Son is online again
When I got home this evening, my son was still making backup discs for the stuff he wanted to save, before doing a complete reformat. I was tired, but showed him how to make a backup of his Firefox bookmarks. Then, I decided to come to my computer, try downloading the wireless adapter drivers from the Linksys site, burn them to a disc, and use that to try to install on his machine. Same result as using the supplied disc... drivers would not install, and the adapter kept showing up as an "Unidentified Device!".
Went BACK to the Linksys site, and after a lengthy conversation with a person named "Pooja Pawar" in their live chat thingy, the same conclusion I had earlier about reformatting the system was reached.
Then something popped into my tiny little brain. I suddenly remembered some problems I was having with the old Intel PC Pro webcam. It had trouble with drivers in the XP and Vista systems it has been used on, until I unplugged it from one USB port, then plugged it into a different one, then it worked perfectly. Soooo... making a long story short, I tried that with the wireless adapter on his PC. What'd ya know... instant internet access! If I had remembered that little thing several hours earlier (counting yesterday), I wouldn't have had to go through all that other hassle!
Only seems to work in the front USB ports though... doesn't function in neither of the 4 ports in the rear of the machine. Worked fine in the back until that "optional" Windows Update for the device.
The mysteries of life....
Went BACK to the Linksys site, and after a lengthy conversation with a person named "Pooja Pawar" in their live chat thingy, the same conclusion I had earlier about reformatting the system was reached.
Then something popped into my tiny little brain. I suddenly remembered some problems I was having with the old Intel PC Pro webcam. It had trouble with drivers in the XP and Vista systems it has been used on, until I unplugged it from one USB port, then plugged it into a different one, then it worked perfectly. Soooo... making a long story short, I tried that with the wireless adapter on his PC. What'd ya know... instant internet access! If I had remembered that little thing several hours earlier (counting yesterday), I wouldn't have had to go through all that other hassle!
Only seems to work in the front USB ports though... doesn't function in neither of the 4 ports in the rear of the machine. Worked fine in the back until that "optional" Windows Update for the device.
The mysteries of life....