Dell can't find its Network Card

[Nik Habicht]

My parents bought a new Dell desktop in the middle of last year. A couple of weeks ago, they couldn't get on the internet and were getting an Error 814 -- that the computer couldn't find the network card or the software to run the network card (built into the motherboard).

After ~ 6 hours on the phone with Dell support, attempting to reload multiple drivers, reinstalling the OS (Windows Vista), we got nowhere -- except that the error codes changed, to a multitude of other error codes...

Dell sent a tech out to replace the motherboard -- since the network card is integrated. He reports that the problem continues to exist....

Any ideas or suggestions? At this point we're considering everything from shipping the box back to Dell, making another attempt at reloading the OS/formatting the hard drive, and building a Win 7 box from parts to match mine....

Apple's are not an option....

[islandtime]

Have you checked the BIOS to make sure the onboard network card hasn't been set to OFF. This will cause the network connection to not work/show up. If the setting is set to On then the problem is eithr in the chip for the NIC or in the drivers for the NIC.

You can always buy and install a new card. You will need to go into BIOS and set the integrated card to OFF/not used. You can get a good Intel or Linksys 10/100MB NIC card on newegg.com for about $30.

what is the model name and number of your PC?

[Graham Smith]

Anything I can think of, a tech sent out to replace a motherboard should have also thought of.

That said, I would agree to checking the Bios to see if something happened. If that is on, and the motherboard has been replaced, then Dell still has some troubleshooting to do.

[Matrix68]

If you have access to another computer (online) and a thumb-drive...my recommendation would be to visit the Dell support site and download all the related drivers for the system. Then use the thumb-drive to install the drivers (look specifically for the network card driver).

9 times out of 10...this solves the issue.

[Nik Habicht]

Have you checked the BIOS to make sure the onboard network card hasn't been set to OFF. This will cause the network connection to not work/show up. If the setting is set to On then the problem is eithr in the chip for the NIC or in the drivers for the NIC.

You can always buy and install a new card. You will need to go into BIOS and set the integrated card to OFF/not used. You can get a good Intel or Linksys 10/100MB NIC card on newegg.com for about $30.

what is the model name and number of your PC?

Checked the BIOS, card's on. Computer's an Inspiron 537 -- not exactly an expensive machine, but my folks are pretty much using it for e-mail, reading newspaper websites, and word processing....

I'll try a new card next....

[Nik Habicht]

Anything I can think of, a tech sent out to replace a motherboard should have also thought of.

That said, I would agree to checking the Bios to see if something happened. If that is on, and the motherboard has been replaced, then Dell still has some troubleshooting to do.

Agreed....

[Nik Habicht]

If you have access to another computer (online) and a thumb-drive...my recommendation would be to visit the Dell support site and download all the related drivers for the system. Then use the thumb-drive to install the drivers (look specifically for the network card driver).

9 times out of 10...this solves the issue.

We've dumped the drivers from Dell, and on their suggestion, even from Realtek -- who manufactured the card...

[islandtime]

Anything I can think of, a tech sent out to replace a motherboard should have also thought of.

All of the Dell techs that I've come in contact with were just parts replacers. If they relaced the part then "it should be working???". I used to work in IT for a company that switched to the Dell/Unisys service agreement. We went throught about 5 techs before finding one that had any operating system knowledge. Their contract was for the tech to handle all computer related issues such as OS, failed parts, and printers. Some of the techs couldn't even add a printer driver. I have had several friends and family who had hard drives die after only a few months and all the tech did was replace the drive and tell them to use the disk to restore the OS as that wasn't in their scope of work.

[Graham Smith]

About half of my job (computer database development) deals with problem solving and trouble shooting. Whenever there is a problem on the order of "it doesn't work anymore", my first question is, "What's changed." This is quickly followed by the answer of, "Nothing". Which is quickly followed by my answer of, "Well if it worked yesterday, and it doesn't work today, and nothing has been changed, then it's not the software".

There is a caveat to this. Hardware is mechanical and can break, but software can't. However, software resides on a disk drive and can be replaced, patched, or corrupted. If something works one day and not the next then SOMETHING has changed, even if you don't know it. Either some piece of hardware broke or some piece of software was changed in some way. There are literally no other options short of changing the laws of reality.

If someone came out to replace the motherboard and it still doesn't work then they either didn't do their job or were incompetent or both. There are so many things that it could be at this point, it's difficult to say. But if it's not hardware, and it's not the bios, then the next thing I would check is to see if some software update was done that screwed the pooch.

I'm going to guess that this is a Vista computer. I'm also going to guess that automatic updates are on. If this had happened last week, I'd guess it was related to MS Patch Tuesday (second Tue of the month). But it's still possible that something got patched. I'd check to see if there is a restore point that corresponds to the time when the problem started.

