# Ethernet controller issues - internet problems **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112 "2007-01-08T02:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/1 "2007-01-08T02:54:32Z")
Yesterday I was uninstalling some unwanted software and I must have absentmindedly deleted something that was important, because immediately after my internet connection stopped functioning. I opened my device manager and noticed that there’s an unknown device under Other Devices called Ethernet Controller. I open the device details and try to search for a driver, but nothing can be found on my PC. If I uninstall it Windows will find it after it boots up, but its unable to locate a driver for it. My network device is built in to my nVidia nForce motherboard. My computer came with the nForce driver setup file nForce\_x16\_6.82\_winxp2k\_english.exe . I’ve never updated it. I ran the setup file which includes Ethernet drivers and reinstalled everything. I rebooted, but it still finds an unknown Ethernet Contrtoller. I downloaded the newer 6.86 nForce drivers on my other computer and transfered it over. Installed it, same problem. Right now my device manager looks like this: Network adapters: - 1394 Net Adapter - NVIDIA nForce Networking Adapter Other devices: - Ethernet Controller (yellow !) I’ve uninstalled them and reinstalled them a billion times. It says my local area network is unplugged, but it’s not. My PC is a Mach V from Falcon Northwest. I called their tech support yesterday but they haven’t gotten back to me yet. I’m going nutty without any internet connected to it. I might have accidently uninstalled something called Miniport Driver something. I’m not sure what it was :smack: I think that’s what’s giving me my troubles. Pleeeeaaaase heeeeelp. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/2 "2007-01-08T02:56:16Z")
Oh, I’m running XP if that wasn’t clear. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/3 "2007-01-08T03:00:57Z")
The Miniport driver is part of a package from Via. It can hose a system and practically did mine once. It wasn’t clear if you unistalled the adapters and the controller from the device manager all at once and then did a hardware scan. If not, try that. You may have some registry problem because of it. Unistall the Miniport drivers if you can. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/4 "2007-01-08T03:49:09Z")
I uninstalled the Miniport driver before any of this happened, it’s what I thought caused the problems. Should I reinstall it? Where is it and what is it? I tried uninstalling the network components at the same time and doing a hardware scan as you suggested. It finds the NVIDIA nForce network adapter and the 1394 adapter (whatever that is) but it still cannot find the mystery Ethernet Controller. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/5 "2007-01-08T04:19:15Z")
Go to [www.belarc.com](http://www.belarc.com) and DL the diagnostic applet. What does it say about your networking adapter hardware? ---
**Author:** ![PuddingCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/6 "2007-01-08T10:46:47Z")
Hiya. Can you tell us whether you have two Ethernet ports on the computer? I have seen many motherboards with the Nvidia chipset which have both an Nvidia ethernet and a 3rd party. thanks, Tim ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/7 "2007-01-08T18:03:13Z")
Another thing to try is also uninstalling this device from the Device Manager: NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator … if it exists. Then rescan for reboot, and see if the device is located. If you can provide the manufacturer and model number of the board, I may be able to provide more assistance. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-controller-issues-internet-problems/387112/8 "2007-01-08T23:38:03Z")
Yay it’s working. Apparently I had two network devices in my system, and I must have accidently uninstalled the one I was using :smack: