Ethernet cable not detected + DVD drive won't read discs

[zannej]

My brother's Frankenstein computer (will have to look up full specs) just stopped being able to detect the ethernet cable after a power outage that blew the transformer & took the power out almost all day. His computer was plugged in to a brand new APC. The computer has Win10 but says it is not genuine.
The layout for the connection is Router to Hub to computer. There is a wireless extender also plugged in to the hub.
VPN, firewall, and virus protection were turned off to see if it helped.
Thus far we have tried:

• Rebooting
• Running troubleshooter which says the network card is working properly
• Checking to see if drivers are updated (they are)
• Disabling network card, rebooting, enabling, rebooting
• Moving ethernet cable to different port on router
• Moving ethernet cable to different port on Hub (including swapping it with extender that is getting signal)
• Changing out ethernet cables to see if the cable was the problem (it wasn't)
• Changing settings for cable input to 100mbs full/half, etc
• Ethernet to USB adapter (but apparently it it needs drivers installed but the DVD drive won't read the CD so it won't install)
• ASUS wireless network adapter USB (same problem as above-- won't install)
• Googling solutions that have videos & instructions but the UI & options they show are not the same on his computer. Some of the options they list are missing.

We have not tried plugging the computer directly in to the primary ethernet cable without the hub because it won't reach. However other things plugged in to the hub are able to connect/receive signal/internet so it is likely not the hub.

Also need to figure out how to get his DVD drive to read- but I don't know if he's done any troubleshooting on that. I'm waiting for him to message me back with permission to troubleshoot it.

He has a full genuine Win10 to install as a repair but couldn't do it bc of the DVD drive not reading.

I'm thinking maybe I could read the drivers in my drive & then put them on thumb drive to see if they can be installed that way, but need to figure out the best way to copy that data over.

So, what could be the problem? It was working fine before the power outage & the diagnostic says the card is fine but my friend thinks the port was damaged somehow. Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[zannej]

Update: It turns out my brother sucks at troubleshooting & was wrong about the hub transmitting data. I went & examined it-- most of the lights are off & when I tested it by moving the cables around I found out it wasn't working. I removed all of the cords & ran the primary ethernet cable through the extender directly & then ran another cable out of it to the computer. It worked & my brother now has internet. This was after I copied the drivers for the wireless network dongle to USB & installed it. It was unable to pick up a wifi signal from where it was so I realized the extender was not working like my brother had thought. He's ordered an ASUS access point/repeater/router that will pair with our current router. We have the ASUS RT-N66U and he ordered the ASUS RT-N12 as an access point. It will allow wireless devices to get signal at the back of the house and allow wired connections as well.

Unfortunately, his DVD drive is still not working. It has updated drivers, it says it is working properly & is detected when rebooting after uninstalling, but when my brother looks at the list of things to access in Windows Explorer, the drive does not show up so no discs inside can be read.