A network card or network adapter is required to create a local network with which you can connect several computers to each other, as well as to connect your computer to the Internet. Sometimes the card starts working incorrectly, but you can restore it yourself using standard Windows 7 tools.
When to manually configure the adapter
You need to update drivers or change the settings of the card if you have problems with raising the local network or connecting to the Internet. Please note that the appearance of such problems is not always caused by the network adapter, but sometimes it is because of it that errors occur that block access to the network.
How to find out the adapter model
The first thing to do is to check if the card is connected to the computer and recognized by it. The adapter is included with all laptops and computers by default, so if you did not assemble your device in parts yourself, you should not think about its absence. But there are times when the wires going to it disconnect or go away.
A network card (or network adapter) is a device that enables a computer to communicate with other devices. On modern PCs and laptops, the components of this device are integrated into the motherboard.
You will need to open the computer case and check it only if the network card is not displayed in the "Device Manager":
Card activation
If the network card is connected, but not in use, it must be turned on manually. This can be done in several ways. If the card is not damaged, then switching on will not cause errors.
Through the "Device Manager"
The previous section described how to view the card model through the "Device Manager". Find the required adapter and, by right-clicking on it, select the "Activate" function. If the card is turned on successfully, the down arrow icon will disappear from its icon.
Click on the "Activate" button in the "Device Manager" Using the "Control Panel"
- Using the Start menu or any other method, launch the Control Panel on your computer.
Open the "Control Panel" - Navigate to the "Network and Sharing Center".
Go to the "Network and Sharing Center" - Click on the "Change adapter parameters" sub-item.
Click on the sub-item "Change adapter parameters" - A list will open, which, most likely, will contain several cards. One serves as a connection to a wireless network, and the other to a wireless network. Additional adapters may be listed. Select the one you need and by clicking on it with the right mouse button, select the "Enable" function. Wait for the activation to end: the red cross icon on the map icon should disappear.
Click on the "Enable" button to activate the adapter
Via BIOS
If the card cannot be activated in the previous two ways, then perhaps this can be done through the BIOS settings.
- The BIOS is entered using the Delete key, which must be pressed while turning on the computer. Perhaps the key that activates the BIOS will be different: this will be stated in the hint that appears in one of the corners of the screen at the stage of the logo appearance. If you find out the model of your motherboard, you can find on the Internet the button responsible for entering the BIOS.
Enter the BIOS by pressing the Delete key - The design and location of items and sections of the BIOS may differ depending on its version and model of the motherboard, but the following procedure is approximately the same for all versions. Go to the "Advanced" tab.
Open the "Advanced" tab - Navigate to the Onboard Devices Configuration subsection.
Open the subsection "Onboard Devices Configuration" - To enable the card, set the value “Enabled” in the line “Onboard Lan”. Disabled means the card is disabled.
We set the parameter "Enabled" for the line "Onboard Lan"
Video: how to enable the network card in Windows 7
You can disconnect an extra card in the same ways that you allowed it to be turned on: through the "Device Manager", "Control Panel" and BIOS. Only in the last step of the method through the "Device Manager" you need to click the "Disable" or "Delete" button, in the "Control Panel" the "Disable" button, and in the BIOS change the value from "Enabled" to "Disabled".
Disable the card through the "Control Panel" Updating and installing drivers
Drivers are needed so that the card does not conflict with other components and fully performs all its functions. They are usually installed automatically the first time you plug in the computer adapter, but sometimes the drivers crash or become outdated. In both cases, you need to reinstall them yourself. This is done through the "Device Manager".
Automatic update
The positive side of this method is that you will not need to search for drivers manually, the negative side is that you will need an Internet connection, which may not be available if the network card is not working. But if you have the ability to connect to the network, then you can update the drivers in the following way:
Manual update
The advantage of this method is that you can download the card drivers manually from another computer that has Internet access, and then transfer them to your own and install. It is recommended to download the card drivers strictly from the official website of the company that created it.
What to do if drivers are not installed
If at any of the stages errors occur that prevent the installation of drivers, then you must remove the adapter from the "Device Manager" and restart the computer.
Removing the card from the "Task Manager" After rebooting, open the list of connected devices again, and in it the sub-item "Other devices". It will contain the "Network Controller", which is your card. Install drivers on it using one of the above methods.
