Dave-H

Even that does not appear in mine. The only adapters listed are the active PCI card one, the Dial-Up Adapter, and some Microsoft TV adapter that I'm pretty sure was installed years ago by some Media Centre I installed. That link isn't loading here. It just says "sending request to www.crynwr.com" but never goes any further. Sounds interesting! Well I had already found about the "Wolverine" project that MS used years ago to provide networking for WFWG. I downloaded it but I'm not sure what to do with the files. I'm a bit wary of just installing it in case it over-writes files I still need for my present adapter to work!

Thanks Sfor! Tell me, does the DOS adapter appear in the list of network components in the Network applet in your Windows Control Panel?

Thanks again guys! I looked at the PDF, and the one line that stuck out was - "Note that that Win98 DOS only supports NETBEUI and IPX/SPX protocols in real mode. Adding TCP/IP protocol support requires more work and files that don't come with Windows 98." I've looked around a lot more to see if I can find those "files that don't come with Windows 98", but almost all I've found relates to getting online with DOS Ethernet card drivers in DOS, not in Windows. If Sfor is using his computer in Windows 98 and getting online using a DOS driver, I would dearly like to know how!

I've now modified the PROTOCOL.INI file to look like the one Sfor provided. I got rid of all the customisations - [ndishlp$]DriverName=ndishlp$Bindings=E1000$[protman$]DriverName=protman$priority=ndishlp$[data]version=v4.10.2222netcards=E1000$[E1000$]DriverName=E1000$and my NET START log now says - Intel(R) Gigabit Network Connection Driver v6.09 031414Copyright 2000-2010, Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.Multiple network interface connections found in slots:0x0500 0x0501 Slot not specified for driver instance 1.Loading on PCI device VEN_8086&DEV_1096&SUBSYS_109615D9&REV_01 in slot 0x0500Media: CopperPermanent MAC Address: 00304879F909 Current MAC Address: 00304879F909The command was completed successfully.So that's good! If I plug my router into the port, the lights now come on indicating that the port is "live" and I get a green light on the router, which is also good. However, I still have no actual internet connection in Windows. The card still says it has no drivers loaded in Device Manager, although it goes say it's "working properly". It does not appear in the list on the network applet though.

@farfigs11 Thanks, but that e1000nt5.sys driver is part of the Windows driver, which doesn't work with this hardware under Windows 98. @submix8c Yes, I did read that, but I probably didn't understand it well enough! The default settings did look as if they would be OK anyway, but perhaps they're not.

I've now tried specifying the options in PROTOCOL.INI, copying the lines from the Intel supplied file. I've specified the slot, the connection speed, and over-ridden the burned in MAC address to the default one they suggest. The only line I didn't add was - CACHEFLUSH = 1 ; set this if doing an unattended installation of; Windows NT 4.0 using this driver to make the initial; connectionThis didn't seem to be relevant. I'm now getting - Intel(R) Gigabit Network Connection Driver v6.09 031414Copyright 2000-2010, Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.Multiple network interface connections found in slots:0x0500 0x0501 Specified slot invalid for driver instance 1.Loading on PCI device VEN_8086&DEV_1096&SUBSYS_109615D9&REV_01 in slot 0x0500Media: Copper Forced Speed/Duplex: 100 Mbps Full DuplexPermanent MAC Address: 00304879F909 Current MAC Address: 00D00C123456 Invalid value for binding specified Invalid value for binding specifiedError loading device driver NDISHLP.SYS.Error 7323: One or more network transport drivers failed to load.So it looks as if the PROTOCOL.INI changes are being seen and implemented. Still not working though! Not sure about "Specified slot invalid for driver instance 1." I've specified slot 5, which is what it seems to be using anyway as the default. The two slots mentioned, 0x0500 and 0x0501, are probably the two on-board connections rather than one being my add-in PCI network card. How it's seeing them both when the second one is physically disabled by using a jumper on the motherboard I'm not quite sure! I think the only way of knowing for sure is to open up the machine again and physically remove the plug-in card.

