How do I reset my laptop?

My lap top went on the internet fine yesturday in the pm i couldn't get on internet it said" Plug a cable into the network adapter local area connection" i check all connections and reset dlink and still not working. Any advise. thanks

• Answer:

  What most likely happened is something such as a power serge or something else damaged your network card drivers, there for your local area connection does not think the Ethernet cable is plugged in. To solve this if you have a driver disk that came with your computer you might bee able to get the drivers for your network card from that, otherwise you are going to need to take your laptop to a computer store. The second possibility could bee a lightning strike could have damaged the Ethernet port on your cable modem, this is very rare, however in over 4 years of providing internet support for cable internet I did see this a few times.