The network controller is located in the sub-item "Other devices" Video: how to update a network driver
Viewing Map Options
If you want to find out the physical address, IPv4 parameters, gateway address and other possible information about the adapter, then follow these steps:
Additional way
You can also find out the parameters of the card through the "Command line" using the "ipconfig / all" command. You can find the "Command Line" by going to "Start" - "Accessories" - "Command Line". Executing this command brings up information about all physical and virtual adapters recognized by the computer.
We execute the command "ipconfig / all" to get information How to change map parameters
The previous paragraph described how to view information about a network adapter. But you can not only see it, but also change it by following these steps:
Video: how to set up a network card
Network card update
The only way to update the network card is to install more recent drivers on it, in which the developers have fixed some of the mistakes that were made earlier. Installation of new drivers is performed directly over the already installed ones. If you cannot install over it, then you should remove the device, restart the computer and repeat the procedure. How to do this is described in the section "Updating and Installing Drivers".
Can I use two cards
Two network cards can work simultaneously and offload each other, if one of them is aimed at working with Internet traffic, and the second - at working with a local network. To do this, you need to correctly set the IP, DNS and router parameters for both adapters.
Reset adapter settings
You can reset the adapter settings, namely TCP / IP and DNS, using standard Windows tools or using a third-party program from Microsoft. Conditions under which a reset must be performed:
- Internet connection speed is slow or unstable;
- files are downloaded broken, this happens due to the same instability of the Internet;
- when connected, the Internet works fully, but after a few minutes problems begin;
- manually changing adapter settings led to other internet problems.
Standard method
Start Command Prompt by going to Start - Accessories - Command Prompt and enter the commands "netsh int ip reset c: \ resetlog.txt", "netsh int tcp reset" and "netsh winsock reset" which will reset the settings to the factory settings. Done, the registry branches and system files will see the changes, you may need to restart your computer.
We execute the commands "netsh int ip reset c: \ resetlog.txt", "netsh int tcp reset" and "netsh winsock reset" in the "Command line" Through a third party program
You can download Microsoft's NetShell program, which does not require installation, from their official website. After launching it, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to reset all changed settings.
Download the program to automatically reset the map settings Resolving Adapter Errors
During the configuration or use of the adapter, the following errors may occur, which will prevent the use of the Internet or local network. Most of these can be eliminated without replacing the card.
Card has no valid IP settings
A similar error can be encountered when setting IP parameters or scanning a network module using standard Windows tools designed to automatically eliminate errors.
Getting settings manually
If you have not changed the parameters of the adapter, that is, it receives an IP address automatically, then a manual request to obtain an IP can fix the problem:
Reset
Resetting the settings to their default values is the most reliable way. How to do this in several ways is described in the "Reset adapter settings" section.
Manual adapter setting
If the previous methods did not help, you should try to set the settings yourself:
Error "This device cannot be started"
This error occurs in the "Device Manager" not only with the adapter, but also with other connected devices, and has code 10. To fix it, you need to update the card drivers. How to do this is described in the section "Updating and installing drivers".
The adapter does not work, does not install, or does not appear
If the adapter does not work, is not installed or is not displayed, then the reasons may be the following:
Changed map settings fly off
If, after you close the window with the changed settings or restart the computer, all the changes you have made fly off as if you hadn’t made them, then there are two ways to solve this problem: set the settings by executing commands and change the incorrect values in the registry.
Making changes through the "Command line"
Run "Command Prompt" with administrator rights and sequentially run the following two commands: "route delete 10.0.0.0" and "route -p add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 X", in the second command "X" is the IP of your router, which usually looks like "192.168.0.1", but in your case may have a different meaning.
Changing registry settings
A network adapter is needed to connect to the Internet and other computers. If it does not work or is not displayed, check its connection to the computer with wires, and then the status of its drivers and parameters. Remember to make sure the use of the network card is enabled in the BIOS.
Good afternoon friends! I am very pleased to welcome you to our training Internet portal http: // site. We continue to talk about setting up a home network. The topic is vast, but interesting and very important.
Today we will be engaged in a network educational program or network settings... In order to be able to set up a home network yourself, you need to get a minimum of ideas about how a local area network works.
The "Network Connections" page appears. This page lists all of your network adapters. If your device has more than one adapter, more adapters will appear on this page. The Properties dialog box for the network adapter appears. This dialog contains seven tabs that allow you to configure the adapter.
Antivirus, firewall, third-party programs and drivers
To view the settings for a specific property, select the property name from the drop-down list. This option is commonly used with peer-to-peer networks, but you can use it even if your network has dedicated servers.
- Developments.
