To start off I will give the specs of the computer:
Intel D815EEA http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...E&submit=Go%21
SOHOware NIC http://www.sohoware.com/span/new_soh...ct/sfa100a.htm
Windows 98SE
512MB
My problem is that I open the device manager and I have a exclamation point on PCI Ethernet Controller. I have tried and tried to find the correct driver and I found everything I think I need for the board and the nic. I don't know what to do. Without that I can not install the nic or a modem.

You can find the NIC driver download on this page. It's less than 600K, so you can download it on another computer, copy it to a floppy, and install from there.

I gave you that link myself and already downloaded those drivers and they do not work.

You gave us a link to the product description, not the drivers themselves; I thought you might have missed that. Also, this was a bit unclear:

"I found everything I think I need for the board and the nic. I don't know what to do."

If you say that you've got the drivers, telling us exactly what doesn't work when you tried to install them would really help. Did you get any error messages or the like which might help us narrow things down?

I have all the drivers that I need. But when I install, it gives me error 28 or something like that. It just can not find a suitable driver and stays as a unknown device.

Giving us the exact text of the error would be a Good Thing.


- Is it possible that the NIC is faulty?

- You might have a resource (IRQ and/or I/O address) conflict. Try moving the NIC to another PCI slot, especially if the card is plugged into the PCI slot closest to the AGP (video) slot.

I did excatly what you told me to do. When I read that I thought it would have done the trick...and it failed. When I install the software it just tells me that the card can not be detected. I then removed the card and the device is unknown. It does not say what it is. I am lost!!

Any chance of trying a different NIC just to make sure your current one isn't faulty?

What about using the "Add new hardware" wizard? Maybe you can force the driver on that way...

I do have another NIC but I think it is from an old mac I am not sure. But the thing is that I removed it and it still is in the device manager so I am thinking that it is something that is wrong with the motherboard. Its sad that it is a good computer to give up on it.

Ok, maybe this could help. Remove the Device from Device Manager, also delete the files in the temp folder {C:\Documents and Settings\<profile name>\temp\Local Settings\Temp}, and reboot. If on reboot windows trys to have you install the drivers, click cancel. Then run though Add New Hardware prompts and use the driver disk you created...of the directory you unzip the drivers to.

See if that works. I have the same issue with my Network Card in Windows 2000/2000 Server, and doing the method I have said works every time!

Hope this helps