I just installed XP on my dad's laptop to get rid of all the junk on it before and to fix it (the res was all messed up, the windows were 2x the size of the screen and everything...just ugly). Now, after installing it, XP seems to have not recognized the ethernet card and it won't connect to the internet, so I can't update. I tried getting drivers from the Gateway website, but they haven't worked at all. I'd get it from the manufacturer's website, but XP won't tell me anything about the devices. Any ideas on how to get tis to work?

Note: Ubuntu won't work due to some programs needed Windows to run and Wine would probably be sluggish.

If the drivers from Gateway don't work, then there's something wrong with your computer man... or else you're getting the wrong drivers... I know windows sucks, but you can't blame windows for a Gateway screwup...

the device manager should tell you about the stuff you have (right click My Computer, shouldn't be hard to find it in there). Also, your resolution seems to have changed.

It works now...it's just that XP didn't even have generic drivers to start the device.

The problem with the res was that the max the video card let it go was 800x600 (weird, since XP now lets it go to 1024x768 without the actual drivers), but the windows looked as if they came from 1024x768, so the windows were too big for the screen and the bottom and right of some dialog boxes were unreachable.

And if XP doesn't recognize a device, it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about it, just that it is a "network controller" or something of the like.

You can always find out more detail by popping the hood and taking a look, if it comes to that.

You have to go the "Details" tab and check out the hardware IDs to get more info .

One a similar note, vista used to blue screen then crash whenever I turned on my modem. Now, since I was never able to get online and 'activate' it, I can't do anything on it. All I can do is bring up an IE page to activate, but since I still don't have net access I can't do anything. I guess I need to take my comp to a friend's house with broadband or something...

Did they remove the option to activate it over the phone? If they did, you can always just reinstall Vista to get another 14-days worth out of it

No, i think you can still do it by phone. And you get 30 days to activate before it locks up, not 14.

You can use it without entering a CD-Key at all, though, for 14-days (As in you can install Ultimate without entering a CD-Key, and "try" it for 14-days before you have to enter in a CD-Key)