Hi, another “Mac user doesn’t know how to do basic Windows stuff” question, sorry about that.
My partner was given a used Lenovo tower. We ghosted her former computer’s environment with Macrium and installed it on the new/hand-me-down Lenovo and it boots fine and all that. Her previous computer had WiFi and was set up to be on a wireless network; the Lenovo doesn’t have a wireless card in it (apparently). I hauled it within range of my router’s actual ethernet cables and hooked it up to have an actual wired connection.
It’s not getting an IP address. So I opened the control panels for networking and the connection is called “Broadband Connection” and is apparently set up to make its own PPPoE connection, such as you’d use if you were plugged directly into a cable modem. I can’t find where to change the setting to make it simply request and obtain a DHCP address from the router.
How do I do that? Oh, and as long as I’m asking, I presume if it had a wireless (WiFi) card in it, it would show up when I click “Computer” ==> Properties and look at all the devices?? And I also presume that since it’s a tower with empty slots and all that, she can just buy a 3rd party WiFi card and stick it in and install the drivers?
Start, control panel, network & internet, network connections, local area connection (the network card), properties, internet protocol version 4, properties, Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DIS server address automatically.
From the command prompt, type “ipconfig” to see if you are pulling an IP address.
At this point it wasn’t obvious to me whether I should try “Connect to a network” or “Set up a new connection or network”. I tried “connect to a network” and a box popped up at lower right informing me that I was “not connected… connections are available” and the connection listed as “available” was called "Broadband Connection. Choosing it and hitting “Connect” ==> “Error: WAN Miniport (PPPoE)”
Backtrace to the “Netowrk and Sharing Center” dialog screen and this time I pick “Set up a new Connection or Network”. That yields
If I pick “No, create a new connection” Windows informs me “Windows did not detect any networking hardware”.
If instead I pick “Yes, I’ll use an existing connection”, the only “existing” one is “Broadband Connection” and that takes me back to “Error WAN Miniport (PPPoE)”.
This is Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, in case that clarifies anything.
I think that’s the issue: it doesn’t have the drivers for the ethernet. (I can provide more info if necessary).
Where would be likely to find a complete set of drivers for a Lenovo desktop that I could put on a thumb drive and then install? I’ve been to the Lenovo site but it’s less than user-friendly for finding specific drivers. Already downloaded a batch of Lenovo Ethernet drivers and tried them but the tower in question says “Nope, we ain’t got any of those there Intel whatchamacallem ethernet thingies that this goes with” or words to that equivalent.
ETA also: On that page is alink to “Drivers and Software” but when I select that the URL in the address bar implies that it’s for laptops and netbooks, which could explain why they’re the wrong ones. But I can’t find drivers for their workstations / desktops.
Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management.
Device Manager
Network Adapters
There will probably be a network adapter listed there with a fault icon.
Click/Right click “properties”, Details.
What is the Device Description and the top hardware ID?
Hang tight, I figured out that it was somehow auto-entering a serial number which happened to be for a laptop model. I put in the serial number that I found on the tower box and now the drivers is going to model-appropriate drivers. Got a bunch of stuff to install, will report back.
