Vista - No internet - Nvidia nForce Networking Controller issue

Hi everyone,

I just installed Vista on my computer, and was installing all my programs when I had to reboot. I did so, but then realised I'd lost my internet (it had been working up until then). A 'Diagnose and Repair' found that "The network adapter 'Nvidia nForce Networking Controller' is experiencing driver or hardware related issues."

As I said, the internet had been working up until then. I haven't installed any Windows updates (it's set to alert me of new ones).

I have had this problem before: I installed Vista, internet worked, rebooted after installing various programs, internet didn't work. Left it overnight & tried again next day, internet worked. Sometime later after reboot, internet didn't work. I then tried to install the Nvidia chipset driver again, but it froze part way through the install. This is when I wiped the entire hard drive and started again, but the problem is back.

Any and all help would be much appreciated!

hi BWPanda,

not sure if this will fix you problem but have the exact same NIC card built into the mother board and had the same problem when I updated its driver with the NVidia driver.

To fix the problem what i done was Uninstalled the card then rescanned for hardware to let windows pick up the driver automaticly, that way it uses the driver it likes best.

~~~~~
Philly

Thanks Philly, that seems to have done the trick for now.

I had a bit of trouble uninstalling the driver... Uninstalling seemed to do nothing as there was still a driver listed, so I tried disabling it, but that made it freeze up again. I booted into safe mode and disabled it there instead.
When I rebooted normally and re-enabled it, nothing came up about needing to search for a driver, but it works...

Fingers crossed, if it stops working again, you'll hear back from me

Thanks again!

Seems it didn't work after all...

Disabling, then re-enabling the controller seems to make it work, but once I reboot, it stops working again.

Is this a conflict between Vista and the driver? I'm sure that if I go back to using XP everything will be fine (it was before), but I'd rather stay with Vista, if at all possible.

Again, any and all help would be much appreciated!

i dont normally recommend this but its the only thing i can think of atm,

if you uninstall the card via device manager,
goto your driver folder: c:\Windows\System32\Drivers
cut (not copy) the driver file to your desktop or somwhere else for safe keeping, its file name starts with nvefd and then a system name, for example nvefdxp.sys for xp, cant remeber what the vista one has on the end as iv deleted the driver myself.

then restart your computer, and hopfully it picks up the network card and uses the Microsoft driver, the nvidia driver should not even be listed any more.

fingers crossed

That seems to have done the trick, thanks Philly.

I moved the Nvidia driver that was listed for the Networking Controller (in Device Manager) to a backup location and rebooted. Now the listed driver is a Microsoft one.

Everything seems to be going well after a few reboots. Hopefully it stays like that.

Thanks again for all the help Philly!

You most welcome

I guess I'm in almost the same exact situation, but I'm coming up with one extra problem.

I copied the drivers from the drivers folder to my desktop, and attempted to uninstall the Nvidia Networking Controller. Immediately after I clicked to uninstall, it gives me the prompt of if I'm sure. I'm sure. So, it begins to uninstall, but immediately looks for another driver, and sure enough it is able to locate the same driver. It's like it's getting it from somewhere else.

Any ideas where I might be able to locate where it's finding these backup drivers to replace the ones I just took out of there?

hi scotto, yes thats a strange one,

it could be picking it up from the temp folder nvidia makes on your system drive,
try moving the NVidia folder from c:\NVidia to some place else. and then try the steps above.

let me know if this works.


Run a Free scan to check your PC for outdated drivers

Hello,
I had a strange problem.
I have asus a8n. After a clean install, internet worked great, but after windows update, some web pages couldn't be loaded.
Probably because the driver for a8n from Microsoft is not ok, and HW firewall isn't working ok.
I see that Asus is not providing anymore vista drivers for a8n.
I described this situation only for information because it's strange that only some pages are loaded, even Microsoft.com is not loaded