D-Link 650+card and Win2k not getting along

[Keenodog]

I would appreciate any light that can be shed upon the problem I'm having with my Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop running Win2k and the D-Link 650+ PCMCIA card I'm trying to install into it. The error I get is: The INF or the device information set or element does not match the specified install class.

The folks at D-Link say that I'll need to wipe my harddrive and reinstall win2k again.

There was another thread on here about a guy with similair problems with his NIC card, but I was unable to find it and post there. I'm hoping some of you serious folk have a workaround for this. I'm not a big fan of reinstalling windows, but if that's what I have to do, then I'll do it.

Any ideas?

 

[bcastner]

This will help:

An Inf Error Occurs During Installation of a Network Adapter on a Windows 2000-Based Computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306983

 

[bcastner]

This often works if the previous link information did not help:

It involves rebuilding your TCP/IP Stack:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q285034

 

[Keenodog]

Thanks bcastner, I'll give this a try today and let you know how I fared!

 

[bcastner]

I just would like to see you not have to re-install. This problem would require a full wipe-install from scratch if not handled other ways.

There is an .inf file floating around in your system and tracking it down is extremely tough.

Let me know how it goes.

Best.

 

[Keenodog]

Okay B,

I tried to delete these entries in the registry, but I get:

Cannot delete (Key) : Error while deleting key.

Any idea why I'm getting this? It doesn't seem to matter if I'm in safe mode or not, or logged on as Admin or not. And apparently, it's ANY key. I just tried to delete a different one totally, and it gave me the same message. I looked for that security suggestion, but I'm not sure where to find that setting. Any ideas?

 

[bcastner]

Enter again as local Adminstrator.

Collapse the regedit display to just the principal hives to make it easier.

right-click on HKEY_Local_Machine, Permissions, and "re-claim" as Microsoft puts it the rights to Full privileges for that Hive. Check under Advanced that it applies to all subkeys.

In fact, do it as Adminstrator for all hives.

Then do the registry change.

 

[Keenodog]

For some reason when I right click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, or any of the "hives", I don't get a "permissions" option. I get the option to:
expand
new
find...
or
copy keyname

but no permissions option anywhere.

I typed in regedit in the "run"area to get to the registry. When I use regedit32.exe for instance, I get an error message saying that file doesn't exist. Could there be another reason I'm getting/not getting the "permissions" option, such as being in the wrong registry editor?

I also don't see an "advanced" options either.

 

[Keenodog]

I tried the TCP/IP suggestion just now, and got some interesting results. I get the same error: the INF or device info set or element doesn't match the install class.

What I'm doing is clicking on TCP/IP and hitting the "uninstall" button, then "OK". I then get prompted to select a new protocol, which I try to do, but get this error message. Does this make any sense, or is the fact that I'm getting the same error message just a red herring?

 

[bcastner]

Note that you bay need permissions not that you must have permissions for the key.

Try again exactly as Microsoft suggested to remove the Ven keys:

Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI

Under the PCI folder, there are several keys that begin with VEN. For each VEN key, click the key, click its subkey, and then observe the device description on the right side of the Registry Editor. Delete each subkey whose device description pertains to a network interface card. Do not delete the VEN key itself.

Here is an example of a device description that pertains to a network adapter:
DeviceDesc:REG_SZ:3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI TX NIC (3C905B-TX)

Note that you may need to give the Everyone group Full Control permissions on these VENxx registry keys to delete them using Registry Editor. To do this, click Security, click Permissions, click Advanced, click to select the Reset permissions on all child objects check box, and then click OK. Give the Everyone group Full Control permission on this registry key, and then click OK.

If this proves too difficult or confusing, exti regedit and go to my second suggestion: rebuild TCP/IP.

 

[Keenodog]

I wanted to thank you for your help B. After much deliberation, I decided to format the drive and do a re-install of win2k, because of a number of reasons, but primarily, it was just time. Too many of the os problems were cropping up to ignore it. Thank you again for taking the time to listen to my problems, that means a lot to me.