Windows 7 Windows 7 Killed my NIC?! =(

[heerohua]

Hello everyone, i'm new to these forums although have been browsing through them for the past few months, just haven't needed to post until now.

I installed Windows 7 (Build 7100) on my desktop pc as dual boot with my already existing Windows XP. Both operating systems are on different hdd's so there shouldn't be ANY conflicts at all from the previous OS when booting Win7.

Before i begin with posting all the info i found, here's my system specs:

Intel Q6600
Asus P5KR Mobo (Using the onboard Realtek AC sound card and onboard Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet Card)
4gb Ram
Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB
4x HDD
Windows 7, Build 7100. 32bit.
Antec 1000w PSU

After the first use of windows 7, all of my drivers appear to be working fine besides my NIC. I figured since Win7 detected my nic as the correct one, and had installed it's own drivers for it, that this problem at hand was just a driver related problem relating to the one which came with Win7. So i tried updating the drivers multiple times with newer and newer versions each time. To no avail, my NIC is STILL not working. (The most recent driver i installed was 2.4.7.22 from the Atheros support site which has Win7 32/64 bit support)

The error code i get for my nic in devices manager each time is : "This device is not working properly because windows cannot load the drivers required for this device.(code 31)."

I have also Updated my BIOS to the most recent version, as well as re-downloading the newst versions of my NIC drivers from the manufacturer & vendor web sites.

I also have reinstalled Win7 3 times now just incase it was a bad install issue, though this was not the case.

Another side problem i've now also got... is when i try boot back to my WinXP OS it essentially loads like normal to a certain point (xp logo load screen) and after that is slows down to loading about 1/100th the speed it was before until it just freezes after about 5min. I have tried loading XP in safe mode, and this works no problems, although when i try load XP in safe mode with Networking, it freezes when trying to load all the drivers before intiializing safe mode.. related to my current problem maybe?


Any help people can give would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!!

 

[Radenight]

Welcome to Windows7forums..

I really don't think Windows 7 killed your NIC.. It may be a coincidence that it stopped working after installing 7 but I seriously doubt 7 killed it..

Let's just stop and think for a moment.. so you had a computer with four HDD's in it and Windows XP as your OS right? (There was no other OS installed prior to installing Windows 7 right?) Ok, so you then installed Windows 7 on the second HDD, thus creating a dual-boot setup.. All seemed to be going well, 7 found drivers for your hardware and things were moving along as they should..?

Now the part where I get confused a little is when you say that Windows 7 found the drivers for your hardware during the installation.. Though 7 does have a rather large library of drivers by default, it still has to check online (if your connected during the installation) to see if there are drivers available for your hardware and if there are any updates available as well..

So, if we consider the above then logically one can assume that your NIC had to be working during the installation up to a certain point..? Otherwise you wouldn't have even been able to complete the installation without some sort of "error" or "warning" popping up telling you that Win 7 was unable to find updates needed for the installation as well as drivers for your hardware...

Did you happen to check in Device Manager after the installation finished to see whether or not all your devices had been installed and if so was there a yellow exclamation mark beside your NIC AT THAT POINT? Or was it later on that you noticed (perhaps when trying to browse the web or something like that) your NIC wasn't working..?

I hate to say it but because of what Windows XP is doing now.. it's sounding like you might have to reinstall both OS's... 99.9% of the time dual booting (especially on two seperate HDD's) DOES NOT conflict, however... But also because you updated your BIOS (without the initial problem being solved first) I'm thinking something somewhere conflicted...

By the sounds of it you've already tried all the standard steps to fix the issue in Win 7.. You've tried using the latest available Windows Vista drivers? AND any Windows 7 drivers that are released for your hardware?

 

[whoosh]

A great post Radenight

Wow very comprehensive ! Impecable logic Else we would be watching out for Ninja WIn7 !

 

[heerohua]

First thanks for your assistance! and maybe i was a little bit unclear with my first message, but i was frantically trying to fix my stuffs =D... i shall just list a bunch of things i noticed.

I had disconnected other hdd's too in case by some weird reason they were causing mishaps with w7, this changed nothing.

The bios was the most latest version ~3-4 days prior to w7 installation.

The nic WAS working up until just after the installation of w7 where upon first boot it then decided it didn't wish to work anymore. I had checked device manager right after the first installation and everything was working except the nic which had drivers installed but gave the first error message i got in post #1.

Yes, reinstalling WinXP may have to be an option as i dare not try boot back to it at this stage... for it may break my crap again...





Solution to the problem: I went out for around 5-6 hours and came home to find the NIC working again with the system being EXACTLY how i left it before i went out (as in i had left it turned on, it hadn't rebooted itself or anything as apps i had open previously were still open) and VOILA! Windows 7 is now working 100% and I'm loving it!

So essentially this problem resolved itself without me making any further alterations since i posted on this forum and it kinda just....worked... i don't know... But! if anyone else has this same issue, i highly recommend you just get out the house for a good 5-6 hours and come back and hope your NIC is working again... (and possibly try some of the steps i listed above =P) Good luck!!

 

[Radenight]

First thanks for your assistance! and maybe i was a little bit unclear with my first message, but i was frantically trying to fix my stuffs =D... i shall just list a bunch of things i noticed.

I had disconnected other hdd's too in case by some weird reason they were causing mishaps with w7, this changed nothing.

The bios was the most latest version ~3-4 days prior to w7 installation.

The nic WAS working up until just after the installation of w7 where upon first boot it then decided it didn't wish to work anymore. I had checked device manager right after the first installation and everything was working except the nic which had drivers installed but gave the first error message i got in post #1.

Yes, reinstalling WinXP may have to be an option as i dare not try boot back to it at this stage... for it may break my crap again...





Solution to the problem: I went out for around 5-6 hours and came home to find the NIC working again with the system being EXACTLY how i left it before i went out (as in i had left it turned on, it hadn't rebooted itself or anything as apps i had open previously were still open) and VOILA! Windows 7 is now working 100% and I'm loving it!

So essentially this problem resolved itself without me making any further alterations since i posted on this forum and it kinda just....worked... i don't know... But! if anyone else has this same issue, i highly recommend you just get out the house for a good 5-6 hours and come back and hope your NIC is working again... (and possibly try some of the steps i listed above =P) Good luck!!

Glad to hear your up and running again! Now you can truly enjoy Windows 7 for the gem that it is..