How can I fixed my wireless card that is recognized as an ethernet port?

Question

Hi,
Recently, I purchased a wireless card for my laptop (that runs Windows XP Pro) and when I installed it, it did not install as a wireless connection but as an ethernet cable-based one. It was reciving great signal strength, but I kept reciving a "a network cable is disconnected" error when I set it up accordingly to whatever network I was using.

Prior to that, I was using an ethernet cable port in that same slot before I went wireless (or tried to); I didn't switch to one right after the other but I think my laptop has that slot poorly associated...

I've uninstalled the wireless card's driver for now. Can anyone here please help me install it and make sure it's properly recognized as a WIRELESS card and not something that needs a cable?

My card is a Harmony 802.11b PC Card Model 8432 which I got off eBay. It only came with the card and no installer CD, just a zip file with the installation walkthrough and a wireless network monitor.

Oh, and I deleted the appropriate parts out of the device manager; the ethernet card notification in the toolbar isn't showing up anymore, which is a plus. :) But that whole...thing where I can't find the product is a bit nagging.

I've removed all drivers; however it keeps installing as something requiring a network cable instead of a wireless device.

Should I also uninstall the 1394 net adapter as well? I figured that was there by system default.

Answer 1

i wouldn't recommend to do any changes in the registry if you're not tech savvy.
did you install the ethernet card again? if so, go to the device manager and look for the appropriate entry. select the Driver Tab and uninstall the driver (i suppose you didn't uninstall the driver for the ethernet card prior to the install of the wireless card).
shut down the laptop, install the wireless card and install the driver as you did before.
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ps.
no, don't uninstall anything. if the wireless is a pc card then it doesn't matter what has been installed before, it hasn't to be uninstalled.
i believe the error message "a network cable is disconnected" is a common message regardless what type of communication card is used.
after installing the software for the wireless card you should have a utility where you can define the SSID (wireless network name). without this name the laptop cannot communicate with the router (this must be the same SSID as defined in the router).
do you have this utility?
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pps.
read this
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/sutra114340.html
maybe you simply bought the wrong wireless card for your pc.

Answer 2

I would make sure that both drivers from the network adapters are completely removed from the system via Add/Remove programs.

then go to START > RUN > type in regedit

go to the menu and select Export. you are going to save a copy of the registry to another location on your system.

then search the registry and delete any reference to the 2 network adapters that were installed.

Reboot to make sure the system is stable. then add the wireless card and reinstall the drivers.

Edit:

you can leave the drivers for the 1394 controller.

list the make and model of both the wireless pc card and the Ethernet card that was previously installed.

Answer 3

(a million) get rid of the cardboard whether that's a pci card if no longer the disable the on board ethernet adapter interior the bios aand purchase a ethernet pci card (2) boot up domicile windows.. (3) close down (4) re insert the cardboard (5) reboot if it comes up stumbled on new hardware the cardboard is working... if no longer then purchase yet another card... which would be greater no longer expensive than paying for a instantaneous router and instantaneous pci card