Intermittent fault with ethernet driver

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theUpload

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Master Geek

#127357 7-Aug-2013 18:42

So I acquired my dad's old gaming rig, and ever since I re-installed windows the Ethernet port/driver has been dodgy, So prior to wipe it was fine, but now every second restart the driver says it's not working and I have to re-install the driver.

The computer's a store built one from a store in welly and the Ethernet driver isn't native to the windows install so whenever i do a fresh install it doesn't automatically install.

Could this be a bios issue? Hardware or should i just bite the bullet and do another fresh install?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#873418 7-Aug-2013 19:24

I think it could be something else - a corrupted registry for example.

Hard to diagnose like this. Have you checked for any newer driver from the manufacturer?

and I have changed the subject - because one word subjects are not even close to giving an idea what the topic is about.

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theUpload

137 posts

Master Geek

#873424 7-Aug-2013 19:30

freitasm: I think it could be something else - a corrupted registry for example.

Hard to diagnose like this. Have you checked for any newer driver from the manufacturer?

and I have changed the subject - because one word subjects are not even close to giving an idea what the topic is about.

Coolies ill look into it's entries maybe find another driver for the same unit, other wise full re-install .

sorry about the subject

PaulBags

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#873469 7-Aug-2013 20:05

Is it the same version of windows that was installed? What about service packs? Is it part of the motherboard, or an add-on card?
I'd try looking up the chip model number, and instead of getting a driver from the manufacturer of the card/motherboard I'd look for generic drivers from the chip manufacturer. It's not ideal, but if all else fails could be worth a shot.

theUpload

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Master Geek

#873474 7-Aug-2013 20:09

PaulBags: Is it the same version of windows that was installed? What about service packs? Is it part of the motherboard, or an add-on card?
I'd try looking up the chip model number, and instead of getting a driver from the manufacturer of the card/motherboard I'd look for generic drivers from the chip manufacturer. It's not ideal, but if all else fails could be worth a shot.

So you mean go and search the hardware ID, its on the mother board

Cheers team

PaulBags

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#873483 7-Aug-2013 20:17

If you can find the manual for your motherboard that might tell you what the ethernet chip is. Or read all the chips on your motherboard and search them until you hit gold.

I was thinking, it's quite a stretch, but it could be a corrupt bios setting. Heck it could be a dead CMOS battery. Sounds silly but my motherboard is nearly six years old and I had some USB ports that hadn't been working right for quite awhile; until I replaced the CMOS battery and all are now working fine.

theUpload

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Master Geek

#873499 7-Aug-2013 20:33

PaulBags: If you can find the manual for your motherboard that might tell you what the ethernet chip is. Or read all the chips on your motherboard and search them until you hit gold.

I was thinking, it's quite a stretch, but it could be a corrupt bios setting. Heck it could be a dead CMOS battery. Sounds silly but my motherboard is nearly six years old and I had some USB ports that hadn't been working right for quite awhile; until I replaced the CMOS battery and all are now working fine.

BIOS was changed recently with a failed install of ubuntu and the CMOS battery was recently replaced, and i still have time settings

PaulBags

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#873506 7-Aug-2013 20:48

Well it won't be that then. For me, I still had time & date stick 90% of the time with power off at the wall for awhile. But when I pulled the battery and measured it, it was reading ~0.6v, nowhere near 3v.

theUpload

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Master Geek

#880485 18-Aug-2013 11:38

So i did a fresh install and it came back. At first it was every odd time, now its every reboot that the Ethernet driver is not working and it's simply fixed by disabling and re-enabling the driver every time. But that's every time i turn the computer on...kinda tedious

Would it be possible to create a script that runs on every startup that disables my ethernet driver and re-enables in the same script? And just register it into the startup on msconfig?

richms

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#880501 18-Aug-2013 12:13

Are you running the latest driver for the chipset from the manufacturer or an outdated one from the motherboard vendor? Some places are still serving up horrid old versions of the realtek software and driver when you look at the downloads for a particular motherboard, and the old ones did have problems like that.

other solution is to go into the properties of device manager and turn off anything that says the device can be turned off to save power in the suspend modes, since that has never worked properly for me on a desktop board and often lead to the needing to disable/reenable to get it back again. The other thing I have had was needing to disable/renable to get it to actually get assigned an IP address, was showing link up but not transfering data. That was either power settings or else driver update needing to be applied

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Snowflake

#880759 18-Aug-2013 22:39

have you tried a different cable? some of the ethernet ports will have a 'cable detection' feature that gets a bit funny with crappy cables

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theUpload

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Master Geek

#880761 18-Aug-2013 22:45

I prayed your solution would work....

but alas it did not, so far i have tried 2 fresh installs many drivers and several cables.

So plan B: Can i make a script that will run from start up that will disable the driver and re-enable it?

PaulBags

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#880767 18-Aug-2013 23:15

Slightly mad suggestion: did you figure out the brand of the ethernet chip? If windows doesn't have an exact match to install, how about manually installing a driver from that brand for a similar model chip?

freitasm

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#880771 18-Aug-2013 23:24

Get an ethernet adapter from Dick Smith plug it in and disable the old one...

PaulBags

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#880775 18-Aug-2013 23:53

Dick Smiths still sells computer parts??

dickytim

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#880792 19-Aug-2013 06:51

I had a similar issue with a PC at work, we replaced the motherboard as it had burnt out a thingy but it didn't fix the issue, we reinstalled Windows and upgraded to 7 Pro and no go, the issue was still there, I ended up being given it and taking it home, I installed a wireless card and bingo bango, it has worked on wireless eversince.

I am using it as a HTPC as I can fit 4 hard drives in the case and a decent GPU.

In short could you try a wireless card or as suggested an add on Ethernet card.

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