Problems installing network card (ethernet 10/100 NIC PCI)

[Robert Heiling]

Well it is windows....
but yes, that is about as comprehensive as possible.
It's rare, but I have received defective/dead/etc network
cards. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion yet though as
there were a lot of variables when windows wouldn't find
it's OS files and multiple drivers were tried.

It may have already been tried and I could easily have missed it, but didn't the
original installation CD have a "setup.exe" or somesuch on it? I've only seen
the CD used early on in response to Windows installation prompts, but never as a
case of running that setup simply on its own.

Bob

 

[Noozer]

Actually, I just realized... The Realtek 8139 chip is supported out of the
box on Windows XP. I always tell folks to buy these cards since they are
just plug'n'go.

I'd suspect a conflict with something else, or a damaged OS.

Try the following steps...

1. Go to ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and uninstall any drivers that you may have
installed for this card.

2. Reboot into SAFE MODE and remove everything under the Other Devices
folder and anything under Network Adapters that you don't recognize. SAFE
MODE allows you to also see devices that aren't installed, but still have
software loaded.

3. Do a Windows file repair - "Start->Run->SFC /SCANNOW" This will scan your
Windows files and restore any that are damaged or wrong.

4a. Put the card into a different PCI slot. Be SURE to pull the plug (or
turn off the switch) at the BACK of the computer. There is always power on
the PCI slots if the power supply is turned on.

4b. While inside the PC, consider removing cards in other PCI slots.

4c. When boooting, consider going into your BIOS settings and turning off
any devices in your settings that you aren't using. COM ports, LPT ports,
SATA controllers, etc. This may free up resources and allow the network card
to work.

5. Windows will load and SHOULD be able to load your drivers without any
help. You might not even see the New Hardware Wizard.

6. Go do a Windows Update (NEVER let it install HARDWARE drivers) to make
sure that the Windows file repair you did earlier didn't undo any security
updates.

At this point, if it doesn't work, I'd try and exchange it for another card
that uses a different chip. Avoid anything by Linksys... Their LNE-100 card
has a few dozen versions, and no identifying part number - so you never know
what driver is correct.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

Well it is windows....
but yes, that is about as comprehensive as possible.
It's rare, but I have received defective/dead/etc network
cards. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion yet though as
there were a lot of variables when windows wouldn't find
it's OS files and multiple drivers were tried.

Well if the card was dead how would windows know it
was a realtec 8129 (even though it says 8139 on it).
It must have communicated with the card to discover that so
I would say that probably rules out the card being duff?
I did think the 'gold' on the connectors was very close to
geather, maybe touching, but if so then that would have fried
my computer completely.

I think it couldn't find the files because they were zipped,
when I unzipped them and put them elsewhere and pointed
windows there it did find them. I didin't unzip everything mainly
the net??.zip cos that looked like the stuff needed.
Then it would say some files were older, do you want to keep
this file, I say yes and it goes throuogh a few untill it got
to telnet.exe (IIRC) then the machine just hung (had to
remove the power cable!!!


Actuallly I just loaded the manual (acrobat file) onto this machine so
I could look at it easier (much quicker) and I noticed something.
When you are asked to insert the windows CD it did not find the
file it was looking for, however it is clear from the example that it
didn't find it then either as you can see it say...
"The file netmib1.dll could not be found...on windows (SE) CDROM
........"
So they didn't find that file either!!!
It goes on.. check the path below is correct (how would I know?)
then click OK.
Well if you click OK you just get the same message again.
SO YOU CANNOT COMPLETE THE INSTALLATION FOLLOWING
THEIR INSTRUCTION!!
So the card cannot have been installed by the person producing the
documentation
and screen shots.

I was going to add a copy of the 'manual' as an attachment but it is a bit
big.
17 meg.

