key on the outside panel. Just need to be sure to match up system disc to XP Home or XP Pro etc.

One way to test the hardware of this computer would be to burn a copy of Knoppix 7 to a DVD and boot this system off of the DVD ( as long as this system has a DVD ROM to boot off of... if it has a CD ROM instead, then you would have to find an older Knoppix version such as 4 or 5 which can fit on a 700MB CD )

You can boot this desktop computer off of this DVD and it will run a Live ( Read-Only ) version of Linux that does not require an install. This Linux distro also supports a vast variety of hardware and so your network adapter should work fine if there is no hardware issue. You can then surf the internet with the browser that is built into that DVD, and surf the web if the network adapter is good. The odds if Knoppix not supporting that network adapter is very very slim. I have only had issues with Knoppix and older ISA cards back with version 4 on Pentium II computers, but since then I haven't found a system YET that lacks network adapter support.I have the windows install disc, an older SP2 version, but again, really want that as a last resort, I was hoping there would be a way of repairing the problem....
And I'm actually out of DVD's right now... I forgot to mention that the internet icon in the taskbar says "Local Area Connection A network cable is unplugged', but that is not the case....It will say unplugged under 3 conditions, one of which you already eliminated.

1.) Bad Cable ( NOTE: You already confirmed that this is not the case )
2.) Bad Network Adapter ( Hardware Failure or bent or corroded pins in the RJ45 SOCKET )
3.) Network Adapter Driver Problems / Device Manager Issue with Windows Quote from: DaveLembke on APRIL 30, 2014, 06:17:43 PM

It will say unplugged under 3 conditions, one of which you already eliminated.

1.) Bad Cable ( NOTE: You already confirmed that this is not the case )
2.) Bad Network Adapter ( Hardware Failure or bent or corroded pins in the RJ45 socket )
3.) Network Adapter Driver Problems / Device Manager Issue with Windows