[sargeist]

hello. i have a acer aspire 3690 running windows xp and i am looking for help installing the driver for the ethernet controller. hopefully this is the right part of the forum, i looked but did not see a driver thread. back to topic, it is a 'Broadcom NetXtreme BCM4401-B0 Fast Ethernet Controller'. i have found a driver for it on the acer website and also on the broadcom website and have tried to install both but the problem is they both have no exe or install file. both just have the inf file which i cant seem to get installed. when i try to "add hardware" it takes me to hardware update wizard because no driver is installed, i then click on "install from a list or location" and choose the location of the folder which has the inf file in it but when i click next it just says "cannot install this hardware, the hardware was not installed because the wizard cannot find the necessary software." if anyone could help it would be great because this is making me lose my mind. thanks!

Edited by sargeist, 09 August 2009 - 09:53 AM.

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Howdy and welcome to GTG:

Have you tried going into Device Manager and "updating" the driver that way?

Murray

[Murray S.]

Howdy and welcome to GTG:

Have you tried going into Device Manager and "updating" the driver that way?

Murray

[sargeist]

thanks for the welcome! yes i have tried going into device manager/right clicking and updating driver but the same thing happens.

[Murray S.]

Can you give me a link or the name of the driver you downloaded from the Acer site?

Also, what happened in order for the driver to be lost in the first place?

Murray

[sargeist]

from reinstalling the os. and here is the link: http://global-downlo...\...=en&SC=PA_7

if for some reason that link dosent work it is the LAN driver. thanks again!

[Murray S.]

Strange.. Either one should have worked.

Go into Device Manager and remove the NIC from there.

Reboot and see if Windows picks it up again.

BTW, did you use the Acer Recovery cd for the re-install?

Murray

[sargeist]

so i am installing it the right way? because its so weird its not working. what do you mean by the NIC? i remove the ethernet controller its self and rebooted but all windows did was find new hardware but the driver still did not work. no i did not use the acer recovery for the re install, i used a windows xp home oem cd. you think acer would send me a drivers cd with all there drivers on it?

Edited by sargeist, 09 August 2009 - 11:08 PM.

[Murray S.]

Acer has a hidden partition that includes the operating system and drivers needed for your computer.

Watch the bottom of your screen as the system boots (when it gets to the Acer spalsh screen).

What does it say there?

What did you use for a key code with the OEM cd and did you use it before?

Murray

[sargeist]

well the thing is i deleted all partitions when reinstalling xp because i didint think i would need them so the splash screen just says F2 to enter setup. im not sure where i got the key code, i randomly had it written down with the cd, i believe i got it from a friend awhile ago.

[sargeist]

im not sure if this will help but before the reinstall the computer did have windows media center edition 2005 on it.

Edited by sargeist, 10 August 2009 - 10:53 AM.

[Murray S.]

Suggest you contact Acer and have them send you the cd's you need. There may be a cost.

As it stands, odds are the OEM cd you used was used before which makes any further use of that cd illegal and against Microsoft's EULA.

That cd is forever married to the system it came with or was first installed on and can never be used on any other computer even if the original system has been garbaged.

Murray

[sargeist]

ok. well thanks for all ur help murray.