Looking for win95 drivers for Netgear Adapter FA311

[Kdog]

I was formatted an old computer and put win95 on it. I had a netgear FA311/312 network adapter on it before and it worked fine. But since i reformatted the HD and re loaded win95, I lost the original drivers that came on the floppy disk that came with the NIC. I have downloaded the drivers from the netgear website but for whatever reason they will not load properly. I have tried every work around and solution i can find on the web to try and get these drivers i downloaded off the netgear website to loaded to my machine, however it simply will not work. I keep getting the error that FA31xND3.sys can not be found on the specified disk, even though i can clearly see it on the cd rom disk that i burned the drivers to. The only thing i can come up with is to try and find someone that has the original copy of the floppy disk drivers that came with the netgear FA311 network adapter. If anyone has the origianal floppy disk, can you please email me the file? Please..please please, help me out. Or if you know a solution, i would greatly appreciate you help. Thank you.

If anyone can help, just reply and i will post my email address, well..ill just post it right now anyway.. kpnd25@hotmail.com

[GaryRouth]

Try copying the download to a floppy & see if your luck is better. [Don't copy from the cd-r, copy from your download on the hard drive]

Are you using the version 1.80 drivers? Might check out the Win95.txt file in that download just to see if you missed a step somewhere. That download comes in a .zip format, and can be damaged if downloaded with a "download accelerator" program (on dial-up usually). You can try downloading them again & extracting to a floppy instead of a cd-r.

Win95 might also need a little extra hand-holding on exactly where on the disk that file is (in case the download creates a few subfolders while extracting = ie, FA31xND3.sys is in the root directory,\F31XV180\Ver 1.80\, while some of the others are in \F31XV180\Ver 1.80\LINUX. . . )

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[. . . just noticed that this is your 1st post here: Welcome to the PC Mechanic forums . . . ]

[Kdog]

Hey, thanks for the welcome, glad i found you guys. But yeah, I tried everything you suggested there. It simply wont work. Cant figure it out. Anyway, ill keep pluging away. Thanks.

[GaryRouth]

I imagine you probably tried the version 1.30 drivers too? They are the ones that come in an .exe file. The notes on the NetGear site don't mention whether that's a self-extracting file or an installer file.

There was an interesting file in the 1.80 called Help.exe. According to their ReadMe file, it's supposed to help install things from DOS. [Which doesn't exactly match their other instructions on installing under Win95 (via Hardware Detect & directing the wizard to the location of the download)]. But might be worth a try.

If the NetGear installation goofed because their installer is case-sensitive, and is insisting on a file FA31xND3.sys, while the file in the directory is FA31xNd3.sys [the only difference being the capitalized D/small d] --- you could try renaming the file with a capital D & see if that helps the installer find it. This is a long shot.

There are a lot of techs here who are full-time pros. I like it because the expertise comes across in a friendly cofee break way, between friends.
. . . Gary

[p.s. ...I noticed a thread over at Annoyances.org similiar to this one. That poster mentions that the installer was looking on the hard drive by default for the file. See if anything in that one has a clue I've missed]

[Kdog]

Well...yes.. i did also try all those suggestions too, and i did run across that post on annoyance.com also. Trust me I've tried every solution posted on the web. Even tried renaming the file to the matching case. At this point the only thing i havent tried is trying to use the original disk and drivers that came with the adapter. Damn, i wish i could find where i put that disk. I'd go and buy a new adapter, but finding an adapter compatable with win95 in the stores is virtually imposible. Anyway, i give up.. it's not worth the headace. I'm gonna go build me a windows server2000 on one of my other boxes. That will be a lot more fun to fuss over. Thanks anyway for your advice. I'm sure i'll be posting a lot more on this site in the future. Thanks

[GaryRouth]

Just in case you have a lingering stubborn streak like mine [after all, I have both Irish and Scots in my ancestry] - And you want to check one last time with a floppy download [maybe this time try the 1.30 drivers = which should be the same as on the cd] Here are the NetGear step-by-step faqs relating to your situation [seems like lots of folks got that same error - it looks like when trying over, you might need to clear out everything NetGear beforehand from Device Manager, and keep pointing Windows manually to either floppy or install CD] - I'd try with a floppy, since it's easier when the wizard later prompts for the Win95 CD for some of the Networking files.

I know you probably read these already, but the hot links in the last one especially seem to be what you're seeing [it mentions having to point Windows toward the files three different times] = here they are
---------------------------------------
Drivers or Other Files Not Found During Installation
Answer
After the Add New Hardware wizard prompts for the manufacturers disk, it then tells you it cannot find the file FA311NDX.SYS . At the bottom of the install screen you will notice a line that says Copy Files From with a path below it. Erase anything that appears in the path, and then type A: and then click OK.
It will begin to copy files from the floppy and then may prompt you to insert your Windows CD, if again it says it cannot find a file, check again for the Copy Files From, and in the path type X:WIN9Y where X is the drive letter of your CD rom, and Y is the version of Windows, 5 or 8. Click OK.
It should then proceed to copy the necessary Windows files and finish the installation. It then may ask you to restart your computer. Restart your machine and then check Device Manager to make sure your network card is working properly.

Why can't the file FA311ND3.SYS be found after installing the floppy disk?
Answer
Make sure to check the path where the operating system is trying to copy the driver files from and if it says anything besides A; (ie. c:windowsoptionscabs), type in a:. Make sure that the floppy disk is in and keep specifying A: until the Operating System finishes loading ALL of the necessary driver components. You have to keep specifying the A: drive when the Operating System keeps referring to the file Fa311ND3.SYS.

Error "Windows cannot locate the necessary files" When Installing the FA311 driver
Solution
Use http://www.netgear-support.com/ts/pw...cfm?kid=N01825 to get the update program.
If you prefer, there are also two workarounds for this situation, which are outlined below, either of these can be used.
Workaround #1 ,p>The FA312 driver (attached) can be used instead. After installing this driver, your card will be shown as an FA312 in your system. However, the card will function normally as an FA311. There is no degradation in functionality or performance in any way. To use this workaround, extract the driver files onto your PC, then remove all references to NETGEAR FA311 or FA312 in your device manager (You can do so by right-clicking "My Computer", click the tab "Device Manger", click the '+' sign of the "Network adapters" category and select "Netgear Network Adapter, the click ""Remove", select "OK" when prompted to confirm). After rebooting, Windows will come up to ask for the driver for the new device, point to the directory where you have extracted your files when asked for the driver. Although the card will perform normally using this workaround, for those who wish the system to show the correct PCI ID.
If it is desired to have the system displaying the correct information, use the update program above.
Workaround #2
As an alternative, you can try to force the FA311 driver to install using the procedure described in http://www.netgear-support.com/ts/pw...cfm?kid=N01760
___________________________
I apologize if you've already tried all this. The software link in that last one looked intriguing, though.

At least you have the server build that should go more logically!
. . . Gary