Does anyone know anything about ethernet drivers?

Dissociater

Hey all, I was wondering if anything knows much about HP ethernet drivers. Last night I reformatted my year old computer for the first time (I should have done it when I bought it but was too eager to use it and as time went on I got more and more attached to what was on it and only got around to reformatting it now).

Anyways, I reformatted, and reinstalled Windows XP x64 bit edition. It runs great, but when I tried to connect to the internet it said it couldn't find a connection. So eventually I went under the hardware device manager and there's only one thing under network cards, but under the section with a bunch of question marks (?) are two entries for PCI ethernet controllers. So I guess they're missing drivers, but when I try to automatically install them it says it couldn't find anything on the windows disc.

Does anyone know what I have to do to get these drivers and get the ethernet working on my computer again?

ToyD

Perhaps go to the manufacturer's website and look for drivers? If it's a laptop, then go to the maker of the laptop. If it's a pre-built desktop, do the same.

Dissociater

Alright, I'll give that a try, I don't suppose you know specifically what I should be looking for by any chance? It's an HP computer, are all the ethernet drivers generally going to be the same within HP?

PeregrineFalcon

Dissociater wrote: »

Hey all, I was wondering if anything knows much about HP ethernet drivers. Last night I reformatted my year old computer for the first time (I should have done it when I bought it but was too eager to use it and as time went on I got more and more attached to what was on it and only got around to reformatting it now).

Anyways, I reformatted, and reinstalled Windows XP x64 bit edition. It runs great, but when I tried to connect to the internet it said it couldn't find a connection. So eventually I went under the hardware device manager and there's only one thing under network cards, but under the section with a bunch of question marks (?) are two entries for PCI ethernet controllers. So I guess they're missing drivers, but when I try to automatically install them it says it couldn't find anything on the windows disc.

Does anyone know what I have to do to get these drivers and get the ethernet working on my computer again?

Install something that doesn't suck. XP-x64's driver support is shit.

Dissociater

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Dissociater wrote: »

Hey all, I was wondering if anything knows much about HP ethernet drivers. Last night I reformatted my year old computer for the first time (I should have done it when I bought it but was too eager to use it and as time went on I got more and more attached to what was on it and only got around to reformatting it now).

Anyways, I reformatted, and reinstalled Windows XP x64 bit edition. It runs great, but when I tried to connect to the internet it said it couldn't find a connection. So eventually I went under the hardware device manager and there's only one thing under network cards, but under the section with a bunch of question marks (?) are two entries for PCI ethernet controllers. So I guess they're missing drivers, but when I try to automatically install them it says it couldn't find anything on the windows disc.

Does anyone know what I have to do to get these drivers and get the ethernet working on my computer again?

Install something that doesn't suck. XP-x64's driver support is shit.

Really? I would have just assumed that anything that worked under the old XP would work fine under x64.

Also, I found the drivers section on HP.com for my computer but there's no section for ethernet controllers.

theSquid

Nope. Running 32-bit drivers on a 64-bit OS is miles different from 32-bit applications on a 64-bit OS. In any case, Windows x64 was pretty much a glorified experiment that never really took off so pretty much all the vendors around ignored it completely, only bothering with 64-bit drivers when Vista came around, so if you're hungry for 64-bit Windows, install Vista, otherwise, go back to stock XP.

Don't know how you're missing the ethernet drivers though, if you've got the page up for your desktop model - you've checked the obvious synonyms such as "Network drivers" right?

ToyD

Basically you need to go to www.hp.com and maybe the support or drivers section. You look up your name/model of computer and start looking for drivers. Call HP support if you need to.

capable heart

deleted

Dissociater

Well what I ended up doing was taking it to my IT dept here at work (friends with the VP) they're going to see if they can do anything to fix it for me, if not I'll just go back to 32 bit xp.

GrimReaper

Unknown Devices will help you to identify the hardware in your computer. Then you can go to the manufacturers sites and download the latest drivers.