Yeah, here I am again with a pc question. We recently had a pretty bad thunder storm in which one of the bolts landed either in or close to our yard. Our LCD monitor’s power source got fried, so we replaced it. However, it seems our little built in (by built in I mean non-PCI) ethernet port got fried also (I believe that’s what it’s called. You know, the one up by the mouse/keyboard ports). Any time we plug in the cable from the modem, the light doesn’t turn on, and we can never connect. Oh, and it’s a desktop, obviously.
My question is this: Can we get one of those fixed? Or will we have to buy a new modem (PCI?) If so, would a PCI modem do and good? Or, can you buy a replacement part for one of those little ports?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Don’t bother getting it fixed. I’m actually surprised your computer is working at all. Your onboard ethernet port got fried, so I would think your whole motherboard would be gone.
First, you need to establish if the port’s actually messed up. Does it show up in your device manager? Also, which light is it that doesn’t turn on? A light on your modem, or on your computer’s ethernet port? Or both? It’s possible that your cable is bad but the port is okay.
If it really is the ethernet port, buying a PCI card is dirt cheap. Just check some place like ebay. Hell, I probably have one laying around that I could just give you, if you want to pay for the shipping.
Also, get your computer and monitor on a decent surge protector, for the love of Jeebus.
It does show up (as far as you can accurately tell on Windows ME) in the Device Manager. The light I was referring to was the light that turns on inside the little port itself when you plug in the cable. Also, I know it’s not the cable, as I’m using it right now on a laptop, and it’s working fine.
Don’t worry about a surge protector, we’ve got one (I convinced my dad to get one after we had the problem), it’s just hard, since we have to use a transformer. And thanks for the offer of the PCI modem, but it would be cheaper and faster just to get one here, as I live in Bolivia, South America 
I guess I’ll have to shell out a few greens to get a new one. Thanks for all the help.
Definitely sounds like a problem with the ethernet port! So sorry I was late to see this! Ethernet PCI cards should be cheap and easy to find. at least =)