Please help with my ethernet!

[violinplayer]

Hi!

I recently bought a laptop.
 I have been trying to hook it up to the internet, but when I try to hook my desktop modem up to the ethernet ports instead of the USB port, I cant get onto the internet.
When I check the internet connection, it says that a network cable is unplugged. I have tried another of the same modem, I have tried different ethernet cables, and even tried hooking it directly to my laptop. I get the same message on both computers, that a network cable is unplugged. Does anybody know why this is happening, and how I can fix it? Thanks. Any help will be appreciated.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Sounds like the network adapter on your laptop may not work.  PCMCIA network cards are quite cheap...

[violinplayer]

But the ethernet wont work on my desktop either. When the people from comcast first hooked it up, they couldnt get the ethernet to work so they just hooked the modem up to the USB port. Now that I have a laptop, I NEED it hooked up to the ethernet port, so that I can have internet on my laptop as well. Right now I am working off of the USB port, but then I cant share a network with my laptop.

[GX1_Man]

So this is a known problem from the time Comcast started? I would contact them to rectify it if the no ethernet problem is on their end.