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General discussion

NIC Troubles: NT 4.0->XP

Apr 21, 2005 1:26PM PDT

Background: I had 2 networked NT machines: 1 crashed so I decided to "bite the bullet" and rebuild it with XP. After much hair pulling I finally got the XP machine to see and access the NT box. Then I went to work trying to get the NT box to see the XP machine.

What happened: Since the NT box came with hardware/software fully installed, I looked at the original documentation to find NIC specifics (i.e., 3COM 3C900 PCI) so that's the driver I downloaded from 3COM. Following 3COM's instructions, I removed the NIC from Network>Adapters, protocalls from Network>Protocalls, and rebooted. I then tried to add the NIC (Network>Adapters>Add>HaveDisk) but got "Network card is not present in the system."

However, ControlPanel>Devices showed that the NIC was actually a 3COM 3C59X Bus Master. Oops. So, I repeated the procedure, this time selecting a 3COM 3C59X from the list of adapters and getting the driver from the original NT CD, but I got the same failure message.

Now, both adapters show up in ControlPanel>Devices.

1. I assume the 3COM 3C59X is responsible for NT not being able to see XP? But, if that's true, how could XP see NT? BTW 3COM does not have new drivers for the 3C59X.

2. I suppose I'll have to install a new NIC?

3. What did I do wrong?

4. How do I get rid of the 2 devices?

Discussion is locked

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Your problem may not be....
Apr 21, 2005 10:19PM PDT

any issue with the NIC, but more likely an issue with XPs built in firewall. File and Print sharing is not turned on automatically but is enabled on Windows Firewall/Exceptions tab.

Removing duplicate entries in Device Manager is a matter of choosing Delete from a right click.

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NIC Troubles: NT 4.0->XP - Clarification
Apr 22, 2005 12:05AM PDT

Michael,
I responded to your post last night clarifying (in more detail than here) that the problem I described is on the NT side not XP but I don't see my message to you in the thread. Did you get it? Any idea why it's not showing?
Thanks
Wayne

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Firstly....
Apr 22, 2005 2:35AM PDT

"1. I assume the 3COM 3C59X is responsible for NT not being able to see XP? But, if that's true, how could XP see NT? BTW 3COM does not have new drivers for the 3C59X."


To me this says that your NICs are working but something is interfering with XP being seen on the network (perhaps a firewall?).

Secondly...

"2. I suppose I'll have to install a new NIC?"


If XP (or you) did not install proper drivers, the device would not work and things like My Network Places and Ping and Net View, would also not work.

I would look a little closer for that firewall and report back what those tools produce.

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Trouble Reestablishing Network
Apr 27, 2005 12:36PM PDT

Unfortunately, I gunked up the network connection betwwen NT & XP. I followed the 3COM instructions for installing the new drivers (remember: I thought the drivers might need updating and probably got drivers for the wrong NIC) which said to remove the adapter, protocalls and bindings, which all now have no entries.

Control Panel>Devices shows two adapters as does the registry. And, each time I try to add an adapter (I've used both the NT installation CD and files downloaded from 3COM) the system responds with "Network card is not present in the system".

Until I fiqure out how to get things back to where they were I can't look further at the firewall issue.

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One thing about NT.
Apr 27, 2005 9:14PM PDT

With NT you get to reapply the Service Pack even with what you may consider a small change in the OS settings.

Add/change a network setting? -> Apply the service pack.

This is the way of NT 4.0. And another reason why it doesn't work for companies. It's too costly to support as the IT doesn't know it anymore.

Bob