XP Upgrade

[oldie5]

Am not a techie and would appreciate some advice. Have a 6 year old desktop machine running on a copy XP SP1 which I bought in Bkk 3 years ago.

Just had an ethernet card installed this week as the ISP I want to change to no longer supports USB connections.

Problem is that XP is not recognising the ethernet network connection, guy that installed it says that this old SP1 version is the problem. Seems XP normally automatically recognises the new hardware. I did install the cd that came with the card but to no avail. I have had to carry on using the usb.

Am going to Bkk next week. If I buy the latest version of XP will that overwrite the existing without losing everything I have on the PC, and should the new card that start to be operable?

[elef]

Not sure, to me it sounds like that the ethernet card isn't properly installed. Already before SP1 XP recognized new equipment.

[shygye]

It has nothing to do with SP1. You have to set your internet connection to use "local area network". First go to the "Control Panel" and select "System". Then select "Device Manager". Under list of devices select "Network". Now you will be able to tell if the ethernet card is working properly.

 

Go back to "Control Panel" and select the "Network Setup Wizard". This will take you through the steps to set your internet connection to use the network card.

[oldie5]

Thanks but have tried this but neither the usb cable device or ethernet are showing up on Network Connections, but the usb cable connection works fine.

I was told that XP would immediately spot that the ethernet card had been installed. My modem ethernet light works when trying to use that connection but I cannot connect to the internet using it.

[..]

I have had instances where XP (or 2000 or NT or whatever) could not ID a card. Ethernet cards are cheap (like less than US$10). Just try another one.

 

Cheers,

SD

[cavanami]

You can upgrade XP and you should not lose anyhting on your PC.

 

The SP2 is available in the internet.

 

If you pull SP2 off the MS website, I would suggest that you "save" SP2 to your hard drive and then get off-line (not on the internet) and install SP2.

[Bangkoktraveler]

I went from USB to ethernet. I remembered I had to make changes in my router software.

[carlton68]

oldie,

 

others have pointed to it already but I guess there's been some kind of misunderstanding. I can be wrong.

If you haven't done already open the device manager (control panel - system - hardware - device manager).

Is there anything listed under network interfaces? Any entries in the device manager that are marked yellow or red? When your network interface is not listed or not working correctly it will of course not show up in network connections / network setup wizard.

 

Suadum said it, there are cases when PCI cards just won't work with a mainboard. Nothing you can do but change one of both, usually the PCI card.

 

cavanami said it. It won't hurt to install SP2 and possibly all (security-)updates since SP2. Even IE7.

[oldie5]

Thanks for the replies guys. I head for Bangkok on Weds for a month so I will tackle the pc problem when I get back. All works OK with the usb, I only had the ethernet card installed in order to get a new ISP who only supports ethernet for new customers.

[Paillote]

Quite sure it has nothing to do with XP SP1, but SP1 is no longer supported, so you really should upgrade to SP2 (which again might not be possible if your XP is pirated). Anyway, I am quite sure you did not properly install the drivers that came with your CD. You probably installed only some kind of support software.

 

Go into device manager (ControlPanel->System, hardware tab). Then locate your network card (should be listed as not working), and select install driver for it. Automatic install might not work, so you might have to manually locate where the drivers are on your cd. Best luck.

 

Paillote