[Nik Habicht]

About half of my job (computer database development) deals with problem solving and trouble shooting. Whenever there is a problem on the order of "it doesn't work anymore", my first question is, "What's changed." This is quickly followed by the answer of, "Nothing". Which is quickly followed by my answer of, "Well if it worked yesterday, and it doesn't work today, and nothing has been changed, then it's not the software".

There is a caveat to this. Hardware is mechanical and can break, but software can't. However, software resides on a disk drive and can be replaced, patched, or corrupted. If something works one day and not the next then SOMETHING has changed, even if you don't know it. Either some piece of hardware broke or some piece of software was changed in some way. There are literally no other options short of changing the laws of reality.

If someone came out to replace the motherboard and it still doesn't work then they either didn't do their job or were incompetent or both. There are so many things that it could be at this point, it's difficult to say. But if it's not hardware, and it's not the bios, then the next thing I would check is to see if some software update was done that screwed the pooch.

I'm going to guess that this is a Vista computer. I'm also going to guess that automatic updates are on. If this had happened last week, I'd guess it was related to MS Patch Tuesday (second Tue of the month). But it's still possible that something got patched. I'd check to see if there is a restore point that corresponds to the time when the problem started.

I tried multiple restore points --- and couldn't get it to go. Wouldn't a re-installation and format from the Dell-provided CD undo any updates? Or am I missing something there?

I could buy a copy of Win 7, and try to load that --- I'm just leery of dumping a bunch of money into this box....

[Cultldr]

I tried multiple restore points --- and couldn't get it to go. Wouldn't a re-installation and format from the Dell-provided CD undo any updates? Or am I missing something there?

I could buy a copy of Win 7, and try to load that --- I'm just leery of dumping a bunch of money into this box....

I had a problem like this with laptops here at work with Dell's latest driver. What I did was on Dell's website they had a link for the older drivers for the network adapters and I grabbed the newest of those and it fixed the issue. We have had motherboards come in for warranty from Dell and they were DOA but it sounds like the problem went right along with the change so hopefully it's just the Vista driver and was updated etc.

Sorry for the rambling, hope you get it fixed soon.

[islandtime]

A full reinstall sing the Dell OS and driver disk will get you back to like-new condition. The nic should work at this point if the hardware is not the problem.

If it works then go to Windows Update and get all of the latest updates. You may have to do a couple of reboots and go back to WU a couple of times until all the updates have been installed. DO NOT load any of the device drivers on the WU site as they can be buggy and cause problems.

Once the PC has all of the Windows updates go to Dell and get all of the updated Dell drivers. This is fairly easy since you can type in your service tag and the Dell site will bring up the appropriate driver download page. To make things even easier you can open Device Manager and make a list of the installed hardware and what brand/model of the following items are installed: network adapter, diplay adapter, and sound card. This will allow you to choose the right drives from the list since Dell sometimes uses different mnfgr's for parts.

Lastly, add your programs back to the PC.

[Nik Habicht]

Thanks all! That'll give me a starting point for the next few hours at my parents house....

Dell tech replaced the motherboard this morning and then reported that the computer was still having the same problem. Based on the time he was there, I doubt that he sat through a re-install of the OS....

[Nik Habicht]

A full reinstall sing the Dell OS and driver disk will get you back to like-new condition. The nic should work at this point if the hardware is not the problem.

If it works then go to Windows Update and get all of the latest updates. You may have to do a couple of reboots and go back to WU a couple of times until all the updates have been installed. DO NOT load any of the device drivers on the WU site as they can be buggy and cause problems.

Once the PC has all of the Windows updates go to Dell and get all of the updated Dell drivers. This is fairly easy since you can type in your service tag and the Dell site will bring up the appropriate driver download page. To make things even easier you can open Device Manager and make a list of the installed hardware and what brand/model of the following items are installed: network adapter, diplay adapter, and sound card. This will allow you to choose the right drives from the list since Dell sometimes uses different mnfgr's for parts.

Lastly, add your programs back to the PC.

Looks like the motherboard was the issue. Once I reloaded the OS, and installed the network driver from the "new" drivers CD the tech left, the network functionality returned. It appears that this board has some tweaked BIOS settings in that the Network Controller is set to launch before the OS loads --- that takes an incredibly long time (~3-5 minutes) during boot, but once it's up and running everything works....

I'm loath to monkey with the settings for that -- and my parents seem to think that they can live with that quirk, as they don't need to reboot too often....

Oh yeah, the new driver CD contained the identical driver files as the original, arranged in a different order, and identical to the latest drivers availble from Dell. Amusing.....