- List of recent events that have been registered for the device.
- Power management.
- Allows you to configure the power management settings for the device.
- He must always be present.
We will talk about the terminology of local networks, about configuring network adapters, and also take a closer look at connecting two or more computers to a network.
When setting up an Internet connection, pay attention to the IP-address input field: if your provider has indicated an IP-address, then enter it in the appropriate field, if it was not provided to you, then simply select the “Obtain an IP-address automatically.
Sometimes it happens that the network adapter connected to the USB port of the computer is not detected by the operating system and, accordingly, cannot work correctly. In such a situation, we can advise you to do the following.
1. Right-click on the My Computer icon located on the Desktop and select Properties from the context menu that appears. In Windows 9x / ME, go to the Devices tab, in Windows NT / 2000 / XP Network Cable, start Device Manager by going to the Hardware tab and clicking the Device Manager button. 2. Find the USB bus controller in the hardware list:
- if the USB bus controller is not in the list, install and configure it using the Hardware Wizard;
- if the USB bus controller is on the list, but malfunctions or causes a conflict with other devices, install the appropriate drivers for it, which are usually included in the package
Windows 7 supports the vast majority of network cards. Moreover, the majority of modern network equipment is sharpened specifically for Windows, with all the resulting problems, because Windows is not famous for its stability. However, Microsoft quickly solves most of the problems that arise with network equipment, honor and praise them, but those that inevitably arise will be discussed in detail in this article.
First of all: in order to expand the potential range of tasks that a client computer performs in the network, there is a need to change the basic parameters of the network card.
Here are examples of such tasks:
How can I see a list of available network adapters (network connections) in Windows 7?
The list of available devices on Windows 7 can be seen in two ways:
The second method starts by opening the "Device Manager" using the "Run" window:
Enabling the network card, including using the BIOS
Read the instructions for all BIOS versions in the article -
On laptops, the network interface is turned on and off by pressing a keyboard shortcut, on desktop computers, through the BIOS menu.
To enable the wireless network adapter on laptops, there is a combination of "Fn + F12", although some manufacturers make a special key for this function.
Installing a network driver on Windows 7, including without the Internet
Since the network adapter is equivalent to the Internet, its absence makes it very difficult to download the driver to the network card. The issue of preliminary recording of drivers on media is being solved.
- Drivers are downloaded and written to a flash drive, CD, etc.
- The media is connected to the PC.
- After that, the "Device Manager" opens, using the "Run" window (called by pressing the "Win + R" keys), in which the command "devmgmt.msc" is entered.
- There is a section "Sound, game and video devices", subsection "Unknown device", which has not yet been installed. The installation of drivers for an unknown device (future network adapter) must be started after selecting it with the right mouse button and choosing "Properties" in the drop-down menu.
- Left-click - "Refresh".
- Manual installation is selected.
- The path to the media with the drivers is registered or indicated.
- Finally, the installation begins. It takes no more than a couple of minutes.
The network card without drivers in the "Device Manager" was in the "Unknown devices" section. After the update, it takes its rightful place - in the "Network adapters".
Video - How to install a network adapter driver without Internet access
Setting up a network connection in Windows 7
Although Internet service companies prefer to configure their customers' network equipment themselves, sometimes more advanced configuration is required. This is typical for computers with multiple adapters.
For this:
- Go to the "Start" context menu, open the "Control Panel".
- In the "View" category, set the value "Category", find and open the "Network and Internet" section.
- Click on the "Network and Sharing Center" link.
- Click on the "Change adapter settings" link.
- Right-click on the network connection shortcut, select Properties.
- Check the box "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4)", click on the "Properties" button.
- Check the box "Use the following IP address", fill in the fields with data.
On a note! The fields and "Default gateway" are in the agreement with the Internet provider, the rest of the fields contain values that are the same for all users.
Video - The computer does not see the network adapter
How to view and change the parameters of a network card (IP, Mac, etc.) in Windows 7?
It is easy to see the parameters of the adapter and its MAC address thanks to the system programs.
For this:
How do I reset all settings of a network driver?
If you want to completely roll back all the settings to the original level, then do the following:
Can I create two NICs?
Many users are thinking about getting themselves a second network card. Physically, there are no problems here: most laptops and computers support a second network card. But there are exceptions, as well as damaged slots, as well as netbooks and tablet computers. In this situation, you need to use a virtual card that distributes Internet traffic no worse than a physical one.
