Just got my hands on a lightly used Dell Dimension 8250. I did a clean re-install of Windows XP Professional. However, I had forgotten about the drivers disc and happen not to have it. Prior to realizing I had never loaded a few important drivers in the first place, I attempted to update the driver for the Ethernet Controller in the device manager. During this process, the computer locked up and I was forced to restart. Upon opening the device manager after restart, I noticed that the Ethernet Controller is was longer recognized by the device manager. Where did it go? I know the card is still in the computer. If I load the driver for it, should it then appear? If I pop in/out the Ethernet Card inside the computer, will it appear? Quite confused. snowak

You say you tried to UPDATE the driver? Which means driver was already installed? It is not under Other Devices is it? In Device Manager, you can pick Show Hidden Devices from the View menu. Sounds like you did not update to the correct driver, or did not do it the right way. Rule #1: Good Computers don't go down. Rule #2: There is no such thing as a good computer.

Let me elaborate a little more. The ethernet controller WAS listed under "Other Drivers" at one point. However, it was listed with a yellow question mark beside it. So, I then proceeded to attempt to update the driver (via properties), only to realize in the middle of the update that there were no drivers at all. During this attempted update, the computer locked up. Or, perhaps I simply grew impatient and should have waited longer before resorting to a restart. Anyways, after the restart, the Ethernet Controller had disappeared from the "Other Drivers" list in the device manager altogther. No question mark, no nothing. Hope this clears things up a bit. I'm still at a loss. Thanks for the reply! snowak

Try the Show Hidden Devices as Rick suggested. If that doesn't work try this - Windows 98 and ME had a great option in safe mode to view ghost devices, unfortunatly they removed this option in Win2K and XP. You now have to a little extra work to get that option. Create a text file and in the file put the following text Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 start %systemroot%\system32\devmgmt.msc and name the file with a .bat extention. Now run this file and it will launch device manager. Now choose to view hidden devices and it will show you absolutly everything.

To be honest, and this is only my opinion, but I would completely start from scratch and do a clean install. And then install "Everest". That should help you identify the correct hardware resulting in safely installing drivers. If Everest didn't help, then "driver guide toolkit" is a neat utility to make identifying unknown hardware, and offers the drivers too. But that is what I would do because I couldn't be hassled with messing around, when It can be done easier by wiping out and starting afresh. (Back up data, not like I forgot once)

Clean install may be the way to go. Especially since it's a clean install and I am saving nothing. Not to mention I only did this previous install last night and have loaded next to nothing on the computer since that time. I'll probably just start fresh. Thanks everybody! snowak