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Restoring defaults?

I recently had to format my desktop- in doing so I lost all my verizon settings and my internet service on my desktop, my wireless still worked however (Phone and Laptop). The comopany sent me a cd. Great- got net working on my Desktop now! Only thing is it does not have my settings for my wireless- the password and all, so I need to restore these to the factory defaults? I have no way of getting my wireless devices online otherwise. I had my password remembered to the devices I had and its gone too- so I have no way of knowing what they are or retrieving them without having them to begin with. What crap. I never had these issues with comcast!

Comments

smith6612

The CD is not needed. That is mainly used for initial activation of the service. Once activated, all that is needed is a web browser to get things up and running.

As you reformatted your computer, it sounds like you are definitely missing some sort of driver, either for your Wired NIC or your Wireless adapter. Depending on how the computer is set up, you will need to visit the computer manufacturer's website and obtain the driver for the computer on another machine.

To determine whether or not your network adapter is working, go to Start > search for "Device Manager" in the task bar and then open the Device Manager. If you are on Windows XP, go to Start > right click on My Computer (may also be on the desktop) and then click on Properties. Click on the Hardware Tab, and then click on Device Manager. Once in the Device Manager, collapse the Network Adapters category and see if there are any devices listed. Also, check to see if "Other/Unknown devices" are showing up in the Device Manager with Yellow Exclamation marks.

If you see no network adapters, if the category is not there, if the only thing you see is a 1394 Firewire Adapter, or if you have unknown devices showing "Ethernet controller" as it's name, then you need a driver. Once installed, your service will work. This has nothing to do with Verizon or Comcast.

Grey5

@Lain: Some systems come with the initial details on the bottom of the mode, or it would have been in the documents sent with the router/modem (if that came from verizon).

Unless you, or someone with access to your modem, changed it.

If you re-formatted your PC, there is no way that old stored passwords will be avilable (unless you use something like LastPass). I doubt any provider could help with restoring your saved passwords on a reformatted PC (unless you had excellent backups)

that all said, you should note down password to your wireless and keep it somewhere safe, but if you're posting here, this comment wont help (or make you happy, sorry about that). Somehow you have wireless on other devices, so at somepoint you did have the password details.

If you don't know your wireless routers password, you will need to reset it. It is unlikely that anyone can get that password from the device (it's not unheard of, but it might be easier and faster to reset the wireless password).

However, this means you need to access the wireless router in order to change it, and I'll warn you now, if you do change the wireless password, all those devices currenlty attached, will need the new passwrod. This you'll need to be wired for, and you'll need to know the address, username and password of the router (again, unless you changed it, it might be on the bottom of the modem).

It might be wise to call the 1800verizon number and say that you need to reset your wireless password, and let them go through their script (it allows for them to see if your modem needs resetting depending on make and model). I know that's most likely not what you want to hear, but depending on your Tech skill level, it might be the fastest way.

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