[Vaillant]

Yes, i realize i've done a monster post... but bear with me please

So as some may know reading my other posts, I reformated this box last week.

It all works fine... Almost

Ok now i get into the story..

See, I have Dialup, and this is the only computer with Ethernet capability in this house, so i've never had to use my intergrated Ethernet Port ( I have a DELL DIMENSION 4600 )

Anyway, when i reinstalled winxp (home), i needed to install 4 additionnal drivers;

1 for my sound
1 for my ethernet
1 for my graphics ( NVIDIA GEFORCE 5200 FX )
1 for my SM bus.

The order i stated them is the order i installed the drivers with my ressource CD.

SOO, first question, -->

Is there a specific order to install drivers, that Windows didnt do alone?



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Moving on. The day after i installed xp, last week, i brought my box over to a friends, and used his high-speed to update windows and all.

Thing is, when i came to hook up to his network, with the LAN cable, it didnt work!

Tried hooking up the modem directly into my ethernet port... didnt work.

So, as a stopgap measure i put in one of his old wireless ethernet cards, and that worked fine, got my updates, the whole shibang.

Again, another concern. At some point i come to put his USB FLASH key ( LEXAR JUMP DRIVE 512 MB ) into my computer, and it doesnt work. However, the usb drivers ARE installed, AND all the devices i have here at home work fine... Webcam, printer, mouse, and external HDD.

SO, my main question is -->

Did my order of installing those extra drivers cause a malfunction?

Secondly -->

If so, why would it only selecively not work with my friends stuff, but work fine with mine ( USB stuff i mean )

Third -->

Again, if so, is there a way to fix this, without re-installing windows..again?


Unfortunately i wont be able to test if it works, cause i have no second computer to test the Ethernet with... and all my usb stuff here works fine... but i'd appreciate any insight you may have for me.

This was my first time formatting and installing OS without the help of DELL support (well, installing XP on this machene i mean, i installed WIN98 on our old pentium100 several times with no problems.. )

Thanks very much, i know my question(s) is in capable hands.

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Well I spoke with a good friend of mine, who also knows a whole lot about computers...

She says that the order of installing my drivers doesnt matter, and that the Ethernet should be working, and I tend to agree with that.

Still waiting for a reply. Thx.

[Vaillant]

Well I spoke with a good friend of mine, who also knows a whole lot about computers...

She says that the order of installing my drivers doesnt matter, and that the Ethernet should be working, and I tend to agree with that.

Still waiting for a reply. Thx.

[SRX660]

I had a similar problem with USB jump drives. A friend wanted me to try a program he had so he put it on his jump drive . When i inserted the drive in my computer it would'nt see any data on the drive. Checking my computer with one of my jump drives i could see all the data on the drive. I finally figured out that what he had done was to delete all data off his jump drive including the software that Win XP used to see the drive. His computer can use the drive because it has the drivers needed for the drive in his comuter. My computer does not have drivers for his paticular drive so my computer does not see the data on the drive.

On the Ethernet, i bought a motherboard/CPU combo from someone that upgraded his puter. I built a nice puter but could not get the onboard network to work even after trying everything i could think of. I installed a netgear FA311 card in the puter and it worked fine. I did disable the onboard network in the BIOS beforehand. Asking the fellow later on, he said that it had quit one day and all he was using it for was to transfer files to another computer so he didnt bother with it anymore. Thats what i usually find with hardware. It either works or it is dead and drivers won't help at all. I like using network cards that have the lights on them. Tells you right away if they are working or dead.

SRX660

[Vaillant]

Thanks for the reply my friend... That explains alot to me.

And yeah, i was planning to grab myself an ethernet card later on, before x-mas, so that when my bro comes over with his comp, im gonna LAN us for gaming.

The USB story sounds very likely to be my situation also. And it makes scence. I had though something like that, and well this puts my mind to rest.

Thanks again.