Wow!

Thanks

JW

On Sun, 26 Mar 2017 07:55:27 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I have an old Netgear FA310TX-REV02 Lan Adapter PCI card.
I can't find driver for it for XP or W7. I wud prefer the latter.
All I get when I go to supposed download sites are downloads for
driver upgrade software.

Anyone steer me to a download loc for it? Maybe there is none.
Thanks
JW

The driver on the Netgear site, the files are dated 1999.

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/fil...n%204.02.zi p

So right away, you're screwed.

*******

The EXE inside the ZIP, is just an archive, and not protected
with InstallShield or anything. I can see inside it with 7ZIP.

In the INF file, it is identified as:

NETGEAR FA310TX Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter

The INF file includes these identifiers. The fact they're quite
different, implies a config prom can be used to change the ID
of the chip (which is bad news, from a practical perspective).

%21140M.DeviceDesc%=21140.ndi, PCI\VEN_1011&DEV_0009&SUBSYS_11001385
%Pnic.DeviceDesc%=Pnic.ndi, PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_F0041385
%PnicII.DeviceDesc%=PnicII.ndi, PCI\VEN_11AD&DEV_C115&SUBSYS_F0051385

Using pci.ids, I see this.

http://pciids.sourceforge.net/pci.ids

1011 Digital Equipment Corporation
0009 DECchip 21140 [FasterNet]
1025 0310 21140 Fast Ethernet
10b8 2001 SMC9332BDT EtherPower 10/100
10b8 2002 SMC9332BVT EtherPower T4 10/100
10b8 2003 SMC9334BDT EtherPower 10/100 (1-port)
1109 2400 ANA-6944A/TX Fast Ethernet
1112 2300 RNS2300 Fast Ethernet
1112 2320 RNS2320 Fast Ethernet
1112 2340 RNS2340 Fast Ethernet
1113 1207 EN-1207-TX Fast Ethernet
1186 1100 DFE-500TX Fast Ethernet
1186 1112 DFE-570TX Fast Ethernet
1186 1140 DFE-660 Cardbus Ethernet 10/100
1186 1142 DFE-660 Cardbus Ethernet 10/100
11f6 0503 Freedomline Fast Ethernet
1282 9100 AEF-380TXD Fast Ethernet
1385 1100 FA310TX Fast Ethernet
2646 0001 KNE100TX Fast Ethernet

11ad Lite-On Communications Inc
c115 LNE100TX [Linksys EtherFast 10/100]

There is supposed to be a Vista x64 driver making
the rounds. It pops up on file sharing sites, and
gets removed via takedown notices (or more likely,
bandwidth exhaustion). Since I cannot find a copy,
I can't tell where it came from.

I would recommend finding another card. And that
won't be easy.

*******

This article hints at the parentage of the chip used.

http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/brahma/...ers/tulip.html

"This page contains information on using Linux with the
DEC 21040/21041/21140/21142/21143 "Tulip" chips, as used
on the SMC PCI EtherPower and many other ethercards.

This device driver also supports work-alike chips from
LiteOn, ASIX, and MXIC, and relabeled PNIC chips from LinkSys and Netgear.
"

This means the chip design has been kicking around for a long
time. DEC sold their NIC chip business to someone, but I don't
remember who got it first. Maybe it was Intel ? But according
to that note, there may have been other players. Some of these
product lines get batted around like tennis balls.

So it's possible that the Vista x64 driver making the rounds,
was written by one of the "work-alike" efforts.

Here's another parentage page.

http://man.openbsd.org/dc.4

*******

So, let's look for a replacement.

For PCI, you'll see a lot of RTL8169SC.

In this "comedy gold" example, the manufacturer tries to hide
the identify of the chip, by putting a heatsink on top. No, the
chip doesn't get warm. You see, some companies are famous for
covering the chip number with a sticker, and putting a "fake"
number on the sticker. This company carries the charade to new
heights, by covering the chip in aluminum. And, they charge
$10 for the card. I figured out what this was, by downloading
the driver from their driver page.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16833389008

I have *four* RTL8169SC cards here. The first two were bought
in good faith, tested and found wanting. The second two,
I thought I was getting a card with Marvell chips, so I bought
a pair, only to find more RTL8169SC (not Marvell) chips on board.
All four now sit in boxes in the junk room, and they won't be coming
out again.

Intel appears to still be shipping a chip for PCI, but read
the comments in the review section carefully, about the
driver issue.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16833106072

I cannot find anything fit to buy in the PCI NIC section on Newegg.

I would even buy a card that used two chips, a proven working
PCI Express NIC, plus a PCI Express to PCI bridge chip, but
I don't see any for sale.

Maybe you could get something ancient and crusty like this.

https://www.amazon.com/SEDNA-Etherne...ywords=rtl8139

http://www.sednacomputer.com/product...-lan-8139.html

They're still selling 8139 chips. And the driver list on
the second page lists Windows 7.

It's a 10/100BT card. These are not fast, by any stretch of
the imagination, but they're a known quantity, and as long
as you only pay $10 for them, I wouldn't consider them a ripoff.
I would really have love in my heart for the 8169 10/100/1000BT,
if the manufacturer would only fix it and ship a 8169a, rather
than shipping crap for 10 years instead. It used to be standard
practice in the chip industry, to actually fix stuff :-/

Paul