My Ethernet card vanished when I installed service pack three. How do I get it back?

Question

I had been trying to install MSN messenger, and it requested an update. So I went to the update website to find it and was told that I had to install IE 5 or greater before I could do that. I installed it, went to the site, and then downloaded and installed Windows XP Service pack three, and then MSN shortly after. Before I did all this, my computer worked perfectly. Now it cannot detect the built-in Ethernet in the device manager, nor can it create a Ethernet connection.

The cables and router all work fine with the other computers on my network. I've tried system restore, creating new connections, ipconfig, plugging and re-plugging the cables, preventing programs that use the internet from running at startup, and even putting in a new card which worked fine on another computer.

Nothing has worked yet, can anyone help me?

Answer 1

check the back of the computer, it should still be there

Answer 2

Could it be the issue referred to here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=95397...

Take note, the fix must be applied from SAFE MODE.

Answer 3

on the right hand side of the page you'll see  SP3 Cheat Sheet click on that and do some reading