Lan drivers wont install

I ahve an on board Lan that windows 98 does not see as new hardware and therefore will not let me install the drivers for it. It cannot be removed, and there are no jumpers for it. How do I install the drivers?

 

The motherboard should have come with a CD. When you put the CD in your dirve, it should automatically run the installation program for the m/board drivers, including LAN. If not, lok on the CD for something like setup.exe, or a similarly-named executable. The installation program should, when run completely, install the LAN drivers automatically.
I have noticed this as a common problem, however. For some reason, on-board NICs seem to be reluctant to install properly

 

mb cd

did all that. windows 98 tells me that there is no new hardware, and wont install the drivers. As I asked, I need to install them manually. How do I force an install?

 

If the NIC is listed in Device Manager (right click My Computer, go to Properties>Device Manager), double click on it to open up its Properties window. Go to the Drivers tab and click on the Update Driver button. Step through the wizard and point it to the location of the drivers.

 

Try using the Add/Remove Hardware wizrd in the control panel. After it searches for hardware, when it doesn't find any it gives you the option of "forcing" installation of the new hardware.

Start-->Settings-->Control Panel.

Double-click Add/Remove Hardware

 

Ryder and Miz

Did both of those proceedures. THanks for the sugestions but they didnot work.
Any others?

 

Perchance, since it is onboard is it enabled in the BIOS? If it is disabled in the BIOS then windows will not see it at all.

Cheers,

ICE

 

yes it is enabled and working in winme. (multi boot system!)

 

Hmmm.

Have you tried going to safe mode to see if the onboard LAN adapter shows up there under Network Adapters or Other Devices??

If so, try removing it and restarting the machine.

Just a thought..

ICE

 

The one probelm with booting in safe mode, is that you may get false information about it being disabled, since safe mode does not load any network drivers. You're better off having a look at device manager in Normal, and look at network adapters. If the adapter is there, then I agree with iceolated's idea of removing it and restarting the PC. If there is a red "X" through it, then it has been disbaled for some reason. Click on it, then underneath the list, there will be a button marked "Enable ".

Yep, you guessed you get to click on the magic button!

Sorry that slipped out

One other thing just occured to me: Is the problem that it won't install the driver, or that when it does, the NIC does not work. If it is the former, then find out what sort of NIC it is, and try downloading the driver from the internet.

 

I'm working from memory here so I may miss a detail.

To force an install, follow Ryder's instructions to get to the add hardware wizard. When you get to the step in the Wizard where you have the option to "Choose from list," take it.

When you see the "Have Disk" button, click it. Use the browse button to point the installer to the location of the drivers.

 

isolated, safe mode is no good. Thanks.
Ryder, no red x, and the update doesnt work either. when I try it, and point to the cd rom that has the drivers, it is blank. Shows nothing in the window.
Miz, tried that thanks, same result as above........ shows nothing in the window.......

 

getonline,
When installing new drivers, windows 98 does not search subfolders. You have to first do a search for *.inf (I could use a bit of verification here - inf or ini?) on the CD-Rom, and make note of where it finds files. Then when you click browse, enter the FULL path on the CD to where the inf file is located.
W2K will search the subfolders, but sine you're using 98, you have to enter the full path maunally.