Also in a readme file in section 'drivers' I note there is no driver for
windows98:-
REALTEK

REALTEK

For WIN98SE EA1110R\EA1115R
:\Driver\REALTEK\Windows\VEN_10EC_DEV_8139\WIN98SE

REALTEK

For WINME EA1110R\EA1115R :\Driver\REALTEK\Windows\VEN_10EC_DEV_8139\WINME

REALTEK

For WIN2000 EA1110R\EA1115R
:\Driver\REALTEK\Windows\VEN_10EC_DEV_8139\WIN2000

REALTEK

For WINXP EA1110R\EA1115R :\Driver\REALTEK\Windows\VEN_10EC_DEV_8139\WINXP

REALTEK

For Linux22x EA1110R\EA1115R
:\Driver\REALTEK\Unix\linux22x-8139cp(100)\linux-2.2.x

REALTEK

For Linux24x EA1110R\EA1115R :\Driver\REALTEK\Unix\linux24x-8139cp(160)


**************** There is one in this section under VIA ************?

VIA

VIA

For WIN98 EA1110V\EA1115V :\Driver\VIA\VEN_1106_DEV_3106

VIA

For WINME EA1110V\EA1115V :\Driver\VIA\VEN_1106_DEV_3106

VIA

For WIN2000 EA1110V\EA1115V :\Driver\VIA\VEN_1106_DEV_3106

VIA

For WINXP EA1110V\EA1115V :\Driver\VIA\VEN_1106_DEV_3106

VIA

For LINUX EA1110V\EA1115V :\Driver\VIA\VEN_1106_DEV_3106\LINUX





So.........it seems the driver could not have been installed by the people
who

sold the product. So where does that leave me?



No wonder it was only £5!!!!!



HAving said that it should be possible to install it with the correct files?

And how does it know which files it wants off the windows CD?

 

[Bazzer Smith]

It may have already been tried and I could easily have missed it, but
didn't the
original installation CD have a "setup.exe" or somesuch on it? I've only
seen
the CD used early on in response to Windows installation prompts, but
never as a
case of running that setup simply on its own.

It does have a setup.exe although I dont know whatit does as I have
never tried it yet.
I just assumed i could install windows from this disk, I could be wrong!!

 

[Bazzer Smith]

Actually, I just realized... The Realtek 8139 chip is supported out of the
box on Windows XP. I always tell folks to buy these cards since they are
just plug'n'go.

I'd suspect a conflict with something else, or a damaged OS.

Try the following steps...

1. Go to ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and uninstall any drivers that you may have
installed for this card.

2. Reboot into SAFE MODE and remove everything under the Other Devices
folder and anything under Network Adapters that you don't recognize. SAFE
MODE allows you to also see devices that aren't installed, but still have
software loaded.

3. Do a Windows file repair - "Start->Run->SFC /SCANNOW" This will scan
your Windows files and restore any that are damaged or wrong.

4a. Put the card into a different PCI slot. Be SURE to pull the plug (or
turn off the switch) at the BACK of the computer. There is always power on
the PCI slots if the power supply is turned on.

4b. While inside the PC, consider removing cards in other PCI slots.

4c. When boooting, consider going into your BIOS settings and turning off
any devices in your settings that you aren't using. COM ports, LPT ports,
SATA controllers, etc. This may free up resources and allow the network
card to work.

5. Windows will load and SHOULD be able to load your drivers without any
help. You might not even see the New Hardware Wizard.

6. Go do a Windows Update (NEVER let it install HARDWARE drivers) to make
sure that the Windows file repair you did earlier didn't undo any security
updates.

At this point, if it doesn't work, I'd try and exchange it for another
card that uses a different chip. Avoid anything by Linksys... Their
LNE-100 card has a few dozen versions, and no identifying part number - so
you never know what driver is correct.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

Actually, I just realized... The Realtek 8139 chip is supported out of the
box on Windows XP. I always tell folks to buy these cards since they are
just plug'n'go.

I'd suspect a conflict with something else, or a damaged OS.

Try the following steps...

1. Go to ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and uninstall any drivers that you may have
installed for this card.

2. Reboot into SAFE MODE and remove everything under the Other Devices
folder and anything under Network Adapters that you don't recognize. SAFE
MODE allows you to also see devices that aren't installed, but still have
software loaded.

3. Do a Windows file repair - "Start->Run->SFC /SCANNOW" This will scan
your Windows files and restore any that are damaged or wrong.

4a. Put the card into a different PCI slot. Be SURE to pull the plug (or
turn off the switch) at the BACK of the computer. There is always power on
the PCI slots if the power supply is turned on.

4b. While inside the PC, consider removing cards in other PCI slots.

4c. When boooting, consider going into your BIOS settings and turning off
any devices in your settings that you aren't using. COM ports, LPT ports,
SATA controllers, etc. This may free up resources and allow the network
card to work.

