Compaq 6735s help sought

A friend has one of these and has a real problem. It recently has lost all networking capability. It won't connect either via network cable or via wireless.

I've been sent a Belarc listing for the system. Under Communications it reports

Agere Systems HDA Modem

Marvell Yukon 88E8042 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
Status: Cable unplugged
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
Connection Speed: 100 Mbps
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Networking Dns Server: 192.168.1.1

(MAC address hidden by me)

I suspect that at the time of the report a cable was unplugged as it doesn't (seem to) make any difference. and so that comment may be truthful. The Network Map area is empty.

I also notice, though probably irrelevant to the network problem, that under Memory Modules it reports

2812 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'SODIMM 0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'SODIMM 1' has 2048 MB

Where's the missing 1200+ MB (approx.) gone? It seems a lot if it's the graphics system (ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics [Display adapter]) using it.

I'm going round Thursday evening to have a look. I'll see what ipconfig reports,, check drivers, etc. Could the NIC have failed? And if so would it take out both cable and wireless connectivity? Any way of testing it or checking it?

Helpful suggestions welcome.

Edit: I suspect it's a 32-bit version of Windows (don't know if I can tell from Belarc), if so it'll only see around 3.2 GB, take out 512 MB(?) for the graphics system and that's about right.

Edited by cheshire_man (Mon 07-Jan-13 21:56:31)

Could a corrupt TCP/IP stack cause this problem? And if so, how can it be fixed?

I forgot to mention in the OP that it's running Vista Home Premium SP2.

it is difficult to diagnose problems from any written detail. I would not have expected both to disappear at same time.
1) As cards do not appear in Network map. Do they appear in Device manager. If they do then i would delete drivers and reboot and reinstall with new hardware found.
2) If like my toshiba they disappear from device manager. Time to use PCMCIA and USB replacements.
I believe you should be able to ping 127.0.0.1 to check TCP/IP stack
The 6735S does have a history of problems with NIC
Belarc would show X32 or X64 by OS.

Problem solved - about 1 minute.

"That little orange light says wireless isn't on, let's press the button and see what transpires."

30 seconds later wireless internet now connected and working.

Ah well, it's all too easy to miss the obvious and look for the complex solution. I've done it myself and I'd guess if truth be known most have at one time or another.