Windows won't connect to a network no matter what I do

My windows 7 computer that I just formatted (about 20 minutes ago, clean install of windows) won't connect to the internet.

Before I formatted it, it worked fine.

Here's what I've tried:

Power cycling my router/modem
Plugging computer directly into the modem
Buying a wifi USB (even though my computer has wifi built in), installed the drivers from a disc

Windows troubleshooter couldn't fix it. Three other computers in my house all work fine on my network. I'm assuming I'm missing a driver, however I can't connect to windows update to get the driver (and, the USB wifi thing came with a driver disc that I installed)

Right after I run the troubleshooter and connect again, it allows me to chose the type of network (home, public, work). But it still won't connect.

Jon

Posted 2013-08-27T20:00:12.187

Reputation: 8 089

have you installed Chipset and Lan drivers for your motherboard after installing windows? you will have to download it from another station and sneaker-net it over, or boot from a live CD, download the driver to your local hdd and reboot into windows to install it. – Frank Thomas – 2013-08-27T20:03:17.387

No, but I have installed the drivers for my wifi USB so I figured that'd work – Jon – 2013-08-27T20:04:40.953

What does Device Manager show? Any yellow exclamation points or unknown devices? It also sounds as if this is a wifi network you're trying to connect to - what happens when you attempt to connect? Do you see the SSID? Get prompted for the password? What does ipconfig show after you "connected?" – ernie – 2013-08-27T20:27:41.497

Answers

If you did a clean install of Windows from a retail disc, then many of the drivers will be missing after the installation finishes. Most importantly, chipset, graphics cards, drivers for ethernet cards, USB hubs and devices on those hubs will be missing.

Please read my answer to a similar question here.

It explains why the best thing to do before doing a retail re-install of Windows you should put the network card's drivers on a flash drive. That way you have internet after installation to fetch the rest of your drivers.

In your situation, it sounds most likely that your chipset drivers are uninstalled. Without those, most USB devices and network cards won't work properly.

Moses

Posted 2013-08-27T20:00:12.187

Reputation: 10 813

You indicate that you've installed a USB WiFi adapter, and that you installed the device drivers for it, but have you pointed it at your wireless network yet? There should be a system tray icon indicating network status, and clicking on it should show you a list of available wireless networks... make sure you're on one.

James Brandon

Posted 2013-08-27T20:00:12.187

Reputation: 36

Yes I've tried to connect. – Jon – 2013-08-27T21:06:56.357