"Ethernet Driver needed" ... can still connect to net but ...

... can't connect to online video game!! :-o

I'm coming down with a fever, so hopefully most of my post comes out coherent.

A few months ago my computer came down with a virus. It was entirely my fault, reformatted hard drive, reinstalled OS and everything worked from from then on. I installed all my drivers and after a few days noticed that even though I downloaded my Ethernet driver, my computer still said the driver needed not installed. Considering that I still had (and still have) internet access, I didn't think to look into it further. One of those, "don't worry about it til it becomes a problem" situations, or so I deemed so at the time.

Guess my time's up.

Installed FFXI. Worked for a while, stopped playing it and then when I decided to go back I continued to get error messages about my connection and it refused to connect me. I ignored it, didn't want to deal with it at the time so I just didn't play (stupid of me, since I pay a monthly subscription, but anyway...) now that I really can't go anywhere in my condition and in the lovely heat wave filled with the best case of humidity ever, I finally decided to go at this head on.

Uninstalled the game and reinstalled it. Waste of time considering it had nothing to do with the game, but I did it anyway.

Reinstalled driver. Computer still doesn't register it. I still have access to the net.

Have no idea what to do next.

It's probably something I more than likely over looked that I can't think of.

What did I miss?

Help is very much appreciated!

-- I should probably add that the last time I tried to figure it out, FFXI's error message kept telling me that I had internet connection problems to check wires etc etc. or to try again. After idly pressing the try again button about 100 times, it just suddenly let me in. By that time I was so frustrated, I didn't play, just logged off and then I haven't been able to connect since.

--- Should also note that at times I lose internet connect seemingly for no reason but it lasts for a few seconds and then I'm good again.

 

You didn't mention anything about which Windows version you're using, or any hardware, but I was able to get the info from the Everest report. First, I'd check Add/Remove Programs and uninstall any current ethernet drivers. Restart the PC and cancel the Hardware Wizard if/when it starts up. Then install the motherboard chipset drivers from this direct link. Restart the PC, then install the ethernet drivers from this link (this driver doesn't have an installer or 'setup.exe' and must be install via the Device Manager/Hardware Wizard; more info is available in this thread). If this ethernet driver won't install or Windows complains about it, use the driver from this direct link. Again, restart the PC when the ethernet driver is done installing. Hopefully this will straighten things out. Good luck!
:-D

(I hope your fever is gone and you're feeling better )

 

rolleyes One thing I forgot to mention, and I think it's fairly important, is that you have drive C: (you main hard drive) set up as only 20gb, and it's about 97% FULL with only 650mb of free space (according to your Everest report). At this point, there isn't much you can do about it except to remove programs you don't use, and perform a good cleaning of junk files, temp files, etc. You can also either disable System Restore, or change its parameters so it uses a smaller amount of the hard drive. IMO, 20gb is FAR too small for an OS partition. 80gb-120gb is better. Since it appears that you have a single 1tb drive divided in to 3 partitions, and each partition appears to have a good amount of data, you cannot simply expand/change the partition sizing without the potential for some serious data loss. So, you're kind of stuck -BUT- you could buy another hard drive, a 250gb SATA drive is VERY inexpensive (about $50 online, maybe a bit more at your local PC shop) and would make an excellent new drive C:. You could mirror the current 20gb drive C: to the new 250gb drive and configure the BIOS to boot to the new drive, and things should run as usual. You may need to rename some of the drive volumes and change some drive letters because adding a new drive C: will 'push' all other drive letters up by one, but you can assign new drive letters as needed. Just a thought....


BTW- a good guide to general system maintenance can be found at this link. However, with only 3% free space on drive C:, you will not be able to defrag the drive very well, if at all....

 

I made a mistake. . .

:-o Closer examination of the report shows me that you probably have a 1tb drive and a 500gb drive, with the 500gb drive divided in to 2 partitions: drive C and drive K, with drive C being only 20gb. Other than this oversight on my part, the rest of my above post still applies.
:-D

(I may still be wrong about the hard drive configuration, I'm just logically making assumptions based on the info in the Everest report)