Weird Ethernet problem

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-12-19 10:38am

Okay, I just got myself entirely new inards for my pc. Installed them this afternoon but I have a weird problem, the driver called "ethernet controller" won't install . Windows says the driver isn't installed and then even with the motherboard set up disk it says it can't find them.

It's an Nvidia nForce 4 chipset. I can't get onto the internet on that pc because of this (or connect to the network at all) is there anywhere I can get hold of JUST the drivers for that? or anyway I can make this work.

It's pretty damned annoying.

Forgot to mention windows says "unable to install driver The name is in use as either a service name or service display name"

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-12-19 10:54am

Find out the part number for your ethernet card and google it to find the drivers. Alternately, go under hardware properties > devices, and uninstall the ethernet controller, then reboot. Windows will find the new hardware on a restart and hopefully install the drivers as well with it.

If you can't find out or don't want to open up the box to figure out the model # on the ethernet controller, go here and download SIW. It's a small, very handy utility that will give you information on every piece of hardware on your machine. It should be enough to tell you the model of your ethernet controller so you can actually find a driver.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-12-19 11:02am

Most nForce motherboards I've seen use a Realtek controller chip for the integrated ethernet.
Browse your setup CD for a folder called 'ethernet', 'realtek', or something else along those lines.
Unless your motherboard maker was a total fly by night operation, those drivers are on that disk somewhere, even if the automated installation routine isn't all its cracked up to be.

Note: if the files are for a Realtek ALC something or other, those are your sound drivers.
Also, from what I've read, the nvidia firewall app (ActiveArmor?) that comes with the nvidia drivers can be problematic.
When I ran an nF3 motherboard I had all kinds of connection issues until I uninstalled it.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-12-19 11:13am

General Zod wrote:Find out the part number for your ethernet card and google it to find the drivers. Alternately, go under hardware properties > devices, and uninstall the ethernet controller, then reboot. Windows will find the new hardware on a restart and hopefully install the drivers as well with it.

If you can't find out or don't want to open up the box to figure out the model # on the ethernet controller, go here and download SIW. It's a small, very handy utility that will give you information on every piece of hardware on your machine. It should be enough to tell you the model of your ethernet controller so you can actually find a driver.

Right.. the computer says i can't uninstall it because it may need it to boot up. Thing is that the installer installs the drivers for 1394 net adaptor. Which shows up fine on my device manager. This other thing called Ethernet controller refuses to install. So i'm not sure what i'm supposed to be looking for drivers for, if that makes sense.

One other thing, the adaptor says its active but won't get an ip address or anything, i'm asuming this is because my ethernet controller won't install.

Luke Starkiller · Post by **Luke Starkiller** » 2006-12-19 11:44am

If it says it can't uninstall because it may be required for a reboot, if you hit OK it will usually blow it away anyway.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-12-19 12:02pm

Are you sure you've installed the networking drivers off the motherboard install disk?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-12-19 12:22pm

phongn wrote:Are you sure you've installed the networking drivers off the motherboard install disk?

Yes, BUT. This i'm using the same harddrive that my previous motherboard was installed on.

it was still an nforce chipset, but it was noforce 2.

I'm wondering if theres a conflict but i have no clue how to resolve it.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-12-19 01:58pm

Now this may be a stupid question, but did you enable the ethernet controller in your BIOS?
My new C2D board's BIOS default for it is 'disabled'

If I wouldn't have spotted that when doing the initial setup before installing XP, I'd have been really annoyed.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-12-19 02:06pm

Glocksman wrote:Now this may be a stupid question, but did you enable the ethernet controller in your BIOS?
My new C2D board's BIOS default for it is 'disabled'
If I wouldn't have spotted that when doing the initial setup before installing XP, I'd have been really annoyed.

To be honest, i checked my bios and can't actually see anything relating to it.

I'd have thought that because the computer can see it, it's enabled. It just won't install drivers for some reason.

I think i'm gonna back up, format and reinstall.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-12-19 06:23pm

Okay, i've made a little progress. 1394 seems to make reference to my firewire, which is all connected properly. Thats why I can't get on the net via that it's not a real network connection.

This is really bugging me, i'm trying to find other drivers to make this work with but am not having much luck. And not having any network connection at all on that pc (which is upstairs) is making it a hastle to download stuff and move it up there.

I should add, according to my Hub something is connected on that port, it just doesn't know how to talk without working drivers. grr. effort.

R. U. Serious · Post by **R. U. Serious** » 2006-12-20 02:13am

You should consider using a linux livecd to troubleshoot. The Linux kernel supports way more hardware out of the box, and it also gives you better tools to find out the specific names of the parts you are using (for example "dmesg | grep eth0"). It will also help you make sure that you do not have a hardware-related problem. Not much to loose, as it will only cost you a download and a reboot.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-12-21 02:45pm

R. U. Serious wrote:You should consider using a linux livecd to troubleshoot. The Linux kernel supports way more hardware out of the box, and it also gives you better tools to find out the specific names of the parts you are using (for example "dmesg | grep eth0"). It will also help you make sure that you do not have a hardware-related problem. Not much to loose, as it will only cost you a download and a reboot.

I bought myself a Ethernet pci port, however i have a copy of knoppix laying around somewhere which I may take advantage of if I ever have any more problems.