Driver loading failure

[speckytecky]

I'm currently trying to get a PC that has Windows XP Home as the OS onto a broadband connection. I have installed a network card but for reasons beyond me the PC fails to load the driver. Had the same problem when I tried to install a wireless device on the PC - all seemed to go well but then the dtrivers failed to load. Any ideas please?

[elsiegee40]

... and the error is?

 

What I mean is, how are you loading the driver and what messages are you getting?

[speckytecky]

... and the error is?

 

What I mean is, how are you loading the driver and what messages are you getting?

 

 

Hardware installation failed. I have tried reboot etc. On a fresh boot it comes up Found New Hardware and carries out the searches but fails to load the drivers even though I have the media. The PC is about 7 years old, has been patched well but was just about the dustiest I have ever opened the case on. I'm thinking it's probably suffering from a hard life!

[elsiegee40]

Have you tried going to the website for the network card manufacturer to see if you can get the driver from there?

[speckytecky]

Have you tried going to the website for the network card manufacturer to see if you can get the driver from there?

 

I have the driver on both floppy and usb stick. The problem is the PC (Packard Bell / NEC MDN CHA) is playing silly b's with me. I have added a keyboard and mouse to do the work on the machine, both work but it insists it hasn't loaded drivers for either. The Network card though comes up with the Found New Hardware wizard. Then Cannot install the hardware. There is a problem installing this hardware. Unknown. An error has occurred during the installation of the device, the data is invalid. Leaving the only non greyed out option as Finish.

 

I tried the floppy and low and behgold despite reading OK on another PC it comes up telling me it can't read it and offering to format it!

 

I did find the CMOS battery was do doed so replaced that and set the time. Now it comes up on boot with a message (every time) telling me to press any key after telling me the case has been opened. I went into the BIOS setup and must have borfed something in there as well because on the next few attempts it refused to boot. I'm not having a good day with this machine!

 

I'm running scf /scannow at the moment in the hope that might give me some clues.

[speckytecky]

I'm pretty sure my problem is in the BIOS

 

PCI Plug and Play Setup which is currently

 

Plug and Play O/S Yes

PCI IRQ Line 1 through to 3 all set at Auto

DMA Channels 0 /1/3/5/6/7 all PnP

IRQ 3/4/5/7/9/10/11/14/15 all set at PCI / PnP

 

There is a diagnostic which comes with the PCI card and running that tells me:

 

There are more than one PCI Lan board on your system (there is only the one which I'm trying to install). Please select the one you want to set up.

 

If I select any one of the 15 in the diagnostic I get a Fatal Error message telling me that IO or IRQ assigned by system is illegal. Check your CMOS settings or contact with your PCI mother board vendor for solving the problem.

 

The list the diag finds are 1 through to 15 all bearing a 00 00 00 00 00 00 ID IOBASE: 8138H and IRQ: 57.

 

So, I'm pretty sure I need to reset something in the BIOS but can't figure out what?

Edited February 19, 2008 by speckytecky
Added

[SYNACK]

I would just reset the whole BIOS, there should be an option along the lines of "reset PnP/IRQ data" but a good hardware solution of pulling the battery should do it.

 

Your issue could also be corrupted registery permitions if the tester and BIOS are just confusing each other. If the hardware portion of the registery has an issue with the security it will not apply the appropriate drivers to the hardware. It will install the hardware without complaint but will wine about the drivers not being instaled afterwards.

 

I had this problem before on an old XP machine. Might be time for a reinstall as it is a pain to track down and reset the registery security.

Edited February 19, 2008 by SYNACK

[Michael]

Are you seeing a yellow question mark or yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager for the network adapter?

 

A question mark typically indicates no driver is installed or can be found. An exclamation mark typically indicates a conflict with another device, hence it fails to load the driver correctly.

 

I would agree with the above, reset the BIOS to default and let Windows manage devices. It does a pretty good job in 99% of situations.

[speckytecky]

Are you seeing a yellow question mark or yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager for the network adapter?

 

A question mark typically indicates no driver is installed or can be found. An exclamation mark typically indicates a conflict with another device, hence it fails to load the driver correctly.

 

I would agree with the above, reset the BIOS to default and let Windows manage devices. It does a pretty good job in 99% of situations.

 

It's the question mark. I have tried resetting BIOS to defaults but still no play. The wizard runs and the system looks at the drivers on disk but still they end up failing to load.

[speckytecky]

Checking the BIOS settings on the PC they mirror exactly that given by the manufacturer. Yet still the drivers refuse to load. Anyone got further thoughts on this please?

[SYNACK]

You could try using a live linux distro cd and check to see if this is able to recognise and use some of the troubled hardware. This could help to rule out a hardware malfunction.

[Michael]

When Windows refuses to install a driver, it usually is the wrong driver. Windows is refusing it for a reason.

 

Within Device Manager, right click the hardware entry with a question mark and choose Properties

 

Choose the Details tab. Could you tell me what's in the box below? It'll look like garbled text.