Problems installing a network card

[PCVirgin]

Once upon a time there was a working WIN98 desktop until I decided to install a network card to it.

Problem 1: The infamous "VFAT initialisation failed" error appeared after re-booting. I looked up 'all' the Tek-tips on the subject and none of them helped so I uninstalled the newtwork card.

Problem 2: Now on booting the PC takes about 5 minutes to complete the process. I went in to Safe Mode and the boot time is 'instant' so I changed the MSCONFIG to remove all checked boxes and the next boot was 'instant' too. As I add the app's back via MSCONFIG the boot plays up again.

Apparently if a network card is added it plays havoc with any USB connections.

Problem 3: If I try to get assistance via the Internet i can logon but cannot read any pages. I've checked the settings against another PC and they seem the same.

I have re-installed WIN98 to no avail. I've tried SCANREG/RESTORE to no avail. If anyone can sort out any of the 3 related issues it would save my sanity!

 

[Sival]

Need more info. How old is machine, components, network card you're trying to install, any recent BIOS flashes, what kind of "havoc" happening with USB connections, do pages load garbled or simply time out, did you reload Windows over the old install or start anew?

 

[PCVirgin]

1) 3 years old
2) Belkin wireless PCI card
3) No BIOS flashes
4) Booting takes approx 5 - 10 MINUTES now. When a CD is changed it is not recognised unless I reboot. USB's are recognisd unless plugged in before booting. Installing doesn't always work now either.
5) The reload of WIN98 was over the existing version using a full version of WIN98.

Basically I am in a world of pain!

 

[Sival]

This could be a rather complex problem. I'm assuming that you have already read and tried

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q139/0/

63.asp. Obviously if you reinstalled Windows over itself to no avail, something else is likely wreaking havoc other than the OS itself. What I would do to save potentially much pain, aggravation, and time, would be to copy any files you absolutely need to have to another drive, CD, etc, then try to get a copy of your hard drive manufacturer's disk utilities. Check the drive for errors. If none, write zeroes to the drive. Flash with the latest BIOS. Reinstall Windows fresh, and install the network card and drivers first after you load the OS and all motherboard chipset drivers. Also make sure your system meets all of the Belkin card hardware requirements before installing. This may seem extreme but I think there is more than one issue here and it may be difficult to find them. Good luck.

 

[PCVirgin]

The main reason for networking in the first place is because I have 3 800mb mpeg files on the desktop which I want to 'move' onto the laptop. Without a DVD writer or posting on the web the only other means of transporting them is to network them. So I cant move all the files I want to - unless you know another way?.

I tried to reinstall the software for Belkin and received a 1601 message from the installer so I am going to re-register the installer and try again - as I think the reinstall of WIN98 has messed up the registry. If this fails I'll reinstall the PCI card and fight the VFAT problem.

Any suggestions to.... "Problem 3: If I try to get assistance via the Internet i can logon but cannot read any pages. I've checked the settings against another PC and they seem the same.".... ?

 

[Sival]

The other way to move the files is to add another hard drive to your computer and move them to it. After moving the files you could then reformat and reload. I'm not quite sure what you mean in Problem 3, could you explain further?

 

[PCVirgin]

What, buy another hard disk & add it to my desktop even though it is in this poor state? Would that be wise?

Problem 3: Since adding the network card & reinstalling windows, I can connect to the net but all web pages say "Page cannot be displayed". The firewall says I am connected. A possible answer is the network card has somehow effected my network connections but I copmared them to a laptop and could see no difference.

 

[Sival]

No, I wouldn't advocate buying a new drive for this machine. Didn't know if you perhaps had another drive you could use, or perhaps you could borrow one just to store the info until you reload. The installation of the network card could have corrupted something in your network connections. Have you tried accessing the net with the firewall disabled? Another thing you could try is to delete your internet connection and set it up again, even tho the settings look fine this sometimes does correct things.

 

[PCVirgin]

Folks, here is the latest. I bit the bullet and went out and bought a bog standard ethernet PCI card. I uninstalled the PCI wireless network card then I placed the ethernet PCI card in the slot where the wireless network card was and Bob's your Uncle the machine fully booted.

So for the time being anyway I have dropped the idea of using a wireless connection because of the VFAT problem.

Although the PC boots sucessfully it still takes a fair while.

I am yet to test either the ethernet connection to the other PC or the internet connection.

 

[PCVirgin]

Update.

The ethernet connection and internet sharing work 'successfully'. AFter running the XP Network wizard on both machines plus editting some configuration values.

I am yet to be able to see the drives from one machine to another but I live in hope.

 

[tuffma]

Hello PCVirgin

I recently bought a Belkin 802.11g wireless network card and get the same VFAT Device Initialization Error you did.
Fortunately it did not affect my boot time like it did yours.

I still have not been able to get that card to work. Did you ever get yours to work? If you did, could you give me some pointers. I've got a 4 year old dell running 98SE.

Thanks
Tuffma

 

[PCVirgin]

Tuffma,

No tried 'all' the fixes on the net but none of them worked so I bit the bullet and changed the wireless card for an old fashioned cable ethernet card.

This works internmittently because for some strange reason XP randomly decides to drop the link!