Laptops :: Network card not recognized for Dell c610

thehatsrule - it is a used laptop that I pick up cheap so it is not
a big loss. I did check the bios and could not find anything
related to the network adapter but I do not have a manual
and could not find one online that explain the bios settings
but most I can figure out. I was just trying to understand
if the lspci command does not identify a hardware element
is it safe to assume the hardware does not exist or is
malfunctioning or can this also result from a missing
or misconfigured driver. I am still not clear on this but in
my case I think it is hardware as both linux and windows
do not see a network adapter.

original here.