Best way to find a driver for an onboard (NIC) card

Question

I've just recently installed Windows XP ^{Service Pack 2} onto a second partition on my hard drive. The primary Operating System (partition 1) is Windows 7. Realizing that I could probably boot up into Windows 7 to figure out the driver, what if Windows XP was the only operating system?

Attempting this, I went to Device Manager and went to the NIC card, which has a bright yellow exclamation point right next to it (Device not configured/not available). Right clicking --> Properties --> Details brings up a SELECT input, which has a lot of choices. Which one of those would be the best choice to use if one was trying to lookup and install a driver?

Is there a better way to do this?

Answer 1

A useful (but somewhat dated) site I used a few times is here:

http://www.instantfundas.com/2008/06/how-to-find-drivers-for-unknown-devices.html

This links to a PCI Vendor and Device List, which might work for onboard as well. Either way, that first site might be of use, if at the very least to get you going in the right direction. Best of luck!

Answer 2

If Windows XP is the only operating system available and doesn't automatically recognise the NIC, you have a few options:

• Check the manuals supplied with the PC (typically on CD).
• Check the system specification provided by the vendor when purchased.
• Check the online documentation provided by the hardware manufacturer.
• Open up the case and check the part number on the NIC (if PCI card).
• Open up the case and check the Ethernet chipset markings (if integrated on MoBo).
• Buy an appropriate plug-in (e.g. PCIe) NIC and disable or ignore the onboard NIC.