On board Realtek Lan Card stops working after driver update on Win7

Guys, help. I updated the drivers of my on board Realtek Lan Card via windows Update, but after that, it is not functional anymore. There were no lights when I plugged in the cable. Cable is working fine, when I test it on my laptop.

When i check on Device manager, it says, device is working properly. Network icon on the taskbar just shows lan connection with a red X. Have tried reformatting the pc and also used the latest driver from Realtek website.

I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

Please help thanks!

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

First, go into Device Manager and roll back your LAN adapter driver to its previous one.



Second, go to Windows Update and choose "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to download and install them"



Alternatively, you can always right-click any update you don't want and choose Hide.

thanks for the reply.

I can't remember if I've already done this... I have tried so many things already but I'll give it a go.

Is there a possibility that a hardware could be broken if you have installed the wrong drivers?

lhan516 said:

thanks for the reply.

I can't remember if I've already done this... I have tried so many things already but I'll give it a go.

Is there a possibility that a hardware could be broken if you have installed the wrong drivers?

No way the hardware breaks after installing drivers.
Try cleaning and look for any physical damages. I have faced similar issues but always my
light was glowing always..
time to get a new network card I suppose

The hardware cannot physically "break" if you install new drivers, but functionality and performance can be affected.

For example, computer manufacturers tend to use OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) versions of hardware and hardware drivers. Because OEM equipment is tied to the computer it was installed in, it is cheaper and therefore more profitable for the manufacturer.

However, you may find that OEM drivers are configured differently to retail drivers for retail hardware and updating can cause the problems you are experiencing.

You may find you need to uninstall any updated drivers, and then uninstall the LAN adapter in Device Manager. Restart your computer so that Windows detects your LAN adapter. If it does then it should function correctly without any further action on your part.

Thanks for all the reply! It helped me isolate further. :)

I found the culprit. It seems that the problem is from Windows update. I have tried again reformatting the PC and when I'm finished, all the links are up and blinking again. It had used the default Windows driver (Realtek R8168D/8111D NDIS 6.2) seen in Device manager . But when I tried to do a Windows update it had replaced the driver to Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. And again no lights and no access to network.

Weird thing is that I have tried uninstalling the drivers and used the default Windows but it didn't work. Still seeing the red X in the network icon in my taskbar and it says no network access. I also tried system restore but still the problem is the same.

Maybe I will be reformatting again later and will not do a windows update. Hopefully, I can find what update is causing this problem.

Thanks again everyone.

I had a similar problem with it showing no lan cable attached. I tried everything incuding a complete re-install of windows. The solution to my problem was so simple I am kicking myself.
Close down the computer and take out the power cable. Leave it for 10 minutes without power and press the on switch(still unplugged to the mains) This drains the power from the machine.
Now switch on the power and turn pc back on and it should all be fine ( unless you have deleted too much already)
Hope this works for you.

I had already re-installed drivers (5 times) I literally tried every conceivable fault ( except this one) Then I found:
onboard lan(Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC)?? - Network-General-Discussions - General-Networking

It worked for me, and as I said, I am kicking myself now that I did not find this sooner

I accidentally uninstalled my realtek lan driver and i tried finding it again and installed it again but it is still not working, i dont know what to do anymore may laptop is lenovo s20-30 wimdows 8 please help me!