Ethernet Driver for Homemade PC  

Bought a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit PC at a flea market that someone had built themselves. It has an Intel core 2 duo e7500 processor, 4 GB of RAM, a Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard, and Award modular BIOS.

I can't get to the internet with it.

Device manager looked okay - no questions marks, but when I opened Network adapters, it just said ethernet driver - no actual name. When I clicked on properties, it said no driver was installed. I tried the update driver software, scan for hardware changes, but nothing helped.

Then I uninstalled the driver, rebooted, and there it was - a Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC driver.

However, when I clicked on properties it said 'This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)'.

I tried a different driver - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #2, but get the same results about the lack of free resources.

What can I do?

The resolution of this error appears to be either a bios update or resolving conflict between competing devices on the same computer. See John cena's post on this page.

Device cannot find enough free resources (Code 12). Realtek 8168 Driver Update

Bill2 said:

The resolution of this error appears to be either a bios update or resolving conflict between competing devices on the same computer. See John cena's post on this page.

Device cannot find enough free resources (Code 12). Realtek 8168 Driver Update

I'd already read that post before I started the thread, and i must be missing something because I fail to see anything of a useful nature there. I already went into the BIOS and set it to the optimized settings. This BIOS even has an option for Fail-Safe settings which I enabled. I had also already tried disabling the audio and CD-ROM drivers.

None of those efforts amounted to anything.

No ideas on this at all? Please! I could really use the help. The PC seems like it's got all the bells and whistles, but if I can't connect to the internet I might as well put it in the trash.

Trash man comes Friday.

Downloaded the driver you suggested to a flash drive.
Plugged the flash drive into the PC, extracted the files, opened the folder, and selected Setup.
Asked if I wanted to modify, repair, or remove.
I selected repair, and let it do its thing.
When I rebooted I got the 'starting windows' screen, and then nothing.
Just an almost black screen.
After 5 minutes, I pulled the plug, and rebooted into safe mode with networking.
That at least gets me to my desktop, but when I go to device manager, right click on the Realtek NIC card and select properties, I am confronted with the same msg:

This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)
If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system

I'm hoping that this step backward will be followed by 2 steps forward. I hope.

And now, even in safe mode, I'm getting a msg:
The screen saver can't run because it requires a newer video card or one that's compatible with Direct3D

This PC has 2 white PCI ports that are unoccupied. The only other port is a PCI Express port that has the video card plugged into it. Obviously that cannot be unplugged.

And since I was booting into Safe Mode with Networking, the driver would be necessary.

If you've got any more ideas I probably won't get a chance to read them for about 12 hours, and won't be able to have any meaningful work time on this for about 16 hours.

Thank you for your responses thus far.

Still only a black screen on a normal boot - it says 'Starting Windows', I see the colored balls come together for form the logo, the logo fades, and then nothing.

SlasherIT said:

Well, can you if possible, remove your video card temporarily, and then boot up in Safe Mode with Networking. See if it works or not your Ethernet.

I always seem to be missing something - maybe I'm just having a stupid couple of days - but if I remove my video card and boot, whether in safe mode or not, I'll not be able to see anything. If the card I plug my monitor into is no longer attached to the PC, video will be non-existent.

You obviously mean something else. I just don't know what you're getting at. Sorry.