WAN Miniport (IP)?

Strange thing happened a couple days ago... I woke up one morning to find that my wireless/local internet connections were not working. When I checked my hardware under device manager, I saw that there was a little yellow exclamation mark beside 'WAN Miniport (IP)'. Updating the driver failed as it said that it was either 'corrupted or missing'.
Actually, this has happened a couple times before with other random drivers mysteriously vanishing from my files... but those were usually just audio drivers and could be downloaded and reinstalled again... Right now Im stuck without internet on my only computer and have been visiting the local public library for checking my email etc.... but this is a serious drawback and inconvenience for me.
Well, if I dont have a copy of Windows to reinstall this driver, and cant connect to the internet in any way (to repair the missing driver through windows update?).... is there a way to download this driver via another source? I googled 'WAN Miniport (IP)' and came up with various download sites, but all redirected to the Microsoft windows update page...
I am running WinXPpro SP2, and no... system restore did not manage to fix this driver... Warranty has expired, so sending it for repairs is probably not the best choice for a 3-year-old laptop.
Is this computer now useless, or is there a way to save it?
Thanks for any help you can provide on this matter.

[edit] screenshot:

 

Try the MFG web site for your drivers. Just download them to a USB memory stick and install from there.

If the port has failed you can always go with a USB to ethernet adapter or a PCMCI card.

 

At the library/else save the specific driver in a flash memory stick and then install it at home.

 

Thanks for the replies; did you mean the manufacturer's website? If so, I have already tried re-installing the wireless network drivers (Atheros), which I downloaded from the Acer support site... However, the exclamation mark is still there beside the missing driver. Also, since the driver is required to boot windows, I am unable to uninstall it for a clean re-install.
Is there a particular site that contains this one driver? Ive included a screenshot in my original post.
Thanks again for any help.

 

I think this has to do with AOL, the wan miniport services.

Do this; Start, Run, services.msc

And make sure that the (C:\WINDOWS\wanmpsvc.exe) is started.

 

I tried doing what you suggested but couldnt find the specified service... Actually, I dont think I even have AOL. Im just about ready to give up on this... but then again, I cant afford to get myself another laptop anytime soon. Its strange because Ive never seen this driver before until now...

 

Have you tried to remove AOL with the add/remove programs application?

 

Have you tried booting into safe mode, then un-install and re-install the drives. I have had a few programs that safe mode was the only way to get rid of them.

 

Well, Safe Mode helped me fix the driver problem so it seems nothing is missing or corrupted... however, Im still unable to connect to the internet via my wireless network. Im not sure, but it may have something to do with windows firewall, which seems not to work anymore... maybe my network card is dead or something.
[edit]will update with screenshots:

 

I experienced this exact same problem last night when I did a repair installation of XP on my eee PC. I was originally running XP sp2 but when I did the repair installation I used a disc I created with SP3 slipstreamed. SP3 added the WAN miniport entry in device manager and now I cannot see any networks with my wireless card even though I keep getting a balloon popup saying "One or more Wireless networks detected"..but when I open the connection manager no networks appear..

How do I fix the wan miniport driver so I can get it to work? It sounds like removing it doesn't work and I've tried disabling it and that does nothing to fix the problem.

 

Fixed my problem.

1. Edited registry to allow uninstall of "Wan Miniport (IP)" device (this was the most difficult part...i'll post a link to where I found the info for this step when I find it again)
2. Took the file called "c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf" from another working XP installation and copied it to a flash drive
3. Reinstalled Wan Miniport through add new hardware > add a new hardware device > network adapters > microsoft > wan miniport (IP) .. select "have disk" and find the file called "netrasa.inf" saved on the flash drive
4. Reinstall wifi drivers if not already installed
5. reboot and test connection.. if it's still not working then...
6. go to run > services.msc and make sure any services that reference networking in any way is not disabled and set to automatic. this was my problem.
7. reboot and test for connectivity.

hope this helps someone else with this problem..