Incorrect NIC installing

[ajinc]

Hello All,
I have a PII pc running win98se. It had an IBM etherjet 10/100 nic installed
& working, during a win update the driver for the nic was updated also. Now
win thinks the nic is a IBM Netfinity card, and no matters what I do to
uninstall, and re-install the nic when win reboots it automatically
reinstalls the IBM Netfinity driver for the nic.
I have booted in safe mode to delete nic, and it still reinstalls at reboot
Any ideas how to stop this activity?
Thanks

 

[mattjurado]

Never take the driver updates from WindowsUpdate, this is why. Can you determine what files were installed to the file system?

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[micker377]

Do you still have the original NIC install disk? If so, remove the NIC. In add/remove programs, remove all NIC drivers. Go into safe mode/device manager and remove the NIC drivers. Put NIC card back and boot up. When "new hardware found" comes up for the NIC card, direct to install from the original disk.

 

[garebo]

When I have problems such as you are describing i go to the windows registry and use the "find" feature to search for references to what i want and delete them. In your case you would look for references to netfinity. Make sure you start from the very top of the registry files to do your search. The easiest way to be sure is when you open the registry click on my computer at the top of the registry files. Just click once and your cursor will go there, thats all you have to do, then use the "find" feature.
You can backup your registry before you start so that you can put it back the way it was if you wish.
Are you comfortable with using the registry?
Also, micker377's suggestions are what i would do first and if that doesnt work then try my suggestion.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[edfair]

All the hardware stuff is in HKLM/ENUM. Deleting specific stuff there would be enough to force a hardware driver reload.

This is the key you remove to change all hardware references.

 

[ajinc]

Thanks for the ideas I will attempt the reg key delete. All other attempts to delete the NIC info have failed.

Again thanks for the ideas.

 

[garebo]

I think we can say, perhaps, that Edfairs way takes care of the immediate issue and my way simply does that plus goes a bit further and deletes all references to the hardware in question.

Its safe as long as you start from the very beginning and pay attention to each entry that you find with the "find" feature. If it has the name of the piece of hardware in it, then its safe to delete that part. Course you always want to make a backup first, and if there is an entry you arent quite sure about, leave it, it may very well not cause any problem leaving it.

I've done this perhaps a hundred times or more and only had a problem once and that was in the first few times i ever edited the registry, after that i have never had a problem. Still, you have to be careful, unless you do it edfairs way and stick only to that area.

You might want to consider doing it edfairs way, and if that works, fine, if not, then try it my way.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[CobolKid]

Additionally, you might want to check out Microsoft's Knowledge Base article Q295085; "Network Configuration Is Retained After Uninstalling Network Components"

Steve

 

[ajinc]

Thanks All
I deleted the reg entries, and the reinstall worked fine!

 

[htmlman]

Some times win98 will let you uninstal the device from the hardware manager but still have it. Start in safe mode and see if it is still listed in the hardware manager. If it is remove the device. Then reboot in regular mode and let windows reinstall the device and when it ask for the driver use the driver disk you have.