How to Repair an Ethernet Card Driver

If your Ethernet card is not working correctly, the problem may be with the Ethernet card driver. Drivers are simply computer programs that control a specific piece of hardware. If there is a problem with the driver then the hardware will not function correctly. Problems with drivers may include the driver being disabled, it may be the wrong type of driver, there may be two different drivers installed for the same piece of hardware which are conflicting with each other, a driver may have become corrupted, or there could be a problem with the registry.

Step 1 - Device Manager

The Device Manager is where you can see and alter your computer's drivers, to find it go to Start Menu > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System > Device Manager. You will need to be logged in as the Administrator to gain access to the Device Manager. In some versions of Windows, System and Maintenance may be called Performance and Maintenance instead.

Step 2 - Check for Problems

Scroll down to the Network Adapters and expand that branch of the menu. There you will see the drivers for your Ethernet card. The icons should look like little circuit boards in older versions of Windows, or a pair of networked computers in newer versions. If there are crosses, arrows, exclamation marks, or anything else on the icons, then that driver has a problem. Right click on the driver and go to properties to see if it gives you more information. In the General tab in the Device Status box, it will either say "The device is working normally" or it will contain an error code. To see if there is a driver conflict you can go to the Resources tab and look at the Device Conflicts list.

Step 3 - Enable or Uninstall Drivers

If a driver is simply disabled, then you can enable it again by clicking on the driver in the Device Manager window, and clicking the "enable driver" button that appears at the top of the Device Manager window, alternatively you can right-click the driver and click "enable"' in the right-click menu. A lot of errors with drivers can be resolved by uninstalling problematic drivers, and then reinstalling the driver. To remove a driver, click on the driver in the Device Manager window and click the the "uninstall driver" button at the top of the Device Manager window.

Step 4 - Reinstall Drivers

If you deleted problematic drivers then you will need to install a driver in order for your hardware to work. Restart your computer, allow Windows to detect new hardware and follow the instructions for installing the driver from your installation disk. If you do not have a driver installation disk you should find out what Ethernet card you have and download the drivers from the manufacturer's website, using another computer and transferring to a disk if necessary.