Network adapter not found, no driver can be installed

[Peacemaker]

[Solved] Network adapter not found, no driver can be installed

I recently bought this rig:

Asus P5E VM HDMI (Bios 0504)
Intel E8400
Kingston 4gb

I did a clean install of Vista x64 and installed the drivers that came with the motherboard. But when I tried to install the LAN driver it said: "Installer can't find Atheros L1 ethernet controller on your system". I just can not install the driver for it because the adapter isn't found. When I look in the device manager I also can't find it and there isn't a 'network' tab. I tried manually adding hardware, but when I did hit the 'have disk' option and select the driver .inf file it asked to select the network adapter from the list, but that list was empty.

What I tried:
- Reinstall Vista
- Downloaded the newest driver from the Asus website for this mobo
- Disable and enable the 'onboard LAN' option within the BIOS

Nothing worked. I also used Everest hardware tracking tool to look for the network adapter but it couldn't find it.

Does anybody know any solution or can anybody explain the problem? Is the motherboard broken??

I could try updating the BIOS to the newest version but that might hurt my warranty?

 

[Barman58]

Very basic question (first question in troubleshooting PCs - Is it plugged in? :D), is the adaptor enabled in the bios? If not then windows will not see it.

 

[Element]

Lets also not rule out a bad NiC onboard for this motherboard, it's happened before and could be the issue here. If you have access to windowsXP you might wanna try a quick install of that and see if it sees the NiC.

 

[Peacemaker]

Thanks for the replies!

Very basic question (first question in troubleshooting PCs - Is it plugged in? :D), is the adaptor enabled in the bios? If not then windows will not see it.

It is onboard LAN > Asus P5E VM HDMI. Onboard LAN is enabled.

Lets also not rule out a bad NiC onboard for this motherboard, it's happened before and could be the issue here. If you have access to windowsXP you might wanna try a quick install of that and see if it sees the NiC.

I am going to install XP now, with NiC you mean ipconfig??

 

[Element]

NiC = Network Interface Card also known as Ethernet or Network Card.

 

[Barman58]

hi peacemaker,

just noticed that your motherboard manufacturer offers a diagnostic tool for this motherboard - PC Probe, You may want to see if that can give you any further info on the NIC,

I'd also try dropping their support an email to see if you have a known issue.

Even if its not helpful now, if it comes down a faulty motherboard and having to get a replacement, it documents that you had the problem at this time, well within warranty.

Not sure of your location but in some countries the responsibility for warranty varies by time.

 

[Peacemaker]

Well I already have sent Asus an email 2 days ago, no answer yet. But in the meanwhile I tried searching for possible solutions on the net, and I posted on this forum. But I´ll try Probe next! It didn´t work on XP either unfortunately...

 

[Barman58]

I'm afraid it does sound like a physical issue with the hardware. The only problem with "all in One solutions" (I use on-board everything myself) is if one item fails the whole thing has to be replaced, and of course you can't test by replacement
Contact your supplier first and see what they have to say

Good luck

 

[Peacemaker]

Probe says: Internal connector type: none

I did contact my supplier and I'm waiting for Asus to respond.

Thanks for the help!

 

[stevejohno]

Hi I have the same mobo as you and I have had the same problem as you. My story, all was working well until I downloaded the ms update that killed my USB adapter, had to do a clean install but chose not to install the updates, I found out which update was the cause of the problem and installed the rest, all is now back to normal, if you want to know the update number I can give it to you. this is the only thing that worked for me I now set regular restore points and fingers crossed, all now appears to be OK. steve

 

[Barman58]

Hi Steve, welcome to the forums

can you post the info that you have on your solution, even if it does not help in this case it may help future posters with similar problems.

also if you have a problem with a windows update it can sometimes be removed via the add remove programs, without a re-install so may be something for peacemaker to try

 

[Peacemaker]

Thanks for the reply,

However, I reinstalled Vista twice on a formatted harddisk. With the new install I can't connect to the internet and so I can't download the updates right?

With the clean install, it still can't find the onboard network controller when I try to install the driver.

I send it RMA now, so I hope it's really broken now otherwise the effort will be for nothing. But if you would name the update it will help me in the future !

 

[stevejohno]

Hi the m/s update that gave me all the problems was KB938371. I am lucky enough to have another pc in my home so when I started to get problems with my adapter I went online for answers and soon found like me other people were having problems and the finger was firmly pointed at this update!. As my connection had been working fine I decided to do a clean install having tried all sorts to get the computer to accept the LAN drivers also would not let me load the adapter drivers. Did the install but made sure the auto update feature was set to "Ask first". I now have this update on my update list and would like to delete it just in case I accidentaly install it ): ideas anyone? I also now make regular restore points before I install anything!. My own opinion about Vista 64 is at the moment I struggle to get things to work that you just take for granted on the xp o/s. I'm sure that when more people change over and more 3rd party stuff becomes available I will start to think my money has been well spent but at the moment it's a bit of a pain, sorry to go off topic. Steve

 

[Barman58]

Hi steve thanks for posting back.

As far as i know you can't delete the update the best you can do in Hide it which should stop accidental running


hope this helps

 

[Peacemaker]

This one is solved, my supplier (4launch) tested my mobo and found a defect in the network controller. The mobo is being replaced!

 

[Barman58]

Thanks for posting back peacemaker and glad to hear you've solved the problem

 

[natjen]

I too have been having this problem with a brand new Asus P5KC mobo with Atheros on board network. The onboard NIC was not showing in Control Panel and could not be dedected no matter what.

So I flashed the BIOS with the latest version and suddenly the onboard NIC was found, but no drivers will install for it. It just won't run no matter what even though Windows can now see it.

Seriously it shouldn't be this difficult and why Asus went for such a poor choice for their onboard NIC is beyond me.

I think I will return the board since I only collected it on Saturday and get a new one.

Oh, OS is Vista Ultimate 64, cheers