network adapter not showing in xp

Question

i have a dell inspiron 600m i just loaded windows xp for the 6th time and the only netwok adapter that shows in the device manager is the wireless network the lan adapter wont show . i checked the bios and it has thoption to boot from the nic network adapter . what would cause it not to show in windows ?

smigit · Answer

This system has the LAN chipset on the motherboard.  The option in the BIOS for the LAN controller is it enabled or disabled?  This feature is for PCI LAN adapter.   If you currently have a cable plugged into the LAN port, unplug it, reboot the system and see if the adapter shows in device manager.    When you say that you have installed windows for the 6th time, did you reformat each time?  Did you reinstall because the LAN adapter was missing or for some other reason?  Did you install the notebook system software and then the chipset before installing all other drivers?   Last but not least you may need to run the diagnostics located on your resource CD.

smigit · Answer

There are additional drivers that need to be installed.  The first two drivers must be installed and the system rebooted.  You need to download the 'Dell Notebook System software' and the 'Chipset' driver.  After those two, make sure you reboot.    Then install the driver for the NIC, more than likely the 440x.

THRISTE · Answer

i did go to the web site and put in the tag number thats how i got all the drivers i installed the laptop program and the chip set 440x 10/100 and it still wont show in windows

smigit · Answer

You downloaded and installed the following files? R96945.EXE - Notebook system software R58370.EXE - chipset R85255.EXE - network driver Please check the file names on these against those that you installed.   Additionally, do you have anything that shows as 'other devices' in device manager?

smigit · Answer

Http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/details?c=us&l=en&s=gen   You can also go to the website above and type in your service tag.  Select the middle tab original config. and it will show what the original components were.

THRISTE · Answer

i do not have any of the cds that come with the laptop i am using a a pre loaded windows with programs intergrated and drivers intergrated the lan is enabled in the bios . i reinstalled windows and each time formated the drive when i boot th laptop i do it w/o the network cable and yes i reformatted because the lan wont show in xp ive tried different versions

THRISTE · Answer

once windows xp finished the instalation the only drivers it needed were sound , o2 micro smartcardbus , and the pci modem and yes i downloaded those from dell

smigit · Answer

Did you download the drivers off of support.dell.com?

THRISTE · Answer

ok thanks let me try that . by the way it would be easier for us thru yahoo messenger if you would like my yahoo id is arubinoff1@yahoo.com

THRISTE · Answer

yes those are the same files i installed and there are no other drivers in the other driver catagory

THRISTE · Answer

there are how ever alot of things missing also like the blue tooth and a few othe components that showed up before but not now it has blutooth but in the bios it says none how can i update the bios if there is no floppy drive

smigit · Answer

It is critical that you install the notebook system software and chipset first. After installing and rebooting the system should find additional hardware. I you installed other drivers first, you may need to either 1. Do a system restore to a time prior to installing ANY drivers or 2. Reinstall the OS cleanly. *If you would like to see if the LAN hardware is functional you can do one of two things 1. Plug in a live network cable and go into the bios; what lights do you have on the back of your system where you plugged in the cable. 2. Download dell diagnostics and run them. This will do a 5 second test and see if you NIC is functional outside of windows. Downloading and running the diagnostics will take longer than just going in the bios.

smigit · Answer

Those things are most likely missing because of the drivers not being installed in the correct order. Drivers must be installed Notebook system software, then chipset. Make sure you reboot and then load your broadcom drivers. What do you have under other devices??

smigit · Answer

One more thing: The bios update for your system can be run from with in the operating system, no floppy needed.

THRISTE · Answer

thanks for all the helpp ill try a clean install then let you know how it go's

Windows General

network adapter not showing in xp

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