Intel Pro/1000 GT Gigabit Desktop Ethernet Adapter  

I'm out of ideas. Tried several different drivers, and settings. Using a fresh install of Windows 7 RC.

The drivers all seem to "work", by which I mean Windows 7 has no problem with them, but no driver I've tried will let the card actually talk with anything. It keeps trying to find a DHCP address and always comes up with a 169 address. Even when I specify a static IP it still won't see anything on the network.

DHCP is working for my on board NIC, and this card works in my XP installation on this same PC.

The driver that seems to "work" the best so far is this: Download HP Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Driver 13.5.00 Rev.C for Vista64 Driver for Windows Vista64 - Softpedia

With that driver I actually get all of the nifty features in the driver properties page, and I've run all of it's diagnostic tests which all come up green.

Also worth nothing: I had this same problem with Windows 7 Beta.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
== Matt

Hi mmseng,
Even though it should not matter I wonder what happens if you to go the properties of that network card and uncheck the box for I.P. v6 and just leave I.P.v4 checked? Make sure the Network card does not have a static I.P. set ( I assume you want to use DHCP) and also make sure your router is setup correctly.

I'm thinking maybe you had a static I.P. set on your network card when you had XP installed and when you installed Windows 7 it got wiped out. Maybe your router is set to use static I.P.? hmmm
Raj

Hi, thanks for the ideas but I've tried that already.

I have a DHCP server set up on my network that ideally, this PC will be using. However when it would not pull an address that way I tried setting a static IP (which should have also worked), but it still could not talk to anything.

I've tried unchecking IPv6 support (as well as several other combinations of IPv6, QoS, etc.) using both DHCP and static IP settings, with no change.

Interesting.Seems like the network card is bad or something. Wonder what happens if you uninstall the network card and let Windows 7 reinstall it and try it using DHCP? Make sure your router has an i.p. address to give too.
Raj

I've tried that too, uninstalling it and removing the drivers. When I scan for hardware changes again, 7 just installs it with whatever driver it originally wanted to use, and I get the same results.

I know the card is good, because, like I said, it works fine in my XP install on this same machine (I've actually got a triple-boot setup atm with XP, 7 beta, and 7 RC).

I feel like a different card might be utilized correctly by 7, but it seems like a waste buying another card when 7 won't use the good one I've got :/

OOOOOk, scratch that. I just booted up my XP again and apparently it's not working in there either. I guess the card went bad in the time between when I installed 7 and now.

I'll have to swap PCI ports and see if that helps, otherwise I guess I do have a bad card. Bummer.

Well... I tested this card in my other PCI slots with no luck. Then I ordered another. I should have known better than to get the same model, but I did anyway because let's be honest, I can't NOT buy the best newegg rated/most bought item. There's really no other gigabit cards that stack up.

Anyway, I tried loading both cards up in my XP... and I SWEAR at first both cards worked, but then I installed the driver I thought was correct for XP32-bit for both cards, rebooted, and then only the new card worked, and it worked like it should grabbing an IP from DHCP.

Anyway with the knowledge that I had at least 1 working card and PCI slot I booted up 7RC again, and I've tried all night to get a driver that will work with no luck. Every single driver I've tried yields the same results for both cards, those being successful recognition, but unsuccessful connectivity to anything, always getting a 169.x.x.x IP using DHCP. Again when I set static IPs for the cards they "get" the IP, yet still won't talk to anything, and the DHCP server doesn't show the IPs as in use.

I guess my next step would be to throw the cards in another machine and see what happens. Although the only other machines I have are an oldie that probably wouldn't run 7, and my server, on which I really don't feel like installing a new OS.

As always, any suggestions appreciated.

P.S. I read in a few newegg reviews that this card has worked without a hitch for other people running 7.

Hi mmseng,
Now that I think about it if this Intel Card your trying to get to work is a PCI Intel network card then have you disabled the embedded network card in the BIOS? Just a thought.
Raj

No I have not tried disabling the onboard NIC, however that was not necessary in XP. I will give it a go, but technically, I don't see why that should matter.

Well I tried that, but no luck. I'll be looking for some spare time to test these cards in my server machine, and possibly in a friends machine.

I actually went and got yet another card, this time a decently cheap TrendNet TEG-PCITXR, just to see if my Intel model is what 7 doesn't like. For some reason it kept wanting to install it using the PRO/1000 drivers from my other card, however after I forced it to use the latest drivers from TrendNet it is giving me the same exact problem, no driver conflicts, but it won't see the network.

I'm starting to think my PCI hub is bad or something, however since it seems to work in XP, I'm left thinking that 7 simply has a problem with the drivers for my motherboard/chipset/PCI hub. However I believe I've got the latest drivers for those, and my mobo isn't exactly an obscure model.

Anyway, I'll report back after I've done some more hardware/driver testing.