Reformat gone bad - please help

That's the confusing part, Greg. Each time that I 'uninstall' a driver (from device manager) and reinstall one of the two drivers that I showed you in the screenshot I provided and I check the device manager again it shows each time that I have a REALTEK driver. I will look at the site now and compare the file names.

Where would I find 'optional' ??

gregrocker said:

The drivers for that Wireless Device are here: REALTEK - Download driver for RTL8185 and Windows. Compare the Vista 64 bit with the one installed now. Windows Update could offer a newer one, and may already have under Optional.

Yesterday you said you'd imported these network adapter drivers from the Acer site but there is no Realtek download for that model Acer M3202 desktop here: Acer | Download

Is it possible the driver came during Win7 install, from Realtek site, Windows Updates or the disk your Mom found? Compare it with the official Realtek website download which has Vista as the latest.

Okay, I'll wait on the driver. What's next?

Slartybart said:

No, please do not do anything else.

I guess we'll have to pause for now if this is the next step, because unfortunately my stepdad is using the wifi signal at the moment for netflix. I will post the screenshot as soon as possible.

Slartybart said:

Good, the wired config is correct.

Now, let's see if we can get ethernet connected.

Plug an Ethernet cable in the Win7 machine and connect the other end to a jack on the Wireless Cable modem/router.

and then post a new Network and Shraing screenshot

I connected the ethernet cable to the Win7 pc and I currently have internet. Why do I have internet this time as opposed to the countless other times Ive tried plugging in directly? I'm not sure, but the only thing I did differently was this time I used the ethernet cable which was plugged directly into the Win8 machine. What was I plugging in before? I was plugging in the ethernet cable that was plugged into the TIVO wireless device (I'm not sure what it's actually called but I can take a pic if you would like). So apparetly that ethernet cable is not a universal one. Why did I not use the ethernet cable that was plugged into the Win8 machine before now? Because each time I tried I my stepdad acted like I was gonna damage something irreparably. To give you an idea of what I mean, I did it anyway this time and he got mad and stormed out of the room.

Anyways, I will post the screenshot of the wired IP4 config in just a moment.

Slartybart said:

I'm not sure what cable/modem/router you have or what is connected to it.

If there is an available jack on the cable/mode/router and you have an extra Ethernet cable, you can connect the Win7 machine without disturbing the movie