network fails on Dell Studio and Windows 8.1

[artheim]

I am suspecting a 8.1 driver problem, but have not been able to resolve it.
I have a Dell Studio that had Vista on it.
I updated it with all available updates and then did an upgrade to Windows 8.
All appeared to be working, so applied available updates. I then downloaded 8.1 and installed that. Now, the network card, a Realtek PCIe GBE NIC gives a code 10. I have tried all the drivers I can find for it, including the one from Realtek's site for 8/8.1 to no avail. I have also used driver search programs (DriverScanner) and no new drivers were found for the NIC card. Driver Detective would not install due to .NET requirements and unable to install the level the install program was wanting. I have a wireless USB dongle WiFi installed and it is working just fine, but I would like to get the wired interface working. In searching the Dell drivers, there doesn't appear to be any support for a Studio system. I could get a low profile NIC card with Windows 8.1 drivers, but am really looking for a way to get this to work. I know the hardware is okay, as I downloaded Windows 8, all updates, Windows 8.1 with the existing Vista/Windows 8 drivers, so it appears that whatever is failing is due to the update to 8.1. I can also boot a UBCD4Win DVD and the network works okay. Looking for troubleshooting help.

 

[linney]

Any luck with this driver?

Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller LAN Driver 8.18.621.2013 for Windows 8/Windows 8.1

http://www.softpicks.net/drivers/Ne..._18_1_13_for_Windows_8_Windows_8_1-789005.htm

 

[artheim]

linney - that file gets flagged by BitDefender as containing Application.Bundler.Firseria.M malware. I have it downloaded (bypassed BitDefender) and will check it on another system before trying it. Will let you know.
Art

 

[artheim]

Norton also flags it as malware. I found that same driver (8.18.621.2013) and when installing it, it indicates it installed okay, but comes up with code 10 and yellow ! in device manager. DriverToolkit indicates this is the correct driver for my system. At Driver Scape, I found driver 7.080.218.2014, but it appears to only have the Win7 files and gives a findFile error when installing. At this time, I think I will either get an add-in adapter or continue to use the WiFi dongle on this system. I don't know how to determine what is causing the yellow ! and causing the driver to not initialize.