No network adapter showing in Device Manager... physically disconnected or what?

[Melandre]

My friend brought is computer over so that I could fix a recent crash.
I did and while I had his box, I took the opportunity to download all
relevant Windows updates for him (so obviously the Network Adapter was
working fine as well as Internet configuration).

He took his puter home and called me later to say that he couldn't get
on the Internet. I asked him to look under "Network Connections" and
nothing showed. I then asked him to go under Device Manager and to
look under "Network adapters" to see if there was anything listed and
he said there isn't even a Network Adapters name or icon. Just to
make sure (he is very computer illeterate), I asked him to read
everything and sure enough, it went from "Monitor" to "Mouse" to
"Ports" (so no Network Adapter to be found).

I can't figure out why the Network Adapter is no longer recognized!
The only thing I can think of is that the card (assuming he has a
network card and not an onboard adapter - I never checked inside his
box) got physically loose from riding in the car from my place to his
place.

Any other reason that I might be overlooking that would cause the
network card not to be recognized all of a sudden?

Andre

 

[Ken Wickes [MSFT]]

The "got loose on the car ride" would be my guess.