Realtek network adapter failed after Windows 10 rollback to Windows 7

Camelonian · 01 Aug 2016

Recently staff PCs (Dell OptiPlex 3010) were updated to Windows 10 so that it could be activated and then rolled back to Windows 7 x64 Pro. The process itself went along without any issues upgrading, and the rollback didn't have any noticeable problems either. However, two out of the eight OptiPlex 3010's have an issue where they can't connect to the network any longer now that Windows 7 has been rolled back.

Model amongst all of them is the same.
Ethernet patch cords are good.
Network drops are functional.
Network adapter is enabled, device manager shows nothing wrong.
Loopback test works on interface.
Red X with no connections available on network connection icon.
Disabling, reenabling doesn't work.
Uninstalling adapter along with the driver and restarting PC doesn't make a difference.
Using latest driver from Dell's website doesn't make a difference.
SFC /scannow doesn't show any integrity violations.
Powering PC off, unplugging it, and draining residual power doesn't have any effect.
IP is set by DHCP and is set to automatic, just like it was before.
Windows troubleshooter indicates an issue failing to bind and suggests driver reinstall.

I'm out of ideas to try - has anyone else run into this problem or can you think of any other things I might take a look at? Hate to backup and then do a fresh install, but may have to.

ICIT2LOL · 01 Aug 2016

Hello and welcome Camelonian mate are you sure you checked that driver you were updating was for the 7 64bit system?? In this Drivers & Downloads | Dell Australia I cannot find that model so where are you getting the drivers from and i am suggesting drivers because you say the device/s are ok and usually not prone to going belly up. Just a by the by you might try self detect in that site.

Now the other thing is you say staff's machines so are they on 7 Enterprise if so do you have admin privileges??

Camelonian · 01 Aug 2016

I found the drivers for Windows 7 Pro x64 here after entering my service tag and navigating to the drivers page found here.

I'll try the autodetect feature, but I have a feeling that the root cause may be a windows system file that may not have been detected by SFC.

ICIT2LOL · 01 Aug 2016

Ok do that and as a general rule it is always good to run sfc for about three tries as it can miss stuff.

Try this too Disk Check < if necessary include the /f and /r in the command line as per Option2

As I have just replied to another member there are quite a few who roll back to 7 from 10 and have issues so just for your peace of mind I would back up all the data you need because you may have to clean install by whatever method and being a Dell like most brands they have a factory restore partition that you can take the machine back to out of the factory condition but like I said you will lose all data and programs. Having done that you can then reinstall the data and programs at your leisure.

torchwood · 01 Aug 2016

Hi Camelonion,
Check these settings
Go to Control Panel> Network and Internet > Network Sharing Center

Click 'Change adapter settings' in left pane.

Right click your adapter. Select 'properties'.

There will be a box headed 'This connection uses the following items.'

Uncheck anything that looks like it was installed by a third party (AVG, Avast, ZoneAlarm). In my case the culprit was 'HTC NDIS Protocol Driver' which was installed by my cell phone software (HTC). Since it might not be obvious what to uncheck, here is what I currently have checked in my working system that should not cause a problem:

KEEP THESE CHECKED:

Client for Microsoft Networks
QoS packet scheduler
File and Printer Sharing
Internet Protocol v6
Internet Protocal v4
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O driver
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Reminder

Uncheck everything else.

Go back to the Network and Sharing menu, disable and re-enable the adapter.

Roy

Camelonian · 02 Aug 2016

Thanks all for the replies, I ended up figuring out what it was today after I was able to spend some more time troubleshooting. Staff at this company all use Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1 RU6 MP5, which is the latest release and is stable for Windows 7 and 10.

However, when I went to go through any and all items that could possibly interfere with NIC operation I noticed that the software was malfunctioning despite not having a yellow exclamation on the gold shield like it normally would when there is a problem with it. I ended up uninstalling it along with the NIC drivers again, and then reinstalled both again (in reverse order) and am happy to report that both PCs are up and running again.

Long story short, even though the software is compatible, it is probably a good idea to uninstall AV software prior to upgrading the OS in the event that you have to downgrade back since it doesn't always do so cleanly.

I also learned in previous Windows 10 rollbacks (unrelated to this instance) that it is a bad idea to uninstall software that was present in the previous OS while you are still in Windows 10 if there's a chance you may roll back since some of those removed elements will still linger if you roll back and will require an uninstaller cleanup.