Member Avatar for Leg

Initially, disabling ACPI in BIOS caused error when restarting Win'98se. Asked to install Plug & Play BIOS. Turned out bios.vxd was missing from C:\Windows\System. Downloaded bios.vxd from driverguide.com and all seemed well as i was now able to install & configure NIC
Now i have the NIC configured and it's showing in device manager etc...
When i try to join the network i get error message: Unable to browse network. I am setting up a home/office network (Class C).
PC 1 IP: Subnet: O/S: XP home edition
PC 2 IP: Subnet: O/S: Win'98se

The NIC is sometimes disabled in Device Manager on restart, especially after i introduced the XP networking wizard Floppy disk to it!!!

Totally confused now, please help!!!

p.s. Last resort is to remove other PCI cards (Modem & Sound card) & "rebuild" system starting with NIC!!

  • 3 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 221 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by DMR

Dani AI

Generated

A compact diagnostic checklist that expands on ’s suggestion (ping / net view) and follows ’s note about the networking forum. The problem description indicates intermittent NIC disablement plus an “unable to browse network” symptom; that combination usually points to either basic IP/NetBIOS connectivity, firewall/browser service problems, or a local resource/driver issue on the older OS.

Useful diagnostic commands (Win98 uses the GUI winipcfg; NT-based Windows use ipconfig):

# Windows 98 (GUI): 
winipcfg

# Windows XP / NT-based:
ipconfig /all

These show current addresses, masks and gateways and are the first step in confirming IP-level setup. (learn.microsoft.com)

NetBIOS / browse checks (expand on ’s idea — run these from both machines):

ping <other-machine-IP>
nbtstat -n
nbtstat -A <other-machine-IP>
net view \\<other-machine-name-or-IP>

nbtstat verifies NetBIOS name registration; net view lists shares (browse tools rely on the Computer Browser/NetBIOS mechanism). If net view fails with the “list of servers… not currently available” type error, local firewall or Browser/NetBIOS settings are the usual cause. (learn.microsoft.com)

When the NIC is intermittently disabled at boot, check Device Manager resource reporting and try simple hardware triage: view Resources in Device Manager to spot IRQ/I/O conflicts, move the NIC to a different PCI slot, temporarily remove legacy ISA cards, and update BIOS/board PnP settings if options exist. A direct cross‑over cable or different hub/switch will quickly isolate cabling/port faults. (manualzilla.com)

If IP and NetBIOS tests show connectivity but browsing still fails: confirm “Client for Microsoft Networks” and “File and Printer Sharing” are installed on the Win98 side, ensure NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled and the Computer Browser/Server services are running on the XP side, temporarily disable any software firewalls while testing, and reinstall the correct Win98 NIC driver (or the Winsock/TCP‑IP stack if files look corrupt). These steps resolve most Win98↔XP browse problems. (learn.microsoft.com)

Summary: start with link/cable and IP checks, verify NetBIOS name visibility (nbtstat) and net view, then move to Device Manager/resource and driver/BIOS triage if the adapter is being disabled at boot. This order keeps the troubleshooting effort efficient and avoids unnecessary full rebuilds.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for Leg

Rebuilt a desktop PC
Win'98se (No patches or updates as yet)
Intel Celeron 500Mhz
128Mb SDram
Internal Intel V.92 PCI Modem
Internal ISA parallel port for vinyl letter cutting plotter/cutter
Internal 10/100Mbps PCI NIC

After fresh install restarted machine. Installed drivers for modem, restarted & all seemed fine. Installed drivers for NIC, restarted & that's when things got interesting! After restarting checked Device manager to find NIC disabled.Entered BIOS to check settings and found ACPI still enabled so disabled and restarted. Straightaway asked to install Plug & Play BIOS, rooted around & found that bios.vxd was missing so d/loaded from Driverguide.com & placed into C:\windows\system folder. Restarted PC & all ok. PC now accepting NIC & not disabling on startup but refusing to browse network in My network places!
Only thing i can think of now would be to remove all other Internal PCI cards and start again, any comments would help!!! :cry: :cry: :eek:

Member Avatar for caperjack

I don't know enough about networking to respond but maybe you could post your problem in the networking fourm .You allready posted it twice here in the windows fourm.If you lose a post just click on you name in this post and click view other post by Leg.
Networking Fourm
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum13.html

Member Avatar for DMR

Leg,

I've merged you other thread into this one. Please do not start multiple threads for a single question; it just confuses things.

Thanks for understanding :)

Member Avatar for DMR

Your problem at this point may be at a higher level than the NIC.

- Can you ping the IP of your NIC?

- Can you ping the IP of any other machine on your network?

- Can you browse or at least interrogate other machines via command line?
Try the command: net view name_of_other_computer

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.