Ethernet Problem

[BabyPCMR]

This is me getting really stressed out, so I wiped windows of a boot drive and reinstalled windows using a USB drive and now the Ethernet connection isn't working. I'm getting "unidentified network." I want to try updating the network drivers but I can't do so because I cannot connect to the internet. Any suggestion would be a life saver right now because I have no idea what to do.

 

[Master Disaster]

13 minutes ago, BabyPCMR said:

This is me getting really stressed out, so I wiped windows of a boot drive and reinstalled windows using a USB drive and now the Ethernet connection isn't working. I'm getting "unidentified network." I want to try updating the network drivers but I can't do so because I cannot connect to the internet. Any suggestion would be a life saver right now because I have no idea what to do.

 

Is DHCP enabled on your router? You might have to manually assign a static IP to connect.

[GalacticRuler]

Get the drivers from another computer and install them via USB. That's what I had to do as a lot of mobos don't come preinstalled with their Ethernet drivers. Another option is a USB WiFi Adapter, if you have one on hand.

[paddy-stone]

As above, you need to download the drivers to a USB and install. Just FYI but it's better to pre-empt anything like this, so next time download any drivers you may need, especially network drivers as it would save all this trouble.

Some mobos have DHCP enabled to download drivers themselves now in the BIOS/UEFI, just for this such reason.

[Master Disaster]

12 hours ago, GalacticRuler said:

Get the drivers from another computer and install them via USB. That's what I had to do as a lot of mobos don't come preinstalled with their Ethernet drivers. Another option is a USB WiFi Adapter, if you have one on hand.

If the NIC didn't have drivers it wouldn't be showing unidentified network, the NIC is working but is unable to negotiate an IP address with the router.

 

3 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

Some mobos have DHCP enabled to download drivers themselves now in the BIOS/UEFI, just for this such reason.

That sentence makes zero sense at all.

[paddy-stone]

2 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

If the NIC didn't have drivers it wouldn't be showing unidentified network, the NIC is working but is unable to negotiate an IP address with the router.

 

That sentence makes zero sense at all.

Which part of it makes no sense? how else does the motherboard connect to the router to download drivers for you then. It's called easy driver installer.

[Master Disaster]

8 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

Which part of it makes no sense? how else does the motherboard connect to the router to download drivers for you then. It's called easy driver installer.

Motherboards don't have DHCP to be enabled, DHCP is the protocol used by routers to allow devices to auto negotiate a connection to the network.

 

The NIC connects to the router by sending a handshake packet and the router responds by either saying "yes DHCP is enabled, here is your address" or "no DHCP is not enabled so I'm not going to give you an address automatically".

 

In OPs case it's the latter scenario and OP either needs to enter the connection settings manually or he has some kind of software error/conflict with his computer.

[paddy-stone]

3 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Motherboards don't have DHCP to be enabled, DHCP is the protocol used by routers to allow devices to auto negotiate a connection to the network.

 

The NIC connects to the router by sending a handshake packet and the router responds by either saying "yes DHCP is enabled, here is your address" or "no DHCP is not enabled so I'm not going to give you an address automatically".

 

In OPs case it's the latter scenario and OP either needs to enter the connection settings manually or he has some kind of software error/conflict with his computer.

Yeah, I think we got our wires crossed somewhere (no pun intended). What I meant is that on my and others motherboards, they can connect via DHCP to the router without an OS to download and flash BIOS for instance, and also mine supports connecting this way too to download drivers. I know this way works as I tested it previously, and you can save them to a USB or HDD.

 

You may be correct in regards to OPs problem, but think it's more likely that he needs to right click the networking icon, select [open network and internet settings] then select [ethernet] from the left hand tab/menu. Then select his ethernet connection, then make sure it is set to [private] or select [make this pc discoverable] - this depends on the windows version, I noticed it changed that recently in the fall creators update.

Anyway, the above may fix the problem, I have seen this several times with new windows installs.

[Master Disaster]

6 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

Yeah, I think we got our wires crossed somewhere (no pun intended). What I meant is that on my and others motherboards, they can connect via DHCP to the router without an OS to download and flash BIOS for instance, and also mine supports connecting this way too to download drivers. I know this way works as I tested it previously, and you can save them to a USB or HDD.

 

You may be correct in regards to OPs problem, but think it's more likely that he needs to right click the networking icon, select [open network and internet settings] then select [ethernet] from the left hand tab/menu. Then select his ethernet connection, then make sure it is set to [private] or select [make this pc discoverable] - this depends on the windows version, I noticed it changed that recently in the fall creators update.

Anyway, the above may fix the problem, I have seen this several times with new windows installs.

Ahhh I see, yeah your correct, I didn't understand what you meant.

 

That's actually a very good idea tbh, sounds like it could save you from some nightmares. It's not something I've heard of before though.

[paddy-stone]

5 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Ahhh I see, yeah your correct, I didn't understand what you meant.

 

That's actually a very good idea tbh, sounds like it could save you from some nightmares. It's not something I've heard of before though.

Yeah it's good seeing implementations like this, to my knowledge this started appearing on z170 boards maybe? pretty sure I had one that had that option. And have it on my ASrock AB350M pro4 on my main rig.

For me it's not a problem, as I stockpile any drivers and such I might need on my servers/NAS and have other PCs too that I could use to download if stuck. But it's great being able to have that for new PC builders out there that might get caught like that. I admit to trying it out when I first got my mobo, it's nice simple gui and choose the download destination of USB/ssd etc, very impressed that a £70 motherboard had features like this, plus 2x m.2 ports etc.

 

I wonder if we'll hear from OP if he managed to fix it or not, I like knowing what the problem turned out to be for future reference.

[BabyPCMR]

4 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

Yeah it's good seeing implementations like this, to my knowledge this started appearing on z170 boards maybe? pretty sure I had one that had that option. And have it on my ASrock AB350M pro4 on my main rig.

For me it's not a problem, as I stockpile any drivers and such I might need on my servers/NAS and have other PCs too that I could use to download if stuck. But it's great being able to have that for new PC builders out there that might get caught like that. I admit to trying it out when I first got my mobo, it's nice simple gui and choose the download destination of USB/ssd etc, very impressed that a £70 motherboard had features like this, plus 2x m.2 ports etc.

 

I wonder if we'll hear from OP if he managed to fix it or not, I like knowing what the problem turned out to be for future reference.

Yeah i just downloaded the LAN drivers for the motherboard from another PC onto a USB and installed them on the other computer. Worked perfectly, thanks!

[paddy-stone]

15 hours ago, BabyPCMR said:

Yeah i just downloaded the LAN drivers for the motherboard from another PC onto a USB and installed them on the other computer. Worked perfectly, thanks!

No worries, glad you got it working OK. Thanks for coming back to let us know, this might also help someone in a similar position if they see your topic.