My Network Adapter is Gone

jsmjsm,

It sounds like you need to reinstall the drivers for the network adapter.  If you can provide the exact model of your computer, the model of your network card, and the version of Windows you are running, we can tell you how to reinstall the drivers. 

Steve

---

@volcano11 wrote:

jsmjsm,

It sounds like you need to reinstall the drivers for the network adapter. If you can provide the exact model of your computer, the model of your network card, and the version of Windows you are running, we can tell you how to reinstall the drivers.

Steve

---

---

@volcano11 wrote:

jsmjsm,

It sounds like you need to reinstall the drivers for the network adapter. If you can provide the exact model of your computer, the model of your network card, and the version of Windows you are running, we can tell you how to reinstall the drivers.

Steve

---

I have a Dell Dimension 4400
GVC 10/100 Mbps Ethernet adapter that came with the Dell (Realtek chip on adapter)
Microsoft Windows XP with SP1

I have gone through Device Manager and used the Driver tab and Update Driver button to try to force the driver to reload. I have done this with all 3 Ethernet adapters that I have tried.

If there is another way to do this I would greatly appreciate your help with this.

Dell Tech Support suggested that I reinstalled the original GVC Realtek-based Ethernet 10/100 Mbps adapter card that came with my Dimension 4400.  I did this and ran the Dell ResourceCD to reinstall the original drivers.  This didn't fix the problem. I still get the Device Manager Error Message "This device is not working properly because Windows could not install the drivers ... (Code 31)"

I do not understand what would cause the drivers not to load. It could be something in the registry. I have tried 3 different network adapters in 2 different PCI slots. I have not updated my system with any Microsoft hotfixes or critical updates.

If anyone in the Community Forum is an expert on the Registry please let me know what I should look for. I did a search on network and ethernet but didn't find anything unusual. I did delete the key for the Realtek 8139 network adapter then reinstalled everything and still get the same "cannot load the drivers ... (Code 31)" error message.

 

Has anyone tried installing the Windows XP Service Pack 2 upgrade to fix this problem? I've tried everything else I can think of. I'll try the SP2 upgrade this week and see if this fixes the problem.

 

Try clearing NVRAM to see if you can then install the network adapter.  Instructions are in the following document:

Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>

Steve

I ran the Winsockfix program last night and now Device Manager recognizes the vendor of my Network Adapter Cards (Linksys, GVC, Realtek) but it still won't install the device drivers. The Linksys card is brand new and the drivers are the latest.

Since this didn't fix the problem I upgraded to XP SP2 and this did NOT fix the problem either. I still get the error "This device is not working properly because Windows could not load the required driver for this device (Code 31)." I've searched Microsoft's Knowledge Base articles and tried everything they suggest. The problem of the Network Adapter not being available still remains. It looks as though I'll have to backup my data, reformat my hard drive, reinstall Windows XP, hope this fixes the Network Adapter problem so I can download all of the Hotfixes/updates then install Service Pack 2.

Anyone have any last hope advice?