Realtek LAN Driver disappears

[brusse01]

Hi all,

For the most part Windows 7 has been running ok so far on my computer. The only issue that has me puzzled is my Realtek RTL8168C(P)8111C(P) Family PCI-E GBE NIC (onboard) just disappears after a reboot or a shutdown. I have to power the system totally down just to get it back.

I have updated to the lastest driver ( 1/20/2009 from Realtek.) Windows update tells me I have the latest driver installed. I also have tried disabling the power managemant and the driver still "disappeared" in Device Manager. I have IPV6 disabled as well.

Since my computer is fairly new and Vista Ready.. I thought I would try the driver that came on the motherboard install CD and same result. I am using a linksys USB wireless adapter and suprisingly it has proven to be more stable then my onboard Realtek. Not a major issue just a puzzle I would like to solve.

Specs:
Biosatr A770 AM2+ motherboard
ATI Radeon HD 4350 512 MB PCI-e Video
160 WD SATA HDD
Realek HD audio (onboard.. no issues)


Any ideas?

Thx!

 

[NosferatuX]

Well, defective Ethernet adapters are not really unheard of even though its quite rare as it follows the symptoms of a failing card.

Although, it might also be an indication of a corrupt driver installation. Try using older drivers and check it's stability as not all latest drivers are good for you

Personally, I'd do a clean install and test the NIC before ruling anything out.

Cheers

 

[Digger]

recheck bios config? possibly update bios?

 

[brusse01]

hi and thx for quick reply...

I did a clean install because maybe the realtek driver was corrupt/? I left the ethernet plugged in during the clean install. Windows gave me a driver for it. Lets see how it goes. I shut down pc for a about 15 min and when I turned it on... the driver was still there and connected to network perfectly. The real test is when I shut it down for the night.......

By the way, I did do a double check in BIOS to make sure onboard lan was enabled and it was. As for a Bios update... that will be my next step if this clean install driver doesnt take.

Thx again for the help .... keep ya posted on driver success annd/or failure


ps.

out of curiousity I went to Biostar website to see about a BIOS update and it seems I have the latest .... no update needed. things that make ya go hmmmm.....

 

[brusse01]

hi all....


After the clean install of Windows 7 and leaving the computer off all night the onboard Realtek NIC driver went "poof" once again. So I decided to install a old PCI D-link network card I had and BAM! Windows 7 instantly found it and installed a driver. Tested new card by browsing internet, putting into sleep mode, and shutting the pc down for a couple of hours. To my surprise.... network card worked like a charm. It showed up in Device manager... so maybe my onboard is a dud?! will test that theory when I install Vista on computer after the Beta ends.

Thx again for input

 

[NosferatuX]

hi all....


After the clean install of Windows 7 and leaving the computer off all night the onboard Realtek NIC driver went "poof" once again. So I decided to install a old PCI D-link network card I had and BAM! Windows 7 instantly found it and installed a driver. Tested new card by browsing internet, putting into sleep mode, and shutting the pc down for a couple of hours. To my surprise.... network card worked like a charm. It showed up in Device manager... so maybe my onboard is a dud?! will test that theory when I install Vista on computer after the Beta ends.

Thx again for input

Thats great progress

Would love to know what happens on Vista.

You're welcome. Cheers

 

[brusse01]

this is the 2nd test computer for Windows 7.... 1st pc i tested it on was built for XP
Worked great with the older hardware/software. 2nd pc built for Vista.... decided to use windows 7 on newer system as well. Video a heck of alot better lol!

XP Test Specs:
Gigabyte GA--7V AXP ultra motherboard
AMD Athlon 1800+ (1.5 GHZ) processor
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128 MB AGP card
40 GB IDE HDD
1GB RAM
Realtek onboard sound/network

other then not able to find a video driver for the 9000 pro everything worked great

I am curious about the Vista and onboard realtek myself but need a break from installing OS right now lol

 

[NosferatuX]

this is the 2nd test computer for Windows 7.... 1st pc i tested it on was built for XP
Worked great with the older hardware/software. 2nd pc built for Vista.... decided to use windows 7 on newer system as well. Video a heck of alot better lol!

