I am trying to get a network card to work on my computer (Windows 2000/XP, MSI K7 Master mobo, WinFast/Leadtek GeForce 2 video card, AMD). After I put the card into the slot (3Com, PCI), I started up windows and installed it (For some reason, my video card screwed up my registry when I installed, so in order to install pci devices, I have to go into the registry and change persmissions for the pci card). Well, it said it installed the card, but for some reason it keeps saying that the network cable is disconnected (which it isn't) and I know the cable is good because I tried a laptop on it and it worked. I tried another network card as well and it did the same thing. Thanks in advance!

Wow, bit of a sticky wicket! First, if you have to tinker with the registry, the time may be approaching for reformat/reload... Other than the annoying "not connected" message, are you experiencing any other symptoms (i.e. there is no netork connectivity)? Do you see a light on the back of the NIC?

What do you mean by reformat/reload? (I know that the registry got screwed up by the video card because I had problems getting a different PCI card working before (modem) and I had to change permissions for it. (had to allow something). I already did that for this card (which enabled me to get it installed). I am not able to connect to the network at all. And no, there is no lights on. I did install a wireless card, but it isn't fast enough to do LAN games and other things that require a very fast connection. So I grabbed a card and wired it up (and like I said, the wire is good). Thanks again!

Got It! What I did was went and got new drivers. And that didn't work at first, so I was playing around with the advanced options. Once I set it to 10 Mb Full Duplex (or half) it worked. Yay! But for some reason it is really slow. My dad's laptop (which is slower than my pc) goes through the network four times faster than I can. :/