Dell Gx1 rebuild almost there - need internet working

jazzisjazz

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Jul 31, 2014
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Thought I would inquire here before another attempt to get an internet connection on this box. It was working previously with 98SE installed so I know that the hardware is in good shape.

Have reloaded a dell gx1 with win95. Original instructions from dell website seem to say that no network card driver is needed because win95 will automagically load it.

Within hardware device manager there is a listing under other for a pci network card. I am thinking that if the driver is installed correctly it would have its own listing as a network card. I tried deleting it from other to see if it would re-detect and install but it didn't change any thing. I tried what seemed to be the only onboard network card driver listed for win95 at the dell site ( it installed but I am unsure if I went through the settings properly). It is still listed under other but now has a yellow ! on it.

Any help appreciated.
 

sdfox 7

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One of two things is possible.

One, is that you are running the original release of Windows 95. This version lacked many of the device drivers that are included in the second release of Windows 95, commonly referred to as "OSR 2" or "B". This version was released in August 1996, only to vendors. You can find it on eBay.

The other more likely scenario is that the driver is installed and you haven't yet installed TCP/IP. Internet won't work without TCP/IP.

If you still believe the driver isn't installed, the OptiPlex GX1 drivers are available on Dell's website here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/optiplex-gx1/drivers

The specific driver for the network card is available on that page, unfortunately you will have to try each driver, because that machine came with the 3C90x, 3C905B, and Intel EtherExpress/Pro100 cards.

Windows 95 should have the drivers for the 3Com 3C90x family of adapters.
 

jazzisjazz

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Just wanted to take a minute to say thanks for jogging my memory about manually installing TCP/IP, that was 15 or more years ago for me.
It is browsing fine now.
It is remarkable just how usable the machine still is if what you do doesn't require the latest whizbang and speedy speed.
 

sdfox 7

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Yes. Windows NT 3.5, 4.0, 98 and later will install TCP/IP if a network adapter is installed.

However, with Windows 95, 3.1 and older, they come with NetBEUI as the default and you need to do the legwork yourself.