Reformatted desktop not recognizing integrated network adapter, not a driver issue, any solutions?

Dell XPS 400 with no real problems. I recently received some rogue security malware and it rewrote my registry a little, changed my programs, disabled my anti-virus programs etc. I would be considered a newb when it comes to this stuff but I have a cursory understanding. I used the utility partition "restore" feature to reformat the C drive but when it finished, I couldn't access the internet. I have done this all before and had no problems getting online. I looked in the device manager and it doesn't have anything listed under network adapter, nor could I find any unknown devices/system devices etc that seemed to be the network adapter. So I reformatted again after dinking around with the registry and a few other tricks I read for other computers. I keep hearing to enable the network adapter on the BIOS but I went into the BIOS (F2 Setup during boot) and enabled everything I could find though I couldn't find anything on a network adapter. It rebooted telling me there was nothing plugged into SATA slot 3 and some others, blah blah blah, I hit ignore and it booted fine. Still no other issues other than no network adapter. Once again I check device manager and nothing. I tried to install drivers but I don't know what driver(s) to install (I did go to dell and use the standard XPS 400 driver but to no avail) the drivers I did install all came up error code 10, failure to start the hardware. Uninstalled all that, reformatted again and turned off the power supply, booted and still no network adapter. I would prefer to use the integrated since I have no PCI slots remaining. Any ideas on what went wrong/how to fix it? So far as computer specs, I'm afraid I don't know anything about those long lists that get posted, just 3g processor, 1.5k ram, 80g HD, (yeah, I know buy a new comp, no $ though) XP Home Media Center. It's fairly standard XPS 400 so far as I remember. ThanksOrange power light comes on when ethernet cable is placed in the port but the computer doesn't seem to otherwise recognize the adapter as even being there.

You probably need to download the drivers for your motherboard. Sometimes the hardware cannot be detected without other drivers installed and you wouldn't know that because windows will put a vanilla driver in their place. Search dell's website for the list of drivers.