5. Windows will load and SHOULD be able to load your drivers without any
help. You might not even see the New Hardware Wizard.

6. Go do a Windows Update (NEVER let it install HARDWARE drivers) to make
sure that the Windows file repair you did earlier didn't undo any security
updates.

At this point, if it doesn't work, I'd try and exchange it for another
card that uses a different chip. Avoid anything by Linksys... Their
LNE-100 card has a few dozen versions, and no identifying part number - so
you never know what driver is correct.

As I said in my rather long (last) reply to Kony, it appears following the
'manual' didn't work for the person who produced the 'manual'.
It clearly shows it not finding a file it is looking for, and advises you
to click OK which will result in the same situation (file not found).
It does also say 'check path below is correct' but as you don't know
what the path should be anyway thats not much help.

However I did get past this 'impass' by unzipping some of the .cab
files on the disk, copying them elsewhere and then changing the
path to that new location. However I got futher problem later
on (total lock ups). I managed on a couple of occasions to
avoid these lockups and 'complete' the installation however
it always resulted in the it saying setup failed or something
like that.

I will give it another try though.

 

[Robert Heiling]

It does have a setup.exe although I dont know whatit does as I have
never tried it yet.
I just assumed i could install windows from this disk, I could be wrong!!

But the way you normally perform the installation from that CD is by running
that setup.exe (simply double-click on it). I strongly suspect that you will get
up & running if you do that although it could be problematical now because of
the other installations. In any case, you've nothing to lose by trying it at
this point.

Bob

 

[Bazzer Smith]

But the way you normally perform the installation from that CD is by
running
that setup.exe (simply double-click on it). I strongly suspect that you
will get
up & running if you do that although it could be problematical now because
of
the other installations. In any case, you've nothing to lose by trying it
at
this point.

I have given up on it for the time being.
I just had a rather nasty experience!!
As I have two comupters but only one monitor I
have been, repeatedly plugging the monitor into each
computer to see the screen. Anyway its hard to see what you
are doing bending over the computer and I managed to break off
one of the pins on the connector!!! (and bend another one).
I though I would be without my lovely computer (and internet)
however when I straightened out the bent pin the monitor still worked
despite the missiing pin (I woonder what its for?).

Actually I just looked it up and it is pin 7, Analog video ground.
So obviously not too important!! (thankfully).

Gonna leave it alone for now before I do anymore damage!!!

 

[Bazzer Smith]

wrong!!

But the way you normally perform the installation from that CD is by running
that setup.exe (simply double-click on it). I strongly suspect that you will get
up & running if you do that although it could be problematical now because of
the other installations. In any case, you've nothing to lose by trying it at
this point.

I will try it a bit later when I am feeling braver. As you say I have
nothing
to lose as it is a spare hard drive I will be using, if it doesn't
work i can just delete whatever it puts on it. i need to find the jumper
settings to set it to master anyway, but I think they might be written on
that drive. I am a little warey fiddling about with my computer at the
moment since I broke a pin off the monitor.
Actually I am not 100% sure I did break the pin off, I suspect that pin
was always missing. as they seem fairly robust, but you never know.
apart from anything else it would be interestring to see how well the
computer performed from a fresh install, i think all the cr@p
it accumulated over the years slowed it down considerably. I will have a go
at it over the next few days anyway.

 

[Robert Heiling]

I will try it a bit later when I am feeling braver. As you say I have
nothing
to lose as it is a spare hard drive I will be using, if it doesn't
work i can just delete whatever it puts on it.

There appears to be some sort of miscommunication then. I was under the
impression that you were still running Win98 on the old machine that you had
installed the 10/100 card into. Isn't that the one that you've been installing
all these other drivers into? That's the one that I was talking about when I
mentioned the setup.exe on the 10/100 card's installation CD.

i need to find the jumper
settings to set it to master anyway, but I think they might be written on
that drive. I am a little warey fiddling about with my computer at the
moment since I broke a pin off the monitor.
Actually I am not 100% sure I did break the pin off, I suspect that pin
was always missing. as they seem fairly robust, but you never know.
apart from anything else it would be interestring to see how well the
computer performed from a fresh install, i think all the cr@p
it accumulated over the years slowed it down considerably. I will have a go
at it over the next few days anyway.

