Hello,
I have a Thinkpad laptop with xp home. The device manager shows the
following devices with yellow exclamation points under the UNKNOW node:
"1394 Net Adapter, High Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter with Modem II,
Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection. I first downloaded and extracted the
drivers directly from IBM, then I manually uninstalled these each of these
devices and restarted. Upon reboot the OS recognized each component by it's
proper name and reinstalled the drivers for each finally asking to restart
the machine again. I did so and the devices still show as previously
described. I am at a remote location, therfore, I need Internet services for
email . I purchased a pcmcia ethernet adapter card and loaded it according
to instructions. The nic fails to appear in the "network connections"
control panel applet and show under UNKNOWN next to the rest of those other
devices. I tried the same for a new USB Ethernet adapter with the same
results. I tried a SFC/scannow to check for corruption. The SFC passed
without any problem. I checked the event logs and still does not refer to
any unusual acitivty relating to these components failing to work properly.
I am out of ideas. PLEASE HELP! Humbly grateful.

Joe

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:18:50 -0500, Joe wrote:

> Hello,
> I have a Thinkpad laptop with xp home. The device manager shows the
> following devices with yellow exclamation points under the UNKNOW node:
> "1394 Net Adapter, High Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter with Modem II,
> Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection. I first downloaded and extracted the
> drivers directly from IBM, then I manually uninstalled these each of these
> devices and restarted. Upon reboot the OS recognized each component by it's
> proper name and reinstalled the drivers for each finally asking to restart
> the machine again. I did so and the devices still show as previously
> described. I am at a remote location, therfore, I need Internet services for
> email . I purchased a pcmcia ethernet adapter card and loaded it according
> to instructions. The nic fails to appear in the "network connections"
> control panel applet and show under UNKNOWN next to the rest of those other
> devices. I tried the same for a new USB Ethernet adapter with the same
> results. I tried a SFC/scannow to check for corruption. The SFC passed
> without any problem. I checked the event logs and still does not refer to
> any unusual acitivty relating to these components failing to work properly.
> I am out of ideas. PLEASE HELP! Humbly grateful.
>
> Joe

When you extracted the drivers, did a setup program appear to install them?
If no, you could try installing them manually. In Device Manager, go to the
properties of the NIC. Select Update Driver. A prompt window will show up.
Use the available options to direct XP to the folder with the driver that
you extracted. You might get a warning about an unsigned driver. As long as
you're sure it's the right driver for your NIC, go ahead and OK the
installation.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User