OK, moved on a bit! I found the E1000.DOS entry in the registry, which didn't actually specify a path. I put E1000.DOS into the System32\Drivers folder and added the path to the registry entry. My net.log is now giving me - Intel(R) Gigabit Network Connection Driver v6.09 031414Copyright 2000-2010, Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.Multiple network interface connections found in slots:0x0500 0x0501 Slot not specified for driver instance 1.Loading on PCI device VEN_8086&DEV_1096&SUBSYS_109615D9&REV_01 in slot 0x0500Media: CopperPermanent MAC Address: 00304879F909 Current MAC Address: 00304879F909 Invalid value for binding specified Invalid value for binding specifiedError loading device driver NDISHLP.SYS.Error 7323: One or more network transport drivers failed to load.So, getting there perhaps! I didn't think I'd have to worry about slot numbers as my other network card is not Intel, but perhaps I do! Out for the day now, but will have another go this evening.

I'd already tried manually putting E1000.DOS into a folder and then modifying the path accordingly, but it made no difference. I'll try again putting the path to the source folder this time rather than the destination folder.

I tried running NET START from the DOS prompt, and tried Drugwash's suggestion of sending the output to a file. It worked, the file said that the driver was installed correctly. I then tried installing again in Windows, and before rebooting added >net.log to the NET START command in AUTOEXEC.BAT. On restart, the result was the same as before, but the generated net.log had the following content - Error loading device driver E1000.DOS.Error 7308: The driver file could not be found. The driver file may not be installed on your computer or it is not located in the folder specified in the registry. To delete the driver and then add it again, double-click the Network icon in Control Panel. For more information, type NET HELP 7308 at the command prompt.E1000.DOS was not loaded.Error 7321: Network-card drivers failed to load.So, interesting! I haven't had a chance to look at that help option yet. I wonder where it was expecting E1000.DOS to be?

@Drugwash Thanks, I'd already thought about whether the problem was because the driver files were in a sub-folder. I moved the three files to a folder directly on the C: drive, with a short name, but no difference i'm afraid. I will try to set up a logging process and see what happens. @dencorso Thanks for that link den. It refers to a NET.CFG file, which does not appear at all in the driver I downloaded. I wonder if it's necessary, but you would think it would have been included if it was! @Sfor Yes. the file copying is initiated whenever any change is made to the network configuration. In fact it happens if you press "OK" on the Network interface in the Windows Control Panel even if you haven't changed anything, which is quite annoying! It re-copies existing files, asking for the Windows 98 CD even for files that are already present, and asks if I want to over-write files that are newer (I say no). The one file it doesn't ever copy is the E1000.DOS file!

No, I do not. But Windows loads it by itself, anyways. Thanks, yes of course it does, I had forgotten that. Gosh some of this is like going back 20 years! I re-checked the files, and couldn't see any syntax errors in them. I then edited the oemsetup.inf file and put an absolute path in for the E1000.DOS file to be copied to. No joy, it just did the same as before. I really don't understand why it's making no attempt to copy the E1000.DOS file to a system folder anywhere. Regardless of any settings in the protocol.ini file as regards slots, speed etc., fundamentally I would still expect it to copy the driver file across, and if it's not doing that it's got no hope of working!

Thanks for sticking with this guys, I really appreciate it! I tried the PRO100 driver, and had the same result as before, despite the presence of the .NIF file. I will investigate Drugwash and submix8c's latest suggestions tomorrow. Sfor, do you have IFSHLP.SYS loaded in your CONFIG.SYS file? If not, I will assume it's not actually necessary and remove it, as I want to keep as much base memory free as possible. Cheers, Dave.

I did wonder about the question mark instead of the "1". My PRO1000 driver has only three files, PROTOCOL.INI, OEMSETUP.INF, and E1000.DOS, which is the driver file, equivalent of your L2.DOS. I don't have a .NIF file in the PRO1000 driver folder, but there is one in the PRO100 driver folder. Maybe I'll try the PRO100 driver next time, although it is a PRO1000 adapter. Also, what do you have loaded in your CONFIG.SYS?

And this is mine - ; OEMSETUP.INF for Intel(R) Gigabit Connection Driver 6.09[netcard]E1000$="Intel(R) Gigabit Network Connection",0,NDIS,Ethernet,REAL,E1000,E1000_ini[E1000]devdir=1:E1000.dosdevice=E1000.DOS,@devdir\E1000.DOS[E1000_ini]DriverName=E1000$There is another [PCI] section detailing the supported card IDs. Looks pretty similar!