You can do the driver install after recreating a fresh Win98 boot drive also in
exactly the same way, but I was hoping to save you the trouble of the Win98
re-installation.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

But the way you normally perform the installation from that CD is by

There appears to be some sort of miscommunication then. I was under the
impression that you were still running Win98 on the old machine that you
had
installed the 10/100 card into. Isn't that the one that you've been
installing
all these other drivers into? That's the one that I was talking about when
I
mentioned the setup.exe on the 10/100 card's installation CD.

Yes win98 is on the old machine, the new one is XP

You can do the driver install after recreating a fresh Win98 boot drive
also in
exactly the same way, but I was hoping to save you the trouble of the
Win98
re-installation.

I tried a win98 reinstall and managed it, which was a surprise to me as i
have
never done it before!! I had a bit of trouble getting the screen resolution
up
to 600X800 (or whatever) but managed that too.

However I treid running the NIC installation disk but it said something
like "setup.exe requires oleaut32.exe (IIRC) so it wouldn't work.
I seem to remember that oleaut32.exe pops up a bit in problematic area's
anyone know what it does?
Also I could not get broadband to work on it, although it did install
but it couldn't make a connection. (F*** know why :O) ), I guess
BB was not around when the disk was made!!

I have just about given up on it to be honest, although I am learning
quite a bit in the process (learning that I will never succeed -lol).

I need to try and get BB working on it cos everything is out of date
really.

Anyway I have had enough of it for today!!!

 

[Robert Heiling]

Yes win98 is on the old machine, the new one is XP


I tried a win98 reinstall and managed it, which was a surprise to me as i
have
never done it before!! I had a bit of trouble getting the screen resolution
up
to 600X800 (or whatever) but managed that too.

However I treid running the NIC installation disk but it said something
like "setup.exe requires oleaut32.exe (IIRC) so it wouldn't work.
I seem to remember that oleaut32.exe pops up a bit in problematic area's
anyone know what it does?

Hmmmm. There's no such file on any of my systems, including Win98, but I do see
that one by that name gets a lot of press as a trojan. It's hard to see how you
could have something like that on a fresh install, but who knows.

What my Win98 does have is a oleaut32.dll in the windows/system folder and it
has a newer date which leads me to believe that it might have come on the
install disk when I was doing exactly what you are attempting with a 10/100 card
under Win98 last year. I'll make a copy available to you if yours is missing.
Aha! in fact I see a copy that I was shipping special to the Win98 machine a
year ago, so I must have had problems at that time also and done the research,
but can't recall them now. I've put it up temporarily for you to download if you
choose.
http://home.comcast.net/~robheil/OLEAUT32.DLL (case sensitive to download)
It goes in C:\Windows\system

Also I could not get broadband to work on it, although it did install
but it couldn't make a connection. (F*** know why :O) ), I guess
BB was not around when the disk was made!!

That pretty much follows if the install failed.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

Hmmmm. There's no such file on any of my systems, including Win98, but I
do see
that one by that name gets a lot of press as a trojan. It's hard to see
how you
could have something like that on a fresh install, but who knows.

I mean oleaut32.dll which may in cab number 14, win14.cab,
have read references to visual basic and that the file is always in use.
(which maybe the prob), It is wanted by the card instalation disk
not by windows install, windows is install OK(ish).

What my Win98 does have is a oleaut32.dll in the windows/system folder and
it

oops just read that tooo late!!!

has a newer date which leads me to believe that it might have come on the
install disk when I was doing exactly what you are attempting with a
10/100 card
under Win98 last year. I'll make a copy available to you if yours is
missing.
Aha! in fact I see a copy that I was shipping special to the Win98 machine
a
year ago, so I must have had problems at that time also and done the
research,
but can't recall them now. I've put it up temporarily for you to download
if you
choose.
http://home.comcast.net/~robheil/OLEAUT32.DLL (case sensitive to
download)
It goes in C:\Windows\system

Thanks I amsuer i have one kicking around somoewhere myself (on the
former installation).

 

[kony]

I mean oleaut32.dll which may in cab number 14, win14.cab,
have read references to visual basic and that the file is always in use.
(which maybe the prob), It is wanted by the card instalation disk
not by windows install, windows is install OK(ish).

