Ethernet Controller Driver Problem

Are you still seeing PCI simple commuications controller and other items marked with problems in Device Manager?

Hi rdunnill, thanks for your suggestion but I already tried the Intel driver as well as the Broadcom and still no luck.

I have installed a couple of different Ethernet drivers by downloading them on my laptop to a USB stick and then putting them on the PC desktop and they seem to install OK with no error messages but still they are not seen in the device manage list.

The 8250 driver page is here: http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/Product/dimension-8250

I wonder if you have the Intel rather than the Broadcom driver? You can download the Intel driver here: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/dimension-8250?driverId=P05YN&osCode=WW1&fileId=2731105112&languageCode=en&categoryId=NI

Hi RoHe, yes  Ethernet Controller, Multimedia Audio Controller and PCI Simple Communications Controller all show that there is no driver installed for the device but when I select "Install Driver" it searches and then displays the error message "the Wizard could not find the software on your computer".

I wonder if an Ethernet card has been installed at some point?

Intel LAN driver

Here are chipset drivers for XP Home: Chipset drivers for XP Home

These are executables and running them will install the drivers.

The PCI Simple Communications Controller maybe an old dialup modem that's installed in this system. You can look for that driver on the Support page for this model. But, if you're using broadband rather than dialup, you can double-click on that device in Device Manager, select General tab and then select Do not use... at the bottom of the General tab. 

As I previously said, you can't install the drivers using the "Install Driver" option in Device Manager. You must download the correct driver files from the Support page and copy onto the desktop, then click on the file to launch each ____.exe. After you've run the ____.exe, you must navigate to the folder created by that ___.exe (eg, R56237.exe for Broadcom ethernet) and look for setup.exe in that folder to actually install the driver. The setup file for the Broadcom ethernet should be in folder: C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R56237

So unless you follow this procedure with each of the driver files you downloaded, all you do is unzip the files, but you don't actually install the drivers until you run each separate setup.exe

Please follow Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows XP:

http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/

Pay attention to Step 12 and provide us the hardware IDs for all the devices with a marked error this will enable us to provide the correct driver set applicable for your system.

Hi paule_uk,

Thanks for providing us this information. I believe you are not installing the driver correctly. After transferring the file to desktop follow the steps below:

1.Double-click the new icon on the desktop labeled R*******.EXE.

2.The Self-Extracting window appears and prompts you to extract or

unzip to C:\DELL\DRIVERS\r*******. Write down this path so the executable (I.e.

Setup.exe) file can be found later.

3.The Self-Extractor window appears.

4.Click OK.

5.After completing the file extraction, if the Self-Extractor

window is still open, close it.

6.Click the Start button and then click Run.

7.Type C:\DELL\DRIVERS\r56237 in the Open textbox and then click OK.

8.Follow the on-screen installation instructions.

Note: R***** should be the respective file name.

If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks and Regards
Sandeep P
#iworkfordell

Another option is to right-click the device in Device Manager, select Update Driver, and point the wizard to the C:\Dell\Drivers\xxx folder.

Success!!!  I managed to download the driver correctly and at last it installed properly and I got immediate internet access. I've also fixed the sound driver error so it's all looking good.

Many thanks to all who helped with your responses, your help has been very much appreciated and I couldn't have fixed it without you, and I've learned a lot as well.

Thanks again to all!!

Best regards, Paul

Good to know -- if someone else comes across this thread via Google, that may be helpful.

Hi Paul,

Its great to hear that issue with the system has been resolved to your satisfaction. If you have any queries in future feel free to contacts us.

Thanks and Regards
Sandeep P
#iworkfordell

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your kind words. It was a pleasure to assist you as well.

If you have any queries in future feel free to contact us.

Thanks and Regards
Sandeep P
#iworkfordell