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

Philly said:

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.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help, Philly.

I tried this, but unfortunately there's no c:\nvidia folder or anywhere else. I contacted HP about this because it's an HP Pavilion a6167c. I didn't want to buy from them because of all of the bloatware they come with. It was just a good deal that I couldn't pass up, but I figured I would be able to uninstall everything I didn't want.

I appreciate you helping everyone out. It's much appreciated.

Thanatos said:

I have asus a8n. After a clean install, internet worked great, but after windows update, some web pages couldn't be loaded.

Click to expand...

Hello Thanatos,

I'm having the same problem. Infuriating isn't it! Sometimes hitting Reload sorts it, sometimes not. I've tried all sorts - adjusting advanced properties, uninstalling / reinstalling device driver, all sorts of things, and it still happens.

If anybody knows of a solution, it'd be great. It's not a DNS problem - it occurs post DNS lookup, it's some kind of response problem

"Waiting for www.microsoft.com" or "Waiting for www.google.com" for ever....

doug

kingqueen said:

Thanatos said:

I have asus a8n. After a clean install, internet worked great, but after windows update, some web pages couldn't be loaded.

Click to expand...

Hello Thanatos,

I'm having the same problem. Infuriating isn't it! Sometimes hitting Reload sorts it, sometimes not. I've tried all sorts - adjusting advanced properties, uninstalling / reinstalling device driver, all sorts of things, and it still happens.

If anybody knows of a solution, it'd be great. It's not a DNS problem - it occurs post DNS lookup, it's some kind of response problem

"Waiting for www.microsoft.com" or "Waiting for www.google.com" for ever....

doug

Click to expand...

Hello,
A quick solution is use another network card, simple card without HW firewall. It worked for me.

Hello,
A quick solution is use another network card, simple card without HW firewall. It worked for me.

Click to expand...

Ta. I don't have a spare PCI slot so I've ordered a USB one. It's not good though really - I'd rather get the onboard one working properly!

ta for your help

I'm having the same problem under Vista 64bit. I've tried uninstalling the Nvidia driver and it keeps reinstalling. I have no available pci slots to just pick up another NIC card. Any help on this issue would be appreciated. I tried installing a digitaly unsigned driver from Nvidia but it wouldn't work altogether.

Thanatos said:

kingqueen said:

Hello Thanatos,

I'm having the same problem. Infuriating isn't it! Sometimes hitting Reload sorts it, sometimes not. I've tried all sorts - adjusting advanced properties, uninstalling / reinstalling device driver, all sorts of things, and it still happens.

If anybody knows of a solution, it'd be great. It's not a DNS problem - it occurs post DNS lookup, it's some kind of response problem

"Waiting for www.microsoft.com" or "Waiting for www.google.com" for ever....

doug

Click to expand...

Hello,
A quick solution is use another network card, simple card without HW firewall. It worked for me.

Click to expand...

I am using Asus m2n-mx se mother board and vista 32 bit. Exactly the same problem after windows update! Some websites (google.com) load most others don't . Was able to use system restore to undo the damage done by the driver on windows update.
All these days i ensured that i never installed that driver from win update.
Today i checked windows update again and it listed the same driver with a NEW date (under the published column): 19-02-08 (19th of Feb 08, sorry if my date format is not in american format).
Don't think will be installing this, but am worried if Msoft bundles the faulty driver with sp1 for vista i am doomed! [not sure if vista sp1 has driver updates]. I won't even be able to download THIS "new" driver if sp1 breaks net connectivity.

Philly said:

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

Click to expand...

I want to buy you a beer dude. Thank God for this post. I as fubar with out it!

I can tell you what will easily fix the random/intermittant disconnects from your network, if you using a router/firewall, and it worked for me. I set my desktop up with a local static IP address. When my desktop was getting a dynamic local IP address, I never knew when it would lose it's connection to the network/internet.

I really don't think it's a driver causing it in most cases, as it is more a problem with the onboard nic, not being able to maintain a local dynamic IP address, if a router/firewall is used.

Sounds like you issue might be more along the line of not maintaining your license. DHCP address expire and must be renewed. More than likely your driver is failing to maintain the IP address. For most NICs out there (like 99% of the ones in PCs) everything above the ethernet layer is all running in software. There are NICs that implement some of the IP in hardware, but they are more expensive and almost never used in low end machines (less than $10,000.)

This for me had been going on since late November.

During this process, I ended up taking out the ASUS board, and replaced it with the Intel 975XBX2, because the ASUS board was doing some weird things, including overvolting my memory and undervolting my cpu.