Well I removed everything and tried again. This time I got two identical "Intel Gigabit Network Connections" in Device Manager, both disabled Code 22. Enabling both simply disabled them again when rebooted, but enabling just one gave the same result as before "device working properly" but with no driver files. One thing that is certain is that the E1000.DOS file is not being copied to the system. The relevant entry in the INF file is - [E1000] devdir=1:E1000.dos device=E1000.DOS,@devdir\E1000.DOS So, where exactly should this "devdir" be? "1:E1000.dos" doesn't mean anything to me, and searching on it hasn't helped!

Thanks, I did the check and only PROTMAN was present, not the other two. I did a bit more research and read something that said that I needed to have IFSHLP.SYS loaded in CONFIG.SYS, which it wasn't. I think I probably removed it years ago to free up memory as it wasn't needed at the time. I re-added DEVICE=IFSHLP.SYS in CONFIG.SYS, and tried the install again. This time I got an entry in Device Manager called "Existing NDIS2 Driver" which said it couldn't load its driver with Error Code 2. The entry for the Intel Adapter was also there as before, disabled. Again enabling it worked, but there were no drivers loaded.

Thanks so much Sfor, that's brilliant! I had assumed that being an INF file it could be loaded through Device Manager, obviously not. It hadn't occurred to me to use the Network setup dialogue instead! I did what you said, and the driver apparently installed OK. When I rebooted, the "Intel Gigabit Network Connection" had appeared in Device Manager, but was disabled. I enabled it and rebooted again, and it stayed enabled. It says it's working normally, but there are no driver files loaded for it. It's not actually working of course. If I go into the Network setup again the adapter is not listed. No automatic modifications had been made to CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. I tried manually adding the NET START command to AUTOEXEC.BAT, and then just got an error message on boot saying "Error 2183: The default network services have already been started." Any ideas? Cheers and thanks again, Dave.

Thanks again submix8c! That link is exactly where the driver I've got came from. You've certainly given me a lot more food for thought, I'll come back when I've digested it all and tried a few things! Cheers, Dave.

1096 is there in the INF section OK. E1000.DOS is indeed 64592 bytes, although it seems to be dated 14th March 2014. I got the driver directly from Intel's site. It was supposed to be the latest version (19.5), and the digital signature on the downloaded PRODOS.exe file is dated 28th October 2014.

@dencorso Thanks den, I looked at that thread, which seems to be mainly about graphics driver problems, but couldn't quite work out what had been done to get the DOS network driver to work. Sfor wasn't using an Intel driver of course. The Intel DOS driver seems to consist of just three files, E1000.DOS, which I assume is the actual driver, and PROTOCOL.INI and OEMSETUP.INF. The inf file does not seem to work in Windows as a normal inf file, I can't update the driver with it for instance as it just says there's no information about my hardware there. I tried loading E1000.DOS in CONFIG.SYS, and all that happened was that the system just rebooted when CONFIG.SYS loaded, even when booting to DOS! I had to go into XP to put the file back as it was before. Also, there is already a protocol.ini file in my Windows folder, so I'm not quite sure what to do with the one that Intel supplied. I don't want to end up with my existing plugin card network hardware not working! There are a couple of readme files with the driver, but none that say anything about how to actually use it!

OK, I'll try anything once! I'll let you know if I get any joy.

Thanks all, yes I looked at all that and it does seem that I'm onto a loser here. I did look at the DOS driver, and it's good that they made that available for system setup purposes, but it's wouldn't be any use under Windows of course. Oh well, it's always worth asking. If there was any solution at all, you can be sure that someone here would know it! Cheers, Dave.

Confirmed! Let's hope it lasts...............

Thanks Drugwash! That tallies with what I found when I tried to install those drivers. The INF files contained no information about my hardware, and if I manually added it the driver appeared to install but didn't work. I don't think there are any official Intel drivers that will work on Windows 98SE with that hardware, I was just clutching at straws a bit in the hope that maybe there was a generic or modified driver somewhere out there that would do the job, even if only at a basic level to get internet access on 98SE through that connection.

I assume it would have been e1000w9x.sys. There are e100bnt.sys and e100bnt5.sys files too, but I assume they are for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000/XP respectively. @submix8c Thanks! I think I have actually already tried that PRO1000 driver, and it didn't work, but I will have another go. I have never tried the "ProXGB" driver, whatever that is, so I will give that a try too.