This is all ridiculous. You only needed the two bare files,
and when windows detects a network card, to point it to
them. Installing a network card on a new windows
installation (or any that hasn't been damaged somehow) takes
approximately 10 seconds.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

This is all ridiculous. You only needed the two bare files,
and when windows detects a network card, to point it to
them. Installing a network card on a new windows
installation (or any that hasn't been damaged somehow) takes
approximately 10 seconds.

Well I have sorted out the oleaut32.dll problem, or at least
it seems to have sorted itself out somehow but anyway I
could run the setup program, however it came up with the
same old problelm of not finding the drivers. However although
it was a fresh install of windows I may have screw it up a bit
by trying to install the card manually when the set-up program
would not run. I really don't understand it. Everything is so
inconsistant. I am pretty sure that the oleaut32.dll was there
all the time, as I understand it it is always in use and you would
have to boot to msdos to changeit anyway. Very confusing.
I think the setup program just takes a look at you system so
it can determine the correct two files (as you call them)
the driver (.sys) and the .inf file, which it them copies
to a folder windows/preiinstall, and you are them meant to
point windows to there to get the files, however there are
several files in there (several .sys and several .inf) some seem
to be paired like abc.sys abc.inf, some are not.
Anyway I will have another go at it, I will also to to install
broadband on it which should make things easier if I can connect to
the internet.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

This is all ridiculous. You only needed the two bare files,
and when windows detects a network card, to point it to
them. Installing a network card on a new windows
installation (or any that hasn't been damaged somehow) takes
approximately 10 seconds.

Well just to extend the farce further I decided to try a different PCI
slot, but being a bit hot I took off my jumper first, (and heard the
crackle of static) anyway I when I put it in (two) different slots
the card was not detected at all. Good I though, I have distroyed the
card completely so this farce is finally over. However unfortunately
when I put it back in it's original slot it was detected again and the
installation seemed to through like a dream, drivers found etc,
installation complete, reboot computer to finish.
However when i rebooted and looked in the the device manager
it said "The device loaders, ndis.vxd and ntkern.vxd could not
load the device driver". I noticed there was no ntkern.vxd in /system
so I copied a copy in but I still got the same message when I reinstalled
things. I wish I had destroyed the card because al it gives me is grief.


Actually I just googled the error message and the same problem is described
here:-
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1108306222

It sounds like it has been resolved (for the poster) but I have not
read it all yet, I don't have the energy. I expect will not work for
me but I will give it a go later.

 

[Bazzer Smith]

I bough a cheap network card 10/100 NIC PCI ethernet card
and a cross over cable with the intent of conecting 2 PC's.

Anyway I had some problem's installing it with the supplied
installation disk. At some point during the installation disk it
would say 'insert your windows98SE CDROM', I have
just windows98 not 98SE but I stuck that disk in anyway.
Then it tries to copy a pile of files off that disk but it says
it can't find them, so basically it fails to install. I have had
a 'browse' of my windows98 disk (and disk which came
with the card, but I could not seem to find the files either).

The files concerned (probably over 40 of em) were named
such as - dhcpcsvc.dll, icmp.dll Routetab.dll etc....
I noticed some of these files were already on my machine
in the system folder (probably quite a lot of em), I also know
I can download mising dll's from the net, however some
of the files were called 'networks' and 'protocol' (try googling
on those words for a file to download and you can see that
you will have problems cos you will get millions of irrelevant
things returned).

Anyway I tried to connect up the computers with a crossover cable
but it didn't seem to work.I also tried to connect to my cable modem
via the ethernet card but that didn't work either.

So I am not sure where I am or how to proceed, any ideas?
The computer I put the card in is an old one,Cryix MII 300,
maybe it can't use ethernet (I am out of my depth here!!).

Is there a 'standard' instalation I can download from somewhere?
I have never installed one of these cards before so I have nothing
to go on really so I would appreciate any help from anyone
who is familliar with these cards and their installation etc..

DRUMROLL..........................SUCCESS!!!

I finally managed to install the driver.
The solution? Upgrade to W98SE. All I I did was install my copy
of W98SE over the existing W98, when it finished the installation
the card was reported as OK in the device manager, no yellow
exclaimation mark, driver installed OK.
I don't think W98 supports networkinig like that (local).
Now all I need to do is to get it to 'network' with my other
PC (this one XP), at the moment it is connected with a
crossover cable but this machine reports limited or no
connectivity with a yellow exclamation mark in the system
tray network icon.
Any tips on how to 'get it to do something'?