Laptop doesn't recognise ethernet cable

[Splinters]

I've just arrived at my new flat and the internet connection is modem and ethnet cable. My laptop (Dell, 2yo, Windows 7) has never been used with ethernet cable before. Itconnected to the internet for about a minute when I plugged in the cable, but now it has totally ceased to recognise that anything's plugged in at all. We know the cable is ok; can anyone tell me if I need to reconfigure my laptop somehow? And how to do it? I'm in Moscow (so can't tell you much about ISP etc) and really need to Skype dh...

Thank you so much!

Have you tried restarting the laptop with the cable plugged in?

This happened to me I had to install the ethernet drivers from the dell website

I switched it off with the cable plugged in, and when I woke it up an hour later the internet was flowing freely. Thank you both!