Shoutbox

So I just went and purchased a new version of XP and intalled it.  I'm able to log in and everything is kosher.  Now some new problems have arrived.  I can't connect to the internet when my cables are clearly connected properly and some of my devices cannot be found.  I run the device manager and right click on the device to update the driver and no update is found.  I've never had this problem before.  Any suggestions?

The "devices" you have, do they have a install disc? Does your internet require and install disc?

Check these things out first.

It sounds like you did a clean Windows install.  Windows has drivers for many hardware devices, but not all -- for those it does not, you will have to download the drivers.  If you have some discs that came with the hardware when it was sold, that will work too.

One of the missing drivers is probably for your network card, so that would explain why you can't connect to the Internet.

Your main issue will be that you probably don't have any clue what drivers you need.  If it's a namebrand computer (e.g. Dell, HP), go to their website and look for drivers for your model.  If it's not, download and run this to identify your motherboard, then check the board manufacturer's site (or post the board model here and someone can point you to the right files). 

That should take care of everything integrated on the motherboard, which hopefully will be everything you need.  If you have any add-on cards that are not recognized, you can ID those by taking them out and looking for names and model numbers printed on the cards.