NICs not recogized?

It's the darndest thing. I have a Win98 PC that won't recognize any
NICs. I have tried three different NICs in various empty slots, PCI and
EISA.

The PC came with an Intel Pro100 PCI card which used to work fine but I
hadn't used it in a couple years. Recently, we ordered DSL which
requires a working NIC but for some reason the Intel card was no longer
being recognized at all even after reinstalling the driver. SisSoft
Sandra reported the slot as empty and at boot up it was not on the list
of PCI devices.

I thought maybe the NIC went bad so I bought a new one. Same result. I
know the PCI slots are working though since the PCI sound card works. I
even tried replacing the sound card with the NIC but no dice. So I
bought an ISA NIC figuring it was a PCI issue. The board has two EISA
slots with a parallel card in one which is recognized. The NIC however
is ignored again. How is this possible?

I have an Abit BM6 mobo with PnP turned on and PCI resources set to
'Auto'. Unfortunately, I can't find the Win 98 CD otherwise I would try
reinstalling. Any suggestions?

Try booting into Safe mode. Then go to Control Panel, System, Device
Manager. Look for any network adapters on the list of devices and also any
devices that are listed as Other and remove them all. Once you have done
this say no to restarting when prompted and then exit and shut down Windows.
This step will ensure that all devices are reinitialized. After several
seconds start the computer. If the NIC is not recognized during the boot
process, then run the Add new hardware wizard from Control Panel - unless
the instructions that came with the NIC instruct you differently and then,
of course, use the manufacturer's instructions.

PattyL


<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> It's the darndest thing. I have a Win98 PC that won't recognize any
> NICs. I have tried three different NICs in various empty slots, PCI and
> EISA.
>
> The PC came with an Intel Pro100 PCI card which used to work fine but I
> hadn't used it in a couple years. Recently, we ordered DSL which
> requires a working NIC but for some reason the Intel card was no longer
> being recognized at all even after reinstalling the driver. SisSoft
> Sandra reported the slot as empty and at boot up it was not on the list
> of PCI devices.
>
> I thought maybe the NIC went bad so I bought a new one. Same result. I
> know the PCI slots are working though since the PCI sound card works. I
> even tried replacing the sound card with the NIC but no dice. So I
> bought an ISA NIC figuring it was a PCI issue. The board has two EISA
> slots with a parallel card in one which is recognized. The NIC however
> is ignored again. How is this possible?
>
> I have an Abit BM6 mobo with PnP turned on and PCI resources set to
> 'Auto'. Unfortunately, I can't find the Win 98 CD otherwise I would try
> reinstalling. Any suggestions?
>

Have you by any change uninstalled the networking software? Don't know how
to get it back on Windows 98 but you might know yourself, otherwise Google
is your friend.

Paul DS.