Hi. For weeks now I have been trying to install 3Com 3C905CX-TX-M network card's drivers to windows XP. I have downloaded the drivers for 3C905x family from the manufacters site but windows refuses to install the card using those drivers.

Here are some facts:

1) Have to say that I have done this kind of hardware installs before and in fact I assembled and installed each part of my PC by my self and most importantly I got the card working under windows 98 but after formatting the HD and installing windows XP I havent got any luck whit it.

2) When I plug the cable from external roadrunner moden to the network card the roadrunner doesnt show green light in the port the cable is plugged. Meaning that the card doesnt respon. I asume that it should do so even the drivers arent installed. Am I wrong about this?

3) The card is found on the windows startup and regognized as network adapter but windows doesnt find drivers for it even it should according to the instructions found in 3Com's website. And like I said before the drivers for 3C905x family from the 3com wont install.

4) The card is placed on the slot where it used to work in windows 98 though I doubt that this is hardware conflict because that shouldnt prevent windows from installing the drivers, right? However there is six PCI slots on the motherboard wich I have tried 4. Only other PCI device is the sound card.

So! Im pretty unarmed to solve this after trying all that... Any ideas what to try next?

Thanks!


PS. Sorry for my bad english, I did my best.

Jari, your English is great

A few years ago, 3Com network cards would sometimes cause problems because they wanted the drivers to be installed before the network card was fitted into the PC.

Here is my suggestion.

1. Remove the drivers (you could delete the network adapter from Device Manager to do this).
2. Shut down the PC and take out the network card.
3. Boot the PC into Windows and check that there is no network card shown in Device Manager.
4. Run the installation (setup) program that came on the CD with the network card. If you don't have it, get the driver installation program from the 3Com web site.
5. Once the drivers are installed successfully, reboot the PC.
6. Once Windows has finished loading, shut it down.
7. Fit the network card into the PC.

When you boot up normally, does Windows now correctly detect the network card and configure it with the drivers?

Incidentally, a modem usually has a slightly different size connector to a network card so it is unlikely that the green LED would light up if you put the lead into the RJ45 socket in the network card.

Let us know if you get it fixed

Originally Posted by DJNafey

When you boot up normally, does Windows now correctly detect the network card and configure it with the drivers?

Unfortunetly I couldnt find the setup program from 3Coms website. All I have downloaded is the drivers and the update application.
You see I dont have the CD.

Only preinstallation program seems to be for windows98 wich just sets some things to avoid hardware conflicts before you plug in the card.

Thanks anyway DJNafey.

Originally Posted by DJNafey

Incidentally, a modem usually has a slightly different size connector to a network card so it is unlikely that the green LED would light up if you put the lead into the RJ45 socket in the network card.

Actualy I didnt mean the kind of moden that operates by it self. I ment the ADSL router. Wich shows light on the port's LED when the cable is plugged to another combuter.

So it made me think, could the card be some how damaged? Or doesnt it respon like the other cards until the drivers are installed and PC is running?

Thanks for help.

As far as I know, 3c905 cards should all have an LED on the back that lights up whenever there is a network connection .... but I'm not sure whether it will only do that when the drivers are installed.

It's unlikely that the card is faulty as you had it running on Win98.

As for the pre-installation program, I guess that does make sense as it was Windows 98 that I used to run it on and I've never had to do it on a Windows 2000 PC. So that suggests that installing the drivers is all that you need to do ....... so I'm not sure what else to suggest

Anyone else got any ideas?

Originally Posted by Jari

.....shows light on the port's LED when the cable is plugged to another combuter......

Do you have a network card in another PC that you could take out to try it in the PC that has the problem?

Originally Posted by DJNafey

Do you have a network card in another PC that you could take out to try it in the PC that has the problem?

Nope, its integrated on this one im currently using.

Originally Posted by DJNafey

As far as I know, 3c905 cards should all have an LED on the back that lights up whenever there is a network connection

No LED on this one.


If I remember right windows 98 didnt recognice the drivers either and I manually picked the right driver option from the list what was build from the driver files I downloaded.
But XP doesnt allow this. And if im not badly mistaken it allows you to install even scanner driver for the card but the 3Coms drivers are beond reach.

Maybe its because they arent digitally certified or something?

Is there any way you could force windows XP to use the driver files?

Thanks for your time DJNafey. You have been great help already.

Is this the driver you downloaded HERE?



And also did you try the utilities HERE?



HTH

Thanks Bear. I have downloaded all of those except the DMI tool. I hope it has the drivers. Have to try tomorrow because its late now and I unplugged the card.

Hi again. First sorry that it took so long to reply but I had some other problems too whit the other combuters connection.

The good news are that I got the card working. However the reason why it didnt work was rather stupid... It was wrong network card! Thats right, I dont know what card it was I tried to install but it was also network adapter but not 3Coms.
The real card installed automaticly.

I am sorry for wasting your time on this.