Inspiron 8200 NIC/Ethernet card, need driver

lightdrm,

Assuming you've already reinstalled the chipset drivers, this guide to identifying and reinstalling network drivers<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>

should help.  Those links were obtained from Dell's XP Reinstall Guide for the 8200.  

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I guess I don't have but need that cd with the drivers on it, so no, I haven't installed the chipset drivers. I will see if I can find them online, or maybe they are in these links you gave.

lightdrm,

You can download all the drivers available from Dell via the Product Support/Downloads link at the top left corner of the Forum window.

Jim

Hey Jim,

I have been downloading and installing drivers before I even posted the original question :( including the chipset drivers for my Inspiron 8200 and several other drivers for the integrated ethernet port/NIC card. Still doesn't want to work. It keeps listing under the LAN or High Speed Internet under Network Connections a connection labeled "1394 Connection, Enabled, 1394 Net Adaptor", which I keep deleting and trying to get the correct thing listed and gettin the correct device listed under my Device Manage. Can't seem to get the device listed, which starts with 3com... for the integrated LAN port on the left of the computer. I'm pretty savvy at adding and updating drivers in the Device Manager, but the drivers I have downloaded just won't work for the hardware that it says it needs a driver for. Maybe I need (and I have actually) to remove these few devices that there are no drivers for in my list of devices on the computer ("PCI Modem", I'm going to try and get a hold of Dell on the phone. Have mercy! :)

Thanks Jim, yes you are correct, I am familiar with the 1394 port. I have installed the chipset drivers but the NIC just won't show up. I have been on the phone for an hour earlier today with Dell tech support and they are sending out a technician, :) Meanwhile, I hope I can get it to work. I believe all the problem is caused by this huge (100 gig) hard drive I installed yesterday. The manufacturer (Seagate) says drives larger than 37 GB or 67 GB may freeze the BIOS when you you do a POST start, and that is exactly what is going on. You cannot page through or even escape out of the BIOS window. I have to hold the power button down and turn off the computer. :)

Hey Jim,

I sure hope not! The only reason I bought this 100 GB is because it's the only one Best Buy Computer Services sells as of 2 weeks ago they told me, in the Waco and Houston locations that I went to. I suppose all of this could have been saved if Dell had put a decent hard drive in the notebook in the first place. This is my fiance's computer that has been sittin in her closet for 2 months. I figured I could just replace the hard drive (because the old one had for sure crashed with the noises it was making) and then I would have a beautiful new notebook! :) Wishful thinking of course.
Take care, thanks for your help.

lightdrm,

Yipes. Sounds like you have a problem that's worse than a few missing drivers. Keep us posted on the tech visit results. Are you going to have to replace that nice big Seagate with a smaller boot drive, and use the big drive as a secondary?

Jim

lightdrm,

In an earlier post, you said you had not installed the 8200 chipset drivers. Integrated devices, such as the built-in NIC, won't be correctly recognized until the chipset drivers are installed. It's not clear whether you've installed them from your most recent note. The symptoms suggest they've not been installed, or the integrated NIC would be recognized.

Once you've installed the chipset drivers, you should remove any unrecognized or incorrectly identified devices from the Device Manager's list, and reboot the machine.

Here's a link to the 8200 XP chipset drivers.

This link is for the 3Com 3C920 Integrated LAN drivers.

The "1394 Net Adapter" is a Firewire (IEEE 1394) device, and really isn't used very often (if ever!) as a LAN adapter, in spite of what Microft's XP "wizard" thinks!

Jim