BleepingComputer.com: Fresh install of windows xp after HDD failure results in nonupdatable eathernet card?!

Hi all,

My girlfriends grandmother's hard drive bit the big one today (click click whirr whirr oh what a stress it is) after a new HDD was purchased and I installed windows xp PRO 64bit edition on her "compaq presario sr2034nx" with no issues. I began the standard finding the drivers search and found the correct ethernet driver "nVIDIA nForce Networking Controller" from 2006 and installed it. now there is an error saying "this device can not start. (code 10)" which really puts a damper on my quest to finish updating the drivers on her desktop. some of the other issues I've been having are, the drivers(the chipset and ethernet) not being able to install them selves coming up with the error "ERROR: C: SOFTPAQ\sp26802\install.exe 1932 WinExec: Function Failed on Line 49 of W:\PATCHES\IP\SP26802\INSTALL.WBT RUN("C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\\DEVMGMT.MSC",""). doing that for the ethernet and chipset helped me install them manually but they are not working. any help would be greatly appreciated! I dont want to have to acquaint my girlfriends poor old grandmother with windows 7 or vista, I dont know if she'll be able to handle it!

What was the original Windows version on that computer?

Broni, on Jun 15 2010, 11:18 PM, said:

Windows XP 64bit media edition. I did not have a recovery disc for it so a fresh install of what I had on hand on the new HDD was the only option.

Thanks
Something unclear here.
You said, that you actually were able to install chipset and ethernet drivers, but they're not working.
Define "not working".

Broni, on Jun 15 2010, 11:46 PM, said:

Ok! the ethernet driver installed fine using the device manager, the same is true with the chipset, I base off the device driver list removing both from the list showing question marked devices and moving them to their respective areas on the list(I.E. the network adapters list shows the ethernet port). However, the network adapter shows an '!' over the icon and says "device could not be enabled (code 10)" and the chipset shows an exclamation point saying I need to update or reinstall the driver(so i would guess that means it did not install properly). My main concern is getting the network adapter up and running so I can start reinstalling programs and updating windows. Also if it will help figure out whats going on, when I try to input IPCONFIG or any of its variants C prompt with only put out "Windows IP config" as a response . I have retired from my girlfriends grand mothers house for the evening but will return tomorrow to continue trying to resolve this issue.

Chipset driver is always the first one to install.
If it's not properly installed, number of other items may not work (even if installed properly).

When I go to HP site I don't even see drivers for 64-bit XP.
There are drivers for 32-bit though.
Where did you get those drivers from?

Broni, on Jun 16 2010, 12:10 AM, said:

I got the drivers directly from nVidia, the issue may lie with me not being sure if windows media center edition was 64bit or 32bit... I hope that is the only issue, I am more than willing to reinstall with a 32bit copy of xp PRO. Just to be clear as my brain has been fried over this issue so as not to be able to see the forest through the trees, I should uninstall the drivers I have installed and start with installing the chipset first correct? I am hopeful that this is a PEBKAC issue and not something more

Quote

Correct. I can see, HP has drivers for 64-bit Vista, but not XP.

Broni, on Jun 16 2010, 12:27 AM, said:

So in your opinion I should reinstall windows with 32bit XP and go from there installing the drivers and see if that fixes the problem?

That's what I'd do.

Great! Thank you so much for your help Broni! hopefully I wont need to come back tomorrow night...

You have to, to let us know, how it went