Unique Problem?

[Icielost]

Whole New Edit:

Here's the facts: Was gifted a refurbished Del Mini 9 with Ubuntu/Gnome installed with no partitions. Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron

When I first had it, it work fine, played music, got wireless, and had space.

After updates all of that dissappeared. Even wireless started acting funny.

Things I did: Removed programs for space on hard drive.

Discovered wireless option was not even listed in the box anymore, I rebooted. Nothing happend.

Unistalled and then reinstalled NM. Nothing changed.

Reinstalled bluetooth(one program deleted). Nothing.

Enabled network help thingies(dont know what the're called)but they were in the Synaptic Package Manager. Still nothing.

Did Terminal commands.Kept getting bash and some other thing saying command not found.Then got:

icie@icie:~$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:21:70:ca:3d:d3
inet addr:192.168.1.73 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::221:70ff:feca:3dd3/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:6119 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2149 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2688916 (2.5 MB) TX bytes:326851 (319.1 KB)
Interrupt:220 Base address:0x8000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:9550 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:9550 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:478348 (467.1 KB) TX bytes:478348 (467.1 KB)

icie@icie:~$
icie@icie:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

icie@icie:~$ lshw -C network
bash: lshw: command not found
icie@icie:~$
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heres what it looks like since I can't get a screenshot:
________________
Wired Connection
o Auto Eth0
VPN Connections
Edit Connections
_______________

I dont have a LiveCD(any cd it all), Flash drive, external machines, and etc. Just a internet cable and the del mini infront of me.

I cant find anyone that has anywhere near the same problem as I do.Did I really screw up bad?Please help.Thanks in advance.

[Icielost]

Moved to OP.

[sailthesea]

Perhaps you might find a clue here :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=917187
Hardy could be a bit of a strain on a mini and updating seems to be a major pain in the ...
A lighter distro would seem to be the answer
You can use Wubi if you can't make CD or boot from USB:)

[snowpine]

Do yourself a favor (in my opinion): install Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix.

Get it here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-netbook

And install it without a CD drive using these instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromImgFiles

Dell is a very good hardware manufacturer, but they are not as good at operating systems compared with Canonical (the developers of Ubuntu). You will be happier once you've switched from Dell's version to the "mainstream" Ubuntu.

[Icielost]

Neither option given has change anything.I also dont have a USB Flas Drive.Thankyou both though. Bumping for more help.

[Icielost]

Accidental post.

[Icielost]

Do yourself a favor (in my opinion): install Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix.

Get it here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-netbook

And install it without a CD drive using these instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromImgFiles

Dell is a very good hardware manufacturer, but they are not as good at operating systems compared with Canonical (the developers of Ubuntu). You will be happier once you've switched from Dell's version to the "mainstream" Ubuntu.

I having trouble removing the download now. It continues to try and download even after I paused and canceled it.

[snowpine]

You`ll have a difficult time installing a new operating system without an external drive of some sort. I recommend an inexpensive 1gb USB flash drive.

[Icielost]

Thanks for the help. I found my answer in this thread:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=197102 . I dont know how it got disabled to begin with but now my only problem is getting it to connect to our wireless.I also did a reinstall command for NM(found it on another thread) that took out all the crap that was junking up my harddrive. Thanks a million though.:)