How to access Internet - fresh install, without any drivers

[elodman]

Greetings!

I want to install an XP to a friend, but haven't any drivers on disk / CD.

1- How will I access net, as I think driver is needed for Ethernet card (or sg like that)?
2- Could you recommend a program which finds all drivers necessary?
3- The current XP is messy, it can't even handle USB pendrives, what driver is needed?

Thanx !!!!!

 

[Saga Lout]

As soon as the installation is complete, go into Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager, click on Network Adapters and find the ethernet device then right click that and go to Properties.

Click the Details tab, then scroll to Hardware IDs and note down the four characters after VEN for Vendor and the four which follow DEV for Device. In another system, go to http://www.pcidatabase.com and input those details in the relevant boxes and you will see the list of all the right manufacturer's products but sadly, they aren't in order. Use Internet Explorers Edit menu then Find to type in the DEVice ID and the search will find the correct entry. Follow the link to the site for the correct driver and download it. With luck it will be an exe file but it ,ight be a zip - either way, transfer it to the new installation and install the driver.

Once the entwork is running, the other drivers can be added more or less automatically.

 

[elodman]

Thank You Saga Lout!

Would that be a trouble if the card (ethernet?) responsible for internet is not integrated on the motherboard?
(I heard it may cause difficulty, but I don't see these things well.)
In all cases, your solution how to search and update the driver would be successful?
Thank you.

 

[Saga Lout]

The driver tracing process is the same for onboard or add-on equipment. If for any reason it doesn't find the right driver or the equipment fails, simply replace it. The procedure takes longer to describe than to do and I can't remember failing to find the driver using that method for twelve years and probably a dozen times a day.

 

[elodman]

Thanx,
but this driver is 12 years old, seems I cannot find it on your recommended homepage.

Net driver
NETGEAR FA310TX ETHERNET ADAPTER (NGRPCI)

PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_F0041385&REV_21\3&61AAA01&0&48
HW id:
PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_F0041385&REV_21
PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_F0041385
PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_0002&CC_020000
PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_0002&CC_0200

Maybe this is the good driver here below?
http://devid.info/kk/search.php?text=PCI\VEN_11AD%26DEV_0002%26SUBSYS_F0041385%26REV_21

 

[elodman]

Or Perhaps this will be the most correct link at the producer site?
http://support.netgear.com/product/FA310TX


thanx bye.

 

[Saga Lout]

This is the one I was pointed to by following the trail PCIDatabase.com me to - http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/321/~/fa310-%26-fa310tx-driver-version-4.02 and it seems to be the same product you found in your second post. Avoid sites like the one in your first link - they're parasites and usually useless.

 

[elodman]

Thank you Saga Lout for thy help.

I just wonder, how u could find the same product on your recommended pcidatabse homepage, as for me no Netgear sites appear after filtering for VEN and DEV.
http://www.pcidatabase.com/vendor_details.php?id=959
Where have I done the mistake ??

 

[Saga Lout]

You didn't make a mistake - I could have made things clearer. Inputting the VEN and DEV brought up nothing at all but when I just entered the VEN code, the 0002 showed as that Vendor's only entry. However, the link provided by a helpful victim pointed out that the driver wasn't the right one. It also helpfully pointed out the name Netgear and the reference which I Googled and found the driver.

In this lark, the byword is "if at first you don't succeed" etc. but please don't look on it as a mistake - it's more of a short climb up the perpetual learning curve.

 

[Melli Bella]

As soon as the installation is complete, go into Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager, click on Network Adapters and find the ethernet device then right click that and go to Properties.

Click the Details tab, then scroll to Hardware IDs and note down the four characters after VEN for Vendor and the four which follow DEV for Device.

You are a genius!!!