windows failing to load driver

[brav]

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notes:
my ethernet adapter is an onborad one on my abit av8
my pc connects the the internet(broadband) through a firewall(smoothwall)
im using win xp pro sp2
i have norton av up to date
before this happened i was on the internet for an hour or two, played some counter strike source, checked my email, then i shutdown. i didnt install any new devices or any programs for over a week as far as i can remember so i dont know how this problem started
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when i started windows yesterday it loaded up as normal, but when i tried to go on the net nothing happened. so after about 2 hors of messing with cables checking my firewall etc i eventually went into device manager and saw there were 3 or 4 <!> listed and my ethernet port was one of them, so i uninstalled all of them(cant remember for sure but i think they were the human interface thing, a parallel port...).

when i rebooted all of them were fixed except for my ethernet connection.

i tried doing this a few times yet it still failed to load, looking at it in the case i can see the lights flashing yellow and the green light is on so i know there is power going to it. i tried disabling it in the bios and then reenabling it and reinstalling it, i event removed the driver from the system and reinstalled an old 1 which came with it when i got it, but it still didnt work

next i took out one of the nics in my smoothwall(which i know works) and put it into my pc but windows installs it properly and says you have to reboot but when i do the same thing again, it shows up in the device manager with a <!>.(code 37, windows site only reccomended what i just did )

1 thing i noticed is that it(both of them) showed up under unknown devices instead of network adapters so could it be a prob in the reg...

i have a good few years of computer experience, but i dont know how to solve this one

i have tried system restore but that didnt work, and when i looked in services everything seemed to be ok

the only thing i can think of is reinstalling winxp but that is a last resort which i dont want to do.


thanks for the help, and sorry about long post, i just wanted to get everything in!

 

[furiousV]

did u actually ever install the drivers that came with your motherboard CD?
and are you connected through a router which connects to the modem?

and your post isnt long, tells us what we need to know

 

[brav]

yep when i first set it up i used the ones that came with the cd, but i have up dated them twice since. the last time i updated them was about 2 months ago, these are still the newest drivers out for it.

no i am not connectiong through a router, just through a smoothwall(a firewall). the setup has been working without any problems for a good few months.

i dont no what brought it on all of a sudden, because as i sai above i didnt install anything or remove anything the last time i as on the computer.

the only thing that i havent tried yet that i can think of is removing any updates windows installed if it is possible.

 

[brav]

i removed the updates but didnt help

 

[furiousV]

i dont think you should be concerned with your ethernet, since u are directly connected to the internet.
try disabling your firewall

 

[brav]

thanks for the reply, but i have tried connecting it straight to the internet.

even when it is not connected to anything it should still work properly and not show up in device manager with an error