After HDD swap, WinXP device manager cannot find integrated network card

I am working on a generic computer that I just swapped out the Hard drive on. After installing Win XP, device manager cannot find the integrated network card. It is enabled in the BIOS, but no go. Do I need to manually install the driver from the add hardware wizard? If so, what driver do I need? Or am I on the wrong track all together? Thank you for your help!

 

Usually the drivers are on the CD that came with the motherboard. Most of them auto start and have a selection for the network driver(I assume that by integrated network, you mean it is integrated onto the motherboard as most of them are now). You will need to use that to get the driver software into the system. When it runs, it will have some menu system that should get you to the drivers. You also will probably need to install drivers for the north/south bridge hardware also. A lot of them have a Via 4in1 driver so it's a place to look.
If you know where on the CD the driver software is, you could use the hardware wizard and point it to the driver subdirectory. I would only use that if the motherboard CD wouldn't autostart or didn't have a setup.exe file in the root directory to get you to the driver installation.

 

I was given this PC with no disks at all. How do I find out what the motherboard is so I can download the drivers? Will it come up in Device manager? Or look on the motherboard?

 

There is a free program which may help

A free program from www.cpuid.com can sometimes help. It depends on how old the motherboard is. It is the CPU-Z 1.54 program. When you run it, it will analyze the system cpu, motherboard and memory. When it is done, select the mainboard tab and it will give the Manufacturer and Model. Just doing a search on the model(or just the manufacturer's name) will generally have a link that matches the manufacturer. On mine, it comes up with Gigabyte. Searching for that brings it up as some of the first links found.
They also have a free program called PC Wizard which is fairly good as getting all of your system information. On that one, it comes up with a System Summary which displays the motherboard model. This program is more comprehensive in the information it displays.
Once you have that, you can usually go to the manufacturer's website, search on the model and then it will have a link for the drivers(all of the ones needed for a motherboard). If you need, note the model and I can locate the proper web page for the drivers.
Note that some of the older motherboards may not be recognized and you usually have to physically examine the board for the model. Hopefully, it's on top of the board so you may have to move things(like video cards) out of the way to see it.

 

Thank you both very much I'll give it a try.

 

Is there no way to get the motherboard info from windows or BIOS? Also, after I find the drivers do I need to install them in any particular order? There are several PCI devices and such without drivers. Thanks again, you have all been a great help.

 

I used CPU-Z 1.54 and it worked just fine, I was just wondering for future reference if there any way to find the motherboard through Windows. As for the manufacturer, the computer has no make or model number whatsoever, it was given to me as is, no discs no name. Once I am in Device manager and loading the drivers, how do I know which PCI device or Unknown device would be the chipset? Is it better to go through Add Hardware Wizard or Device Manager?

 

They were in a zip file. I extracted them but have not installed them yet. I wanted to find the best way first. So when I run the exe file to install it will automatically install all the files and then the NIC will be functional, or is there something else I need to do to make it operational?

 

I'll have to find out the specs. The computer was given to me and after I refurbished it I gave to the county school system, they have a shortage. I only remember I put Win XP on it and it had no make or model number.