Why is my network not working..

[insanity3241]

Hello. I am wondering why my network isn't working it says no network connections available I bought a F2A68HM-H mother board and I do not know if you need some sort of adapter for the mother board as this is my first pc build and I also have a "fake" windows 8.1 disc I downloaded and burned onto a cd may that be the problem? It says activate windows in the corner and I do not know if you need to activate windows to get internet.. I'm sorry if I sound stupid lol

 

[boosted1g]

Have you hooked up an Ethernet cable from your router to the motherboard??

You have to either hook up an Ethernet cable or have a wifi adapter (Ethernet will always be better then wifi for speed/reliability).

You also have to install the drivers on the disk that came with your motherboard.

 

[insanity3241]

Have you hooked up an Ethernet cable from your router to the motherboard??

You have to either hook up an Ethernet cable or have a wifi adapter (Ethernet will always be better then wifi for speed/reliability).

You also have to install the drivers on the disk that came with your motherboard.

I installed the drivers that came with the motherboard but the pc that I had before did not requite anything and I could connect I also don't want to connect the Ethernet cable because it already is already in use and it is downstairs I don't want to drill holes in the ceilings to get a cable through.. I also thought that the motherboard had a wifi adapter built in as there is no slot for it to plug in

 

[boosted1g]

Only a handful of motherboards have the slot for a wifi adapter card built in. Your old board just happened to be one of the small percentage of desktop boards that has a wifi chip in it.


You will either need to get a wifi card or a better option for gaming would be to get a powerline adapter kit like tp-link's av500 kit. Powerline costs a little more (like $30-40) but you get a more stable, faster connection that has better ping/latency over wifi; this is far more important then mbps for gaming.

 

[insanity3241]

Only a handful of motherboards have the slot for a wifi adapter card built in. Your old board just happened to be one of the small percentage of desktop boards that has a wifi chip in it.


You will either need to get a wifi card or a better option for gaming would be to get a powerline adapter kit like tp-link's av500 kit. Powerline costs a little more (like $30-40) but you get a more stable, faster connection that has better ping/latency over wifi; this is far more important then mbps for gaming.

But my MB isn't old it is the F2A68HM-H

 

[boosted1g]

It does not matter how new or old it is. WiFi built into a desktop motherboard is not a common feature. Most top end $200 motherboards don't have a mini pci-e slot for a wifi card (they do have a m.2 slot for an ssd which looks the same).

In the laptop world, yes every board has built in slot for wifi chip. In the desktop world, maybe 5-10% of all 2015 motherboards have built in wifi.

 

[insanity3241]

It does not matter how new or old it is. WiFi built into a desktop motherboard is not a common feature. Most top end $200 motherboards don't have a mini pci-e slot for a wifi card (they do have a m.2 slot for an ssd which looks the same).

In the laptop world, yes every board has built in slot for wifi chip. In the desktop world, maybe 5-10% of all 2015 motherboards have built in wifi.

So where do I plug the adapter in? In my previous pc it had a mini card slot as that is what it's called because I'm reading it from the previous motherboard.. also the chip says ralink rt5390 do you think that that is the adapter and the motherboard that I have now does not have that mini card slot that the previous MB had

 

[boosted1g]

For the 3rd time now, your motherboard does not have a port for the wifi adapter like your old motherboard uses! You can not use that adapter.

There is more then 1 type of wifi adapter.

There is mini-pci-e, there is regular pci-e for desktop motherboards, and there usb ones.

Now you can get an adapter that plugs into the pci-e slot that then accepts the mini-pci-e card. But at the end of the day, the card + antenna cables + antennas cost more then just getting a standalone wifi card.


As I stated above, getting a powerline adapter is the better way to go over wifi.
If you are dead set on wifi, the PCI-E cards are better then the usb ones IF you get one that extends the antennas above the PC tower.
If you are going to go as cheap as possible then the usb adapter is better then the cheaper pci-e cards (just don't be suppressed and asking why it is not getting strong signal)

 

[insanity3241]

Is it possible to get a pci-e chip without an antenna cause that kind of ruins the entire build

 

[boosted1g]

And how is the chip supposed to get a signal without an antenna?? Everything has an antenna, it might be embedded into the casing like say a cellphone, but it has an antenna.
On a laptop the antenna is behind the screen only being blocked by a thin piece of plastic; putting antennas inside the grounded metal box of a desktop case would result in very little signal getting through.

Not sure why having 2-3 antenna cables coming out the back with the rest of your cables just "ruins the entire build"; I personally am worried about performance first. Sorry to blunt here but you are running a budget FM2 setup, your not rolling the Ferrari of computers here, more like the Nissan Sentra.

Here is 3 simple options for you:
If you want performance and no antenna: get the powerline adapter I have suggested twice now
If you want less performance for cheaper: get a wifi card with an antenna
If you want cheap and no antenna: get a small $5-10 usb wifi adapter and enjoy your 1-5mbps speed and choppy gameplay.

 

[insanity3241]

And how is the chip supposed to get a signal without an antenna?? Everything has an antenna, it might be embedded into the casing like say a cellphone, but it has an antenna.
On a laptop the antenna is behind the screen only being blocked by a thin piece of plastic; putting antennas inside the grounded metal box of a desktop case would result in very little signal getting through.

Not sure why having 2-3 antenna cables coming out the back with the rest of your cables just "ruins the entire build"; I personally am worried about performance first. Sorry to blunt here but you are running a budget FM2 setup, your not rolling the Ferrari of computers here, more like the Nissan Sentra.

Here is 3 simple options for you:
If you want performance and no antenna: get the powerline adapter I have suggested twice now
If you want less performance for cheaper: get a wifi card with an antenna
If you want cheap and no antenna: get a small $5-10 usb wifi adapter and enjoy your 1-5mbps speed and choppy gameplay.

I was just asking because the chip in the previous MB had no antennas and it ran just fine..

 

[boosted1g]

There was no cables connecting to the chip?

Or there was antenna cables leading to a spot built into that case for the antennas?

 

[insanity3241]

No it was just a basic chip plugged into a mini card slot

 

[boosted1g]

Do you know exactly what the model number was of this old motherboard with this chip?

I have seen several laptops that have had the antenna connectors come off, they can barley get any signal 5 ft from the router.

For the same type of chip to have no antennas connected to it, and get a useable signal through walls and ceilings INSIDE a desktop computer should not be possible.

 

[insanity3241]

http://imgur.com/FAPwlwV this is how the chip looks

 

[insanity3241]

The MB was a msi ms7778

 

[boosted1g]

So you had nothing connected to those antenna posts (the cirlces on the inside of the screw holes at the top) and you got a good wireless signal?? Is your PC literally on the floor right above the router?

 

[insanity3241]

So you had nothing connected to those antenna posts (the cirlces on the inside of the screw holes at the top) and you got a good wireless signal?? Is your PC literally on the floor right above the router?

No nothing is connected to it and the old pc gets all 5 bars