Netgear FA311 v1 NIC compatibility with Windows 7

[Ch@n]

Hi all,

I came to Windows 7 specific forum due to the issue I faced as described in the Title. This is my own solution/tip/trick checked by one other member from windows7forums.

Just checked my post in there and it seems my solution has been distributed or linked back in more than 5 different website. Even added in this forum which helped the fellow member to fix his issue. So, thought of posting it here in the Tutorials section. Here it goes,

As many know and some would know now, when the drivers are not available for Windows 7, the NIC will just return a APIPA i.e., 169.x.x.x IP. We all thought this is a driver issue, but how do we make sure it is a driver or setting issue? Follow these simple steps.
1. Ping 127.0.0.1, if you get success replies, then your NIC is working fine, rule out the driver issue.
2. If failure reply, then you can try searching for the best drivers and then give it a go. Or, you can fix the TCP/IP stack or fix the socket issue.

Fixing corrupt TCP/IP stack,
netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Fixing socket issue,
netsh winsock reset

Let me now come to the problem I was facing and the fix that worked.

I have tried all the steps which every1 wil do when they encounter APIPA. Nothing worked. Then one of my fella asked me to ping 127.0.0.1 and check. This gave me success reply. So, this made me think in a different way, rather than the old driver issue.

Then went to Netgear website and studied the basic difference of FA311 v1 and v2. Then went to driversguide website, downloaded a bunch of drivers which included MacPhyter too.

Tried installing all the various drivers, nothing worked. From driversguide I got one set of driver with the name drivers.zip. The description told that it is the extract of the CD given by Netgear. When I tried installing this, in DM, under NA, it showed, Netgear FA311 Fast PCI Adapter. This is the correct version of my NIC.

When I tried the others, it would show, Netgear FA311/FA312 PCI Adapter. This is not the right version of my NIC. Okay, now I have got the right drivers installed and again pinged 127, success. Tried ipconfig, same 169. Set a static IP, but stil no internet.

Tried to refresh my networking knowledge and started this process.

Went to DM, right clicked on my NIC, Selected properties. Then Clicked Advanced, Under the property, there were 3 entries,
1. Network Address - Not present selected
2. Speed & Duplex settings - Auto sense
3. Transmit buffers - 160

Went to Power Management,
Both the check boxes were selected.

When I went to Netgear website, the v1 doesnt support wake-on LAN and it has a speed of 100Tx.

So, In Advanced tab, Selected Speed & Duplex settings, selected 100Tx in the place of Auto sense.
Went to Power Management, Unchecked both the check boxes. Clicked Ok.

Went to command prompt, ipconfig..

VOILA!!!!!! Got my DHCP IP address.

Opened IE8, and it flashed the MSN webpage.

Finally, internet had a taste of my Windows 7 RC 7100.

Still I do not know which setting change made it to work, either Advanced or Power management, but got it to work.

Guys, feel free to pass this working solution to one and all.

Happy hunting.

Note: If somebody needs that drivers.zip download from below,

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[Crispy]

Question, why do you need a tutorial for a PCI card when motherboards come standard with LAN port already built in?

 

[Ch@n]

this tutorial is specific for the brand and version of NIC I have mentioned.

 

[jchaven]

Worked for me. Windows 7 Pro, FA311TX.

Thanks for the post!!!

 

[Flatracer]

the link doesn´t work reload a new link, please