Network Card Woes !

[dizzynoodle]

I have just bought a set of network cards for my Pcs. The old one used to run fine but it was only 10. I bought a COMPEX ReadyLink Express 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter as an upgrade. On the WIn ME machine noworries installed right away.

On the win2k, machine i keep getting this error even after pointng during the installaltion to the correct driver....


How can i solve this problem ?

[Guru]

D/load the latest drivers from www.realtek.com.tw !

[dizzynoodle]

i did from the Compex SIte Which is the brand of the card... did not help !?

[Guru]

Originally posted by dizzynoodle
i did from the Compex SIte Which is the brand of the card... did not help !?

What ver.?

The latest is: "Windows 2000 driver (Logo Master ID: 41948) 3.95 2001/5/4 42KB"

d/load here!

[dizzynoodle]

Thanx is that for the compex card ? or generic Realtec cards ?

[dizzynoodle]

I tried it ... i did not help ! I keep getting this annoying message at the end of the install... i can't figure out what is means ?

[Guru]

And you followed the following steps right?

Installing driver for Win98/Win98 SE/Windows2000/Windows ME :
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Before you start with the installation process, make sure that your
adapter should be properly installed in your PCI bus slot.
Executing Win98/Win98 SE/Windows2000/Windows ME, it will auto-detect
your system configuration and find the adapter hardware.
( If Win98/Win98 SE/Windows2000/Windows ME does not prompt that it
detects the PCI Ethernet adapter,there must be something wrong with
the RTL8139 PCI Fast Ethernet adapter or your system enviroment.)

1. Ask you to select which driver you want to install, select "Driver
from disk provided by hardware manufacturer".

2. Insert the Realtek RTL8139 driver disk into drive A and specify
the setup file pathname A:\WIN98 (for Windows 98/98 SE) or
A:\WIN2000 (for Windows 2000)
A:\Windows ME (for Windows ME)

3. Win98/Win98 SE/Windows2000/Windows ME will appear some messages
to insert Win98/Win98 SE/Windows2000/Windows ME system disk to
complete setup step.

4. Win98/Win98 SE/Windows2000/Windows ME will finish the other
installation procedure automatically, then you restart the system.

[dizzynoodle]

I hAVE done all that... about 25 time ! Do you think it could be coz it is on IRQ9 with 3 other devices ? SHould i switch my PC to STandard PC as oppesed to ACPI ? Then i culd control the IRQ distrubution better, do you think it would help... as i am worried i get other conflicts if i also do that ?

[The PIT]

It Should work with acpi properly. Could well be a duff network card believe it or not. I've had the same problem in the past okay in 98 but not go in NT on any machine swapped the card out and bingo worked like a charm.
Other ways of doing it are via the control panel and add new hardware. Select add new device and then no I want to select from a hardware list. Select network adaptor and then have disk if the card isn't listed.
Alos check to see if the device isn't already partly installed if it is select it and choose update drivers.
It maybe because win2000 is incorrectly detecting the card and looking for the wrong drivers. Have a hunt for inf files containing realtek.

[Guru]

Did you uninstall the old card?

[Jammrock]

1) Let Win2k install the card using the bad drivers.

2) Download and unpack (by double clicking on the .exe) the newest drivers for your NIC from Compex, I'll use C:\NIC is this example.

3) Open the Device Manager (right-click My Computer icon on the desktop, select Properties, Hardware tab, Device Manager button).

4) Expand 'Network Adapters' by clicking on the plus sign (+). Double-click on the 'RealTek' adapter that Win2k installed to bring up the properties.

5) Select the Driver tab, then click the Update Driver button.

6) Next -> Display a list of known... -> Have Disk -> point the installer to C:\NIC\WIN2000 (or whatever dir you put them in) -> OK -> Next....etc...

This should force Win2k to use your driver instead of the built in one. On a side note, just because the card is made by Compex, doesn't mean the NIC chip is made by Compex. Many companies by cheap chips from RealTek, LinkSYS and Addtronic and slap them on their on PCB and re-label it. In those cases a PnP OS like Win2k would detect the card based off the chip maker, not the card maker. This is why your Compex card is being detected as a RealTek card.

Jammrock

[Guru]

This is why your Compex card is being detected as a RealTek card.

And why I recomended using the latest realtek drivers insted of the lates available from Compex! If you want to make sure what chip the card uses take a look at the card!

[dizzynoodle]

Thanx i ahve already done all that... still gives me the same annoying error... i even re-installed Win2k onto of the old one, incase there were bad sys files... did not do much, maybe i should do a REPAIR Win2k installation, watcha think ?

[dizzynoodle]

OK i am going nuts here... i just went out and got another NIC, just in case that one is weird... i am getting the same error with this one... it seesm that there is something wrong with my Win2K here ! The drivers are correct... it just does not want to accept them ? what shall i do to fix this ?

[Guru]

Did you uninstall the old drivers?

Go to the hardware wizard then choose: uninstall / unplug a device! Then choose: uninstall a device! Next click: Show hidden devices then look for the old NIC! (Can usualy be found twice!)