Presario 700 I can get the laptop to connect with a wireless card or lan plug connection to a network. Is there something that maybe missing on the laptop ?

First, you need 2 make sure if all your LAN devices are installed correctly on your laptop: To do this , right click on "My Computer" then select Manage from the menu that appeared. A window will open. Search and Locate then left-click "Device Manager" in the left colum. The right coloum should now contain many things. These things are all the devices that are installed in your system. To see if one or more of them are not working properly, there would be yellow, black or red exclimation marks (warnings) next or above their icons. If you do not see any exclmarks, then everything is working well.

Next, you'll have to change or edit your a.) IP address, b.) Network ID, c) WORKGROUP.

Inorder for your LT to communicate on a network, your LT must either have a static or an automatic ip address. An static IP means, that you as a user, specify an IP address and an automatic IP address will be "assigned" to you by the "server".
To check if you have an static or an auto IP click on start, then on "My network Places".A new windows should have opened now and 2 your left you should find the "View Network connection" globe icon. If you click on it the Network connections should appear in the right window. Right click on your Lan (Network Adapter) icon and select "Properties". Scroll down in the list 2 the bottom, to reach the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", then click on it once and then click on the "properties" tab to open it. A small window shouls appear, You will see an option that says "Optain IP address automatically" and "use the following Ip address" If you are on a "home network, it would be better 2 use your own... IP: 192.168.0.202 , SN: 255.255.255.0
We shall leave The Gateway box blank for now because that would belong to internet configerations like asdl or idsn.
If you are on a corporate, business Network, then it is most likely an automatic IP address.

Inorder for your LT to communicate on a network, your LT must be member of a "Workgroup" or a "Domain". To check your "member" configerations, right click my computer and select properties, then click on the "computer name" tab. Your OS should indicate: Your Computer desc, your Full computer name and Workgroup. If you are on a home/private little network, each entity in your LAN must have the SAME workgroup but each must have a UNIQUE IP. If you are on a corporate/business network, you will be added to a domain. To change your settings, click on the "Change..." button at the bottom right of the window. A new windows should appear and you can change to the settings you want.

Now, we have to test connectivity and if your IP and LAN are set up. To do this, click on start, click on run, then type in "cmd" without the quotes. A command prompt windows should now appear, so you will type in "Ipconfig". The output should show you your network connections, their MAC addreses and their IP addresses. Next type in the following "ping ::1" or "ping localhost", without the quotes. In this way, we test if OUR network is up. Now we need to check if we can see or info other computers on the network. FInd out another computers IP or Computer name thats on the network. Then type in "ping COMPUTERNAMEORIP" where computername or ip is the computername or the ip of the other computer without the quotes. you will see something like this when successful :
Reply from 176.16.63.80: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127
Reply from 176.16.63.80: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127
Reply from 176.16.63.80: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127
Reply from 176.16.63.80: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127
Now you know that your LAN is working.

You will also need to check your firewall settings and if you have file and printer sharing enabled.

Kind Regards
Stef