NIC issues

[Bloodfire]

OK the scenario:

storm in area, powers is knocked out for 2+ hours.

The issue:
While all other computers in the house have internet and local network connectivity one computer does not. trying to ping the network and internet yields nothing but if I ping the NIC i'm fine. The device manager only shows VPN stuff from VMware which are non-existent cards. Also, when I attempt to reinstall the drivers it tells me there is no controller.

My speculation:
I have reason to believe the storm sent a surge thru the wire and it could have fried the chip.

The Question(s):
Have I overlooked anything? Is there another way to look for a resolution? or am I gonna have to go and buy a new NIC?

[Caiyuo]

Seems unlikely that messing with the physical card will pay any dividends so I guess the only option for testing whether or not the NIC actually shit the bed would be to try and boot to like a a live CD of a linux distro and see if it detects a NIC and connects. Seems weird that only the NIC would be affected if it were a power surge coming through the outlet, unless you mean running through the ethernet cables which I'm not even aware was a thing.

e: naturally when I go to post this we lose power and the internet goes out, lol. thank god for the textarea cache extension.

[Bloodfire]

oh the PC detects the NIC, if i try to ping it with 127.0.01 or look in bios it's there, but for some reason its missing from the device manager and I don't know why.

[Cheerios]

Easiest solution: Go buy a new NIC at a local shop (price shouldn't matter) to swap in and troubleshoot with. If it works, then you know there's a clear problem with your old one itself and not with another component affecting it. If it doesn't work, then just return the NIC and try to find another cause of the problem.

In both cases, you can return the NIC and then just purchase a different one that fits your budget/has better reviews if you're certain your current one is dead.

Another way to check would involve swapping the NICs from another PC (Y) in your own home with your own(Z). If your PC has Y's NIC and it works, but the other PC now has Z's NIC and doesn't, then you'll know for sure that you are in need of a new card, and it's not some other hardware issue.