Realtek ethernet card install in Win95

Hello all, first posting and some help would be appreciated.
I have aquired an old Aptiva running 95, and wanted to install two NIC cards ,one to the aptiva and the other to my homebuild.
Basically the cards are the same, Realtek 8029AS and got a crossover for them. Installing the card to my existing PC was fine as 2000 PRO had the realtek driver. I needed to get the driver files from the manufacturer for the aptiva. So far so good.
On installing them, the H/W gets picked up and promps for the driver files.....all goes great. In system->device manager, the card is showing as not working due to "driver not installed, try changing the driver" ...except I cant(the beauty of 95!!).
I am posting here as I am certain its a 95 problem. There are no conflicting devices, the FAQ on Realtek site doesn't help(although someone else has had the exact same problem previously).
One curious thing however is the plug and play section in bios screen shows no sign of the NIC(?).
Please help.All advice taken as this m/c is intended for me to learn the (nasty) ins-and-outs. I do intend to go to 98 at some time but i've spent so long trying to get it to go, I want to find the resolution...Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the BEST the Windows BBS!!

Ok!

Couple of ?.

Is this stright 95 or OSR2?

Have you applied all possible updates?

What other hardware is installed?

What programs are in startup to auto run at boot?

What sound card and modem is installed.

Answer the above then do the below.

1. Remove the NIC from device manager.

2. Shut down the computer and remove the NIC modem and sound card . Do not uninstall sound card or modem from device mgr. Only the NIC.

3. Boot to SAFE MODE check all entries in device manager down to but not including sound. Do not go below this!

4. Look for "EXACT" duplicate entries. Note the names then remove all duplicates.

example there may be 2 com1's and/or 2 LPT1's or 4 monitors. Remove them all.

5. Remove any items in error and any items in Unknown devices.

6. Reboot, all of these items should reinstall only the correct one and no dupes. If not you will need to find and install the driver.

7. Once the computer boots up clean, recheck once again in safe mode to see if all the dupes are gone.

8. Reinstall the NIC in a different slot, boot up and install the driver again.

Get back to us.

mike

 

ok, the OS is early, the machine has had a fresh load before I got my hands on it, there is only net meeting(or whatever its called) loading on start up.
Aptiva has a MWAVE card...ie a modem/sound all in one, as for updated, BIOS is at newest level, the device manager is clean in terms of duplicates as this machine has nothing on it...till now.
I'm on nightshift and its 02:45...going to re check your recommendations again in the morning when I'm thinking straight and reply....
....you say install the card in a different slot?? will this matter?
strange thing is that 95 comes back and tells me what card it is..on start up with "new hardware ", I assumed this means the card is chatting to the mother ok(?). I can swap cards with this m/c to make sure its not the card giving the grief.
either way I'll let you know.Tnx.

 

First the duplicates will only show in safe mode. So you need to do what I say and check these in safe mode.

Slot can matter, sound card and modem can matter.

If the NIC installs and works after this, reinsert the sound and modem 1 at a time to see if one of them was causing the problem.

Mike

 

Well I have to confess something Mike, I did move the MWAVE card to a different slot to keep things 'spaced out', have I just created myself the problem?
I'll check it out in the morn.....a small interjection question, why does a 95 FDISK only create a max partition size of 1.99Gigs(2047)....that one got me red faced..
.basically i need to network my PC's, throw partition magic over and sort out the partitions. Then install my Mandrake in a conveniently sized partition. That WAS the master plan anyhow. and some time after that update the boot to 98/SE.....

 

update

Hi, ok the problem is still there. I can run the realtek diags and it is fine on all available tests.
The mwave card can be discarded but I'll run into probs with deleting all mwave s/w as I have no diag CD for the aptiva.
I did the safe mode check and deleted virtually everything in site and let it do its bit...about 4 boots later, got to see if the device in manager was looking good...it wasn't.
So.....i'm kinda stuck now...
still don't know how the card doesn't show in pnp??? but the diags are running the card through its paces and i can veiw/change the card config through diag screen....

 

Ok! late getting home!

Hmmmm!

Been so long since I dealt with 95.

If you are not going to upgrade to 98 which should fix it, then you should update 95.

Go here and go down to the win 95 stuff install the service pack 1 completely, reboot then do the DUN 1.4.

http://computing.vt.edu/software_and_hardware/windows/osupdates.html

Do this get back to us.

Mike

 

Thanks Mike, as i said in a previous post,I have a gameplan. Ultimately the reason I have this PC is to a: learn the hardware, b:loading s/w, c:unix and hopefully get a two PC network.
I've given up on 95 as it's a dead loss, the 98 CD is not reachable for a few days (tut tut), so I've scrached the whole thing and installed mandrake with a drive partitioned to unix. As its now 04:17 i'm going to my scratcher and I'll play with the mandrake tomorrow...I'll let you know if I get the unix to see and configure the card ok. We were never going to get it to work lets face it...
It would be nice to find out if it is 95 or the BIOS or whatever..thats given me this, I need to find out as my other half is going mental as I've been in this room for 4 days solid! oops. she looked like this before going to bed in a temper...

 

Try removing your nic

Then set seting your bios to NO PLUG AND PRAY.

Then reboot twice WITHOUT THE CARD IN.

Then install the NIC.