Making an old network card work

[MrHaamu]

Hello,
we just recently got a second internet at our house and today i decided to get it working. I have 1 on board LAN port, and since i will be changing between the 2 connections quite often, i figured i should install another network card (since i had one in an old pc). I installed the card and started my pc. The lights on the card started flashing, and Windows also recognized that there was indeed a card connected. The problem is that it doesn't have a driver, and so the only way i can even see the card is in device manager. I managed to find drivers for the card, but they are extremely old (like the card) and i cant just press install (and i cant manually update it, since the drivers are for win xp). I dont know how to install the drivers, and i hope you can help me with that. I was wondering if i could use a virtual machine xp and install the drivers?! (just a thought that crossed my mind.
This is the driver i was trying to install: http://download.driverguide.com/driver/40-0483-001/3Com/d1786398.html
(im using windows 10)

Cheers, MrHaamu

 

[Rabmac]

You can try running the driver in compatibility mode: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/80cae5ee-dc98-4a2f-8284-a1ab826059b7/how-to-install-a-hardware-device-driver-using-compatibility-mode?forum=w7itprohardware

Worth a shot but no guarantee it will work.

 

[nigelivey]

So for the sake of £10.00 why not just buy a new NIC??

 

[Rabmac]

I would probably go with Nigel's suggestion if compatibility mode does not work. The reason I say that is that driver issues can take ages to resolve and sometimes there is not a solution.

So if it is inexpensive replacement the small cost is worth not having to deal with the hassle. Did the exact same thing recently when I could not get onboard sound to work, so just put a sound card for a few quid.

 

[MrHaamu]

Unfortunately the compatibility mode doesn't work either. Id love to make the drivers work though, and not buy a new card just to replace an already working one.

 

[dingo07]

Unfortunately the compatibility mode doesn't work either. Id love to make the drivers work though, and not buy a new card just to replace an already working one.

well it Doesn't work because you don't have the correct drivers for it

throw it away and get a new Gbps one

 

[nigelivey]

Unfortunately the compatibility mode doesn't work either. Id love to make the drivers work though, and not buy a new card just to replace an already working one.

"an already working one" ????? So you have got it working?? Serious just by a new one, 100 BaseT £6.98 on Amazon.

 

[MrHaamu]

Unfortunately the compatibility mode doesn't work either. Id love to make the drivers work though, and not buy a new card just to replace an already working one.

"an already working one" ????? So you have got it working?? Serious just by a new one, 100 BaseT £6.98 on Amazon.

Yes, the card is working 100%, but it is not compatible with Windows 10. I'm just wondering if I could make it compatible with Windows 10. Of course I could just buy a new one, I was just hoping that people would try to help me solve this problem.

 

[dingo07]

the only way to TRY and get it working is to install whatever drivers you can find for the chipset being used on the card - if all else fails get a new card

 

[Rabmac]

It is likely that there are no Windows 10 drivers for your card. However, you may find a Windows 8 driver that may work with Windows 10 but would not bank on it.

Just wanted to elaborate on what I said earlier, I spent the best part of a day trying to get onboard sound working when I upgraded an old PC from XP to Windows 7. I even ended up infecting the machine with malware by downloading a dodgy driver. In the end I spent a few bucks getting a sounds card. Just wish I had saved myself all the hassle and went and bought it earlier.

 

[nigelivey]

Unfortunately the compatibility mode doesn't work either. Id love to make the drivers work though, and not buy a new card just to replace an already working one.

"an already working one" ????? So you have got it working?? Serious just by a new one, 100 BaseT £6.98 on Amazon.

Yes, the card is working 100%, but it is not compatible with Windows 10. I'm just wondering if I could make it compatible with Windows 10. Of course I could just buy a new one, I was just hoping that people would try to help me solve this problem.

For the card to 100% working it needs to be functioning in your machine which you have yet to find a way to achieve so I would suggest the card, due to incompatibility isn't working!