Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.
QUESTION: I recently ran the WipeDrive program (www.whitecanyon.com) by the White Canyon Software company on my Gateway laptop to remove a virus. I re-installed the operating system disc that came with the computer and now can’t access the Internet, either with a high speed cable or wireless connection. My operating system is XP. Can you help?
PC CLUB: It’s frequently possible to get into so much trouble that it’s necessary to wipe (completely erase) a hard drive and start over. This trouble can occur for various reasons including a virus or malware infestation, a corruption of the operating system or an accidental deletion of critical Windows files. This happens more frequently than most of us want to believe.
First of all, when the operating system is re-installed using the disk that came with the system, the hard drive is re-formatted and it is not necessary to use a program such as WipeDrive — this is overkill. Also, when you re-install the operating system using the manufacturer’s supplied disk, this should also replace all of the drivers including those for your wired and wireless Internet connections.
If you followed the directions in a previous article, “How to have a smooth Windows XP re-installation” (link: http://bit.ly/PfTDg), and you still can’t access the Internet, there are several troubleshooting steps that you can take. Some of them are quite simple and you can try these in order as follows:
- Reset your cable or DSL modem by recycling the power. That means turn it off, then on again. Do the same with your router, if you have one. I experienced the symptoms you describe and this simple fix has saved me on several occasions.
- Check your Internet device drivers. With XP or Vista right-click My Computer (Computer for Vista) and select Properties. In the window that opens select the Hardware tab. Click the Device Driver button and you will have access to the list of devices. There should be no devices with yellow or red warnings next to them and you should see your network adaptors for both wired and wired connections. If you don’t see your network devices or they indicate a warning, you may have to visit your PC manufacturer’s web site to download the drivers.
- Check your Internet connections by opening your Control Panel and double‑clicking the Network Connections icon. Click “Classic View” to make things easier. You should see both your wired and wireless connections and neither should have a big red X through them unless there is a cable unplugged. For Vista, open the Control Panel, then open the Network and Sharing window and click “Manage network connections” on the left.
- Click Start, Run and type the letters “cmd” into the box labeled Open and hit the Enter key. This will open a DOS-like window into which you should type “ipconfig” and click OK. This will give you some information on your network connections. You can also type “ping yahoo.com” and you get should three replies and no “time-outs.”
- Call your Internet provider to assist you in getting reconnected.
It’s possible that there isn’t anything wrong with your PC and that something else is the culprit. If you have a broadband connection with Cox, the Internet should work immediately after re-installing everything but if you have DSL, you may have to install software or do something special depending on your Internet provider. Your DSL provider can assist you if this is the case.
Just as a note – yesterday I installed a new PC for someone who was running Vista and there was no Internet connection. The cable modem was reset by recycling the power and the problem was resolved. ~Ed Schwartz, NOCCC member. View his blog at www.edwardns.com/blog.