Hiya all,

I bought (amongst other Networking devices) a Belkin 10/100BT Ethernet Network Card, and tried to install it this evening.

When I restarted Windows, the device installation seemed to go OK and the bit where I had to insert the Windows 98 disk, and then the system wanted to restart.

So far, so good. But that's where the good news ends.

Once the restart had got only so-far, the screen went black and the system rebooted. It would not boot up at all - the only way out was to remove the network card completely.

As it was the only remaining PCI slot, I took another card (the USB card) out and moved it to another slot, so I could try another slot.

No difference - system still kept rebooting when I tried to fire it up.

The only thing I can think of is that I've damaged the network card with static, as I understand they are especially sensitive. Although I don't have an antistatic wrist strap, I did take the advice in the instructions to touch the system chassis to make sure I was well earthed.

Is there likely to be anything simple I'm doing wrong here? can't see how it could have gone wrong myself!

Hi Angus,
I have not antistatic wrist strap, but I remove my right boot, step on the floor and put my arm (bottom end) on the case

Do not know if it's right, but I never has static issues, just a woman that asked me why I was doing that

This always worked.

I just worry if I had clean socks

Thanks Chris, but unfortunately it doesn't help as such

One thing I should add is that I can get a Safe Mode boot with the card in place, but then Safe Mode's not going to help with day-to-day running.

There were a couple of files the installer reported as being "newer than the ones on CD" when I installed the software, with the recommendation that I kept the newer versions (which I did). It was after the Windows CD bit and the system rebooted that I could not get a boot-up without removing the network card.

Unfortunately I didn't write the filenames down as I've had this happen a few times before without issue, so I wouldn't expect it to be the issue here either.

QUOTE

Unfortunately I didn't write the filenames down as I've had this happen a few times before without issue, so I wouldn't expect it to be the issue here either.

A system restore and reinstall card drivers will not work ?

Angus, is your operating system Windows XP or 98? The problem with 98 is that as time progresses, the hardware available is going to support DOS based systems less and less. Remember you are using SDRAM or possibly even EDO SDRAM memory as well as other legacy technology. If you damaged the NIC with static, I think it just wouldn't work. I can't see how that would cause the constant reboots.

It's Windows 98SE. The box is prolly about 7 or 8 years old now, but the card is compatible with earlier versions of Windows .... well, there are installation instructions for Win95 with it as well.

So Chris, system restore isn't an option ..... rebuilding Windows is, however

The idea here is that I've got an XP laptop, and I'd like to connect it to the Internet and via a wireless network. I don't want to keep having to pull everything out to unplug the modem plug it into the other box, so a home network seems to be the way to go.

A work colleague also suggested that it's possible that the IRQ number for the NIC is the same as that for the video drivers, and because it cannot load the video drivers the system is repeatedly rebooting. He said that you can change the IRQ numbers on the BIOS (with the NIC inserted, of course!)

I'd already tried other PCI slots for the NIC before posting ... no difference

It is unlikely you damaged the card with static; all you have to do is plug the machine in turn off the plug at the socket and touch the metal backplane to discharge.

Windows 98SE is pretty weak when it comes to USB or Networking the best bet is to complete uninstall the network card and try again. Your motherboard is probably dinosaur as well, my board is of a similar age and had major issues with USB cards until I installed some patches. It is likely to be an IRQ issue or just old hardware.

QUOTE (Robert Wellock @ Nov 9 2005, 12:20 PM)

Windows 98SE is pretty weak when it comes to USB or Networking the best bet is to complete uninstall the network card and try again. Your motherboard is probably dinosaur as well, my board is of a similar age and had major issues with USB cards until I installed some patches. It is likely to be an IRQ issue or just old hardware.

My home server is a 13 years old Pentium II 400 running Win98SE with two 10/100 lan cards, one connected to the broadband modem and the other to the hub. Hard disk is only 1.7 GB. Never had problem with it, and I guess that Angus one is more recent...

If his is a dinosaur, mine is pre-historic

I'm fairly convinced I didn't damage it with static. I ripped it out (both physically and the drivers) and tried again.

I was prompted by Windows to "insert the Win98 CD"which I duly did, and installed it.

When it prompted me to reboot, I said no (so I could at least see if I could get into Windows OK).

It rebooted itself again anyway, and then the incessant reboot cycle began all over again.

There doesn't seem to be an obvious setting for IRQ on the mobo: I tried a few different settings and enabled another interrupt (IRQ10), but this made no difference whatsoever.

The only way to get the machine to work is to remove the network card.

It was only cheap, and although I don't like giving up I'm wondering whether I ought to connect to the router via USB and whether that would get me over the problem. I have 4 USB ports, and they all work perfectly OK.

Still, it would be nice to get this thing working!

Errrrr Chris .... Dinosaurs *are* prehistoric, aren't they?

QUOTE

Errrrr Chris .... Dinosaurs *are* prehistoric, aren't they?

Yep... but before, there were fishs