The ability to install such a virtual card is in the Windows system itself:
- In the "Start" menu in the field, type "manager", open "Device Manager".
- In the "Device Manager" click on the "Network adapters" section, select "Actions" from the top menu, and "Install old device" from the drop-down menu.
- The installation wizard will open. You need to select the manual option to access the list of drivers for all devices.
- Scroll through the categories, highlight Network Adapters, click Next.
- Then click on "Micrsoft" and add "Micrsoft loopback adapter" or "Microsoft loopback adapter" which will then appear in the network connections window.
- Please confirm. The network adapter should now appear in "Network Connections".
Full reset of network drivers
If your internet connection is down or most of your internet pages won't open, then resetting all parameters and the TCP / IP stack can be an excellent solution to this problem.
Disconnecting the network card
To disable a network adapter, the best tool is to use the most standard and convenient Windows tool for keeping all such hardware - Device Manager. Do the following:
In this case, the shutdown will occur immediately, you will not even need to reboot the OS.
Important! After the adapter is disconnected, the Internet connection will be interrupted along with it and disconnection from the local network will occur. Therefore, it is recommended that you finish all your online activities in a timely manner before disconnecting the network card.
The network adapter does not have valid IP settings
A common problem for Windows 7 users is when problems with Internet access appear and the network diagnostic tool gives a message that the network adapter does not have valid IP settings.
In this case, you can try resetting your router first. If you have a wired connection, disable and then re-enable your network connection in the network connections menu. If this does not help, then you can proceed to further steps.
Step 1. Renewing your IP address is the easiest method, although not always helpful in this case. To do this, open Command Prompt (as administrator) and enter the following commands:
Check again, is the error still displayed? If so, let's move on.
Step 2. You can try resetting the network settings, namely the IP protocols. It is recommended to reset the TCP / IP protocol stack to factory settings in the most severe cases, when problems are caused by the actions of malware, etc. To do this, open the command line in administrator mode and enter:
Network card settings fly off
When setting up a network, users may face the following situation: when the IP address, gateway, DNS are manually registered - the assigned parameters are not saved, but are reset to the factory settings, and thus it becomes impossible to change the network settings by automatically obtaining addresses from the router. One of the common reasons for this is the incorrect removal of an antivirus that has firewall functionality.
What should be done:
- Reset the TCP / IP protocol stack to factory defaults (the article above showed you how to do this).
- Reboot.
If that doesn't help, then do the following:
After that, the problem should be resolved.
What to do if there are problems with the network card?
Many plug-in network adapters, due to their vulnerability to electricity, can fail for a while during periods of severe thunderstorms or power outages in a building. In most cases, difficulties arise in situations with wired equipment, since multi-storey buildings have long cable routes, laid by Internet providers in not completely intended places, in the vicinity of telephone and television cables and high voltage wires. High humidity, dampness and low temperature in this area - all this has an extremely negative effect on the insulation of the wires, therefore breakdowns appear in them .
Sometimes also, in more rare cases, breakdowns occur due to emergencies such as a major thunderstorm. It is quite common for network adapters to burn out, or users begin to experience difficulty logging into the network. In this case, the equipment will function, but the Internet connection may not be available during such periods.
Unfortunately, this problem can be solved only by purchasing another model of the network adapter. For a desktop computer, the PCI standard is compliant, for a laptop - USB and PCMCIA.
It is also not recommended to plug the network cable into the router, and then connect the computer to it, because even if the router breaks down, replacing it will be relatively inexpensive compared to replacing the network card built into the computer (or even the entire motherboard).
Windows 7 does not see the network adapter
When the integrated network equipment is not shown either in the "Network Connections" window, or in the "Device Manager", and is not even reflected in the "Unknown devices" section (which would be explained by the lack of drivers), then most likely something is wrong with it physically. It is quite possible that some transistors on the network card have burned out, or a chip has flown off - in this case, it is more expedient to buy a new card.
Video - How to set up a wired network card on Windows 7
Note: in most cases, manual configuration of the network adapter is not required, since our network provides for automatic delivery of TCP / IP parameters for computers. Follow these instructions only if you have problems with the computer network.
1. Go to "Control Panel": open the menu "Start" and select the item "Control Panel".
2. If the window does not look like the one shown in the figure below, then switch the view to "Small icons", by selecting the appropriate item in the menu "View". Go to Network and Sharing Center.
Important!
Do not use unloading functions Offloading IPsec Tasks or TCP Chimney Offload... These technologies are deprecated in Windows Server 2016 and can negatively affect server and network performance. Additionally, these technologies may not be supported by Microsoft in the future.