XP Test Specs:
Gigabyte GA--7V AXP ultra motherboard
AMD Athlon 1800+ (1.5 GHZ) processor
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128 MB AGP card
40 GB IDE HDD
1GB RAM
Realtek onboard sound/network

other then not able to find a video driver for the 9000 pro everything worked great

I am curious about the Vista and onboard realtek myself but need a break from installing OS right now lol

LOL! I know what you mean

As you already know, ATI has stopped supporting the Radeon 9000 series. So, no vista driver for that one

There have been reported workarounds floating around but at most they will only let adjust the screen resolution to make it look a bit better, if it does work.

Cheers

 

[jonghea]

I have a reasonably similar problem with my HP 6730b Notebook. I'm running Build 7100 of Windows 7 (x64) and when I unplug my network cable my Broadcom NetLink (TM) Giganbit Ethernet adapter disappears. When I plug the cable back in I have to do a hardware rescan in the device manager to get my NIC back. Power Management is off. Strange...

All is working fine in Vista x64...

 

[themouse]

I have been having a real frustrating time with my realtek 8139 NIC also, I had this thread going ( I couldnt change the title I no longer on 7068 but 7100)

http://www.sevenforums.com/network-internet/6752-realtek-8139-drops-network-build-7068-a.html

I had no issue with builds 7000 to 7048 after that the network has been very unreliable, drops off for no reason started with build 7057 amd been there since. I dont know what it is, I have tried every driver possible. I went back to 7048 to verify my hardware and it was fine!!

 

[brusse01]

I feel your pain! I was so frustrated with that driver issue. I installed a really old pci network card and have had no issues! very strange indeed! hopefully MS fixed this issue in the RC !

 

[Bumpus]

I've had this issue crop up a few times too. It usually shows itself while doing a Windows Update and then reboot..poof...nic is there but not connected. Happened after this mornings update of windows defender. I did a rollback/sys restore and all is well.

A8N-SLI
Onboard 1gb nic

Win7 7100 x64 shows it as NVIDIA Nforce

Maybe this issue needs to percolate a little.

 

[Wayward]

I've had a problem too the Realtek LAN driver and this system I just upgraded (Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P). I installed Windows 7 7100 and the stock Win 7 drivers worked fine. Windows update showed a new Realtek driver, so I let it install. The NIC no longer worked.

I uninstalled via Device Manager and went to Gigabyte's Web site and downloaded the LAN driver for the motherboard (for Vista x64). This driver didn't work either.

I uninstalled again and let Windows install the stock driver. That got the NIC working again.

I then found a driver (just the INFs) at the Realtek Web site that worked (version 6.218 for Vista and Win Server 2008).

 

[brusse01]

hi ya Wayward,

When I install the RC I will try your suggestions... I have a Biostar mobo and I had the same issue you had with Gigabyte. I will check out the Realtek link in your post and try that same driver version in the RC and see if it works for me as well.

thanks for update

 

[julieann]

Realtek LAN Driver disappears with windows7

I had the same problem my ethernet just disappeared from device manager a few days after windows 7 clean installation. I found 2 problems helped. The first thing I done was to check the power management settings in device manager. Make sure the option ' allow the computer to turn off this device to save power' is not ticked. That didnt make my adapter reappear but when I googled the problem it was something other people had experienced so I changed the power setting just in case, to avoid any future problems. What did make the ethernet reappear was there is apparently a bug causing people to lose their hard drive and ethernet on Asus boards when using windows 7. The windows 7 loads the bios and cant see either of the HD or ethernet, I was advised to try swapping over my sata cable to sata 1 or 2 connector on the board (if its connected to sata 1 swap it onto 2 and vice versa). I followed this procedure and rebooted and hey presto ! the ethernet was back in device manager and the connection active again and also no more start up bios error messages about a missing hard drive. Hope this helps folks!