Network Card Lost Driver

[PJMCM]

Hi Everyone

First post so please be gentle with me!

I know the below relates to an older PC and an older OS, but I'm happy with both and they suit my needs. 

I had a recent power cut at home whilst my PC was powered up. Everything was fine after rebooting except the network drivers, which were apparently lost??

Logging the PC serial number on the HP support website, I'm informed that the installed network chip is an Intel 62566DM-2. I therefore downloaded the appropriate driver package from HP (SP51782) and tried to update the driver to no avail. I also tried downloading the proprietary drivers from Intel with the same result! This is still what I see in Device Manager:

Any advice/tips/guidance would be gratefully accepted. 

Thanks...

Peter

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Peter:

It appears that from your screen shot, the power cut at your house blew out the ethernet port (hardware failure).

It does not appear in the device manager.

The devices you see that need drivers, need these drivers.

This package contains the Intel Local Management Service (LMS) and Serial-over-LAN (SOL) support for Active Management Technology (AMT) as part of the Intel Digital Office Initiative for the supported desktop models and
operating systems.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34501-35000/sp34744.exe

This package contains the Intel Host Embedded Controller Interface (HECI)driver for access to Active Management Technology (AMT) as part of the Intel Digital Office Initiative for the listed desktop models and operating systems.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34501-35000/sp34743.exe

If the ethernet adapter needed a driver, you would be seeing a device listed as an ethernet controller.

Since that is not appearing, I can only assume the ethernet chip on the motherboard was damaged by a power surge.

The easiest thing to do to resolve that problem would be to purchase an external USB to RJ-45 10/100/1000 ethernet adapter.

[PJMCM]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your input. Looks like ou were on the money as well!!

Bought a Dynamode USB-NIC-1427-100 adaptor and plugged that in. Loaded the software from the CD and plugged the LAN cable in. It did connect to my router, but I had no internet connectivity. I looked through the various internet diagnostic tools and it appeared that something in the Winsock set up had been corrupted. So...

Went to System Restore and rolled everything back to 1st August. Repeated the installation process for the USB adaptor and I now have internet connectivity. Only issue now is that it seems to be really slow. Sppedtest.net is only showing it at around 5mbps!!! My broadband speed should be 150mbps so that's not great. 

The USB adaptor was only £12. I'm wondering if I'd be better spending a bit more and getting a PCI network card? Don't mind paying the extra if I can get back up to my 150mbps speed again.

Or maybe just hand the PC over to my son-in-law. He's an IT tech so - much as I like to tackle these problems myself - well, needs must and all that!!

Peter

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome, Peter.

That's pretty darn slow.

Yes, you probably would be better off getting a PCI  gigabit NIC, but you have to make sure it is a low profile one which comes with the low profile mounting bracket.

I would steer clear of a PCI express x1 NIC.

I have read too many posts about folks getting those, and the PC either doesn't recognize the card, or the PC won't boot.

Can't figure out for the life of me why that happens, but that is what I have read on these dc7xxx PC's.

[PJMCM]

Yes, the DC7** series can do some strange things.

We had one at work which was connected to a SMARTboard in a training room. For some reason the PC wouldn't boot if the board was connected to the USB port at boot-up - it would just hang at the HP splash-screen. Used to drive the techs mad trying to find a solution, even HP support couldn't help. It was put down to a conflict with the bios and the SMARTboard hardware; apparently the bios boot-up process didn't like something it saw there. Simple fix was to unplug the board from the USB port, boot the PC up then plug it back in once the boot was complete!! Very strange.

So I was thinking that this card may do the job:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/components-and-upgrades/interface-cards/tp-link-...

Just need to check the dimensions etc when I visit the shop (hopefully later today).

Thanks again...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The only issue I see with that card is to make sure it comes with a low profile mounting bracket in the box.

The illustration shows the standard size PCI mounting bracket for tower-type PC's such as the dc7700 CMT.

[PJMCM]

Hi Paul,

Yes, I was careful to ask that very question when I visited the shop this morning. The low profile bracket was indeed in the box, and is now fitted to the card, which is safely installed in my PC.

Installation of both the card and the software were easy enough, and it's working a treat. Speedtest.net now reports that I have 157mb/s download speed and 10mb/s upload speed, which is what I expect to see.

The only issue I encounter now with this PC is that the motherboard battery is perhaps needing replaced. When it is powered down it loses the time & date settings. Must get around to looking at that soon...

Thanks again for your input and assistance - it's much appreciated.

Peter

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime, Peter.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Yes, it sounds like you need to replace the cmos battery (CR2032).