For example, enabling segmentation offloading can reduce the maximum sustained throughput of some network adapters due to limited hardware resources. However, if the bandwidth degradation is not a limitation, you should enable offloading features even for this type of network adapter.
Note
Some network adapters need to enable offloading functions separately to send and receive paths.
Enabling scaling (RSS) for downstream web servers
RSS can improve web scalability and performance when the number of network adapters is fewer than the logical processors on the server. When web traffic passes through RSS-enabled network adapters, incoming web requests from different connections can be processed by different CPUs at the same time.
Note that because of the important load balancing protocol (HTTP) in RSS and Hypertext Transfer, performance can be significantly degraded if the network adapter does not support RSS web traffic on the server that supports RSS adapters. In this case, you must use network adapters that support RSS, or disable RSS in the properties of the network adapter additional properties tab. To determine if the adapter is RSS-enabled, you can view the RSS information on the properties of the network adapter additional properties tab.
RSS Profiles and RSS Queues
The default pre-defined RSS profile is NUMA Static, which changes the default behavior of previous versions of the operating system. To get started with RSS profiles, you can review the available profiles to understand when they will be useful and how they apply to your network or hardware.
For example, if you open Task Manager and view the logical processors on the server, they are underutilized by receiving traffic, you can try increasing the number of RSS queues from the default value of 2 to the maximum supported by your network adapter. The network adapter can have options to change the number of RSS queues in the driver.
Increasing resources for network adapters
For network adapters that allow you to manually configure resources, such as send and receive buffers, you should increase the resource allocation.
Some network adapters have small receive buffers to conserve allocated memory from the host. This leads to packet loss and performance degradation. Therefore, for scenarios with heavy reception, it is recommended to increase the value of the receive buffer to the maximum.
Note
If the network adapter does not manually provide it, it either configures their resources dynamically, or the resources are given a fixed value that cannot be changed.
Enabling interrupt control
To manage interrupts, some network adapters offer different interrupt levels, buffer concatenation options (sometimes separate for the send and receive buffers), or both.
It is recommended to control interrupts for CPU-bound workloads and consider the balance between saving node CPU resources and latency and increasing node CPU savings due to more interrupts and lower latency. If the network adapter does not handle interrupts, but it does provide buffers, concatenation, increasing the number of concatenated buffers allows the buffers to be concatenated for send or receive, which improves performance.
Performance Tuning for Low Latency Packet Processing
Many network adapters allow settings to optimize the latency caused by the operating system. Latency is the time between the processing of an incoming packet by the network driver and the sending of that packet back. This time is usually measured in microseconds. For comparison, the transmission time of packets over long distances is usually measured in milliseconds \ (larger \ orders). This setting does not reduce the time spent on the packet during transmission.
Below are some suggestions for microsecond networks for performance tuning.
When setting up a new router to work with a Windows 8.1 computer, I found that no matter how many times I configured the IP address settings for the network adapter in Windows, the settings were back to “get an IP address automatically”. Obviously, this was a sign that some of the settings on the network adapter were corrupted. Therefore, the only solution is to manually delete the corrupted Windows registry settings and restore the new settings. Here's how you can do it:
Step 1 - Reinstall the network adapter in your PC
- Use the Win + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog.
- In the Run dialog box, enter the command devmgmt.msc and press Enter. The Device Manager window opens.
- In the Device Manager window, you need to select your network adapter, then right-click on it and select uninstall.
4. After it disappears from the device manager, click on the update hardware configuration button - the icon in the toolbar to re-scan the network adapter and install drivers for it.
5. If you are using third-party drivers for your network adapter, then you will have to reinstall or update these drivers by downloading them from the Internet or using the supplied CD-ROM.
Step 2 - clear settings in the registry
1. Use the keyboard shortcut Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. In the Run dialog box, enter the regedit.exe command and press the Enter key. This will open the Registry Editor window.
3. In the registry editor, find and open the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Network
4. On the right side, select the value for the configuration name, right-click on it and select delete.
Step 3 - restore settings
- Open Windows Control Panel and select Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center.
- On the left, click on Change adapter settings.
3. Right click on your network adapter and select properties from the menu.
4. In the "Properties" window, do not change anything. Just click on the "OK" button. This will restore the configuration of the values in the registry again.
5. Now you can go and change the adapter values as you like. The new values will be saved and the configuration will no longer be corrupted.
