Network adapter card install problem

Hello,

I am trying to install a network adapter for our wireless internet. I have followed the directions perfectly. Upon reboot, my computer is identifying the card as an ethernet controller and NOT a network adapter. This is the third brand of adapter I have tried and all with the same result. The computer is running XP with SP2. Any ideas???

Thanks in advance!
Bill

 

Does it connect to your network? I'd worry more about that than if it were an adapter/controller.

 

No it does not, installation will not complete and would not complete installation with the other two brands that I tried. My system is identifying it as an ethernet controller and I get the error message that it cannot find the software(drivers) to complete installation. I tried using the installation method of going directly to the file path and I get the same error message.

 

Is this an internal card? If so, save yourself some headaches and just get a USB wireless adapter.
My husband has a computer that is very hard to get into (the computer is mounted behind the LCD screen). I got something similar to this
I stuck to the same brand as my router; loaded the software, plugged it in and instant access. Plus it has the advantage, if the computer goes south, I don't have to open up the computer and remove a card.

 

i assume that you are installing a pci wireless network card. you installed it, booted it, xp detected new hardware and attempted to install the driver. you even manually tried to install the driver showing xp where the driver was on the cd. and you have done this with three separate, different brand of adapters?

can you go to the manf website and download the latest xp driver for the adapter? if so, boot up the computer and when it detects the hardware browse it to the location of the latest driver you just downloaded. download it to a usb drive if you don't have internet on that computer. browse it to the usb drive when it asks for the location of the driver. make sure the driver file is unzipped if needed.

if that doesn't solve it and without anymore info, sounds like xp has some conflicts.

 

there is an option i hadn't thought of before.... Is your windows install in the C: directory? If not, the driver installer might have an explicit C: directory listed and it's possible your windows directory is in D: or else (i've done this before on purpose to see if installers could be 'broken')

 

I have tried what you have suggested. The computer just cannot find the drivers. I went into bios to see if there was any thing out of whack and saw nothing obvious. BTW, the motherboard is a KT-400. What is strange to me is that I have recently installed a new sound card and graphics card all without incident. And everything else seems to be working fine. I also went into system manager and looked for hidden devices to see if there was a conflict. Nada. I agree with your assessment that something is wrong with my OS. Tell what other info I might give you to help figure this out.

Thanks for trying to help!

Bill

 

i can't think of anything. if xp is recognizing it, but when you point it to the driver, it won't recognize the driver....

have you tried swapping pci slots?

 

Reading through this thread I'm suprised no one has asked for and you haven't told us the details of your hardware and in particular the card? you are trying to install.

Tell us also the source of the drivers your are using.

Where are you getting this from? A balloon from the system tray? or Device Manager?

 

No ideas, but I have an almost identical problem, Windows installs the Network Adapter as an "unknown USB device" drives me crazy.
The only way I can get it installed properly is to :
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the adapter.
3. Remove the 120 volt plug from the back off the computer.
4. Wait at least 10 minutes, then plug everything back in, now the adapter installs properly.
Not really a viable solution as most times when I shut down and restart, I have to go through the whole crappy busiiness again, if you've found a solution in the meantime, please post it.