Help finding (or modifying) XP Ethernet Drivers

[MrAnonymous123]

Hi,

Hoping some of you knowledgeable people here can provide me with some assistance.

I have a Getac S400 G3 Notebook that I've installed Windows XP Pro Embedded on. This Notebook doesn't natively support XP, but I was able to locate drivers for everything....everything but the Ethernet Controller.

The Ethernet Controller is an Intel I218-LM. I've tried multiple drivers without success. The device instance ID is ven_8060&DEV_15A0&SUBSYS_40031071.

Modifying a drivers INF file and installing through device manager just gives me the "This device couldn't start" Code 10 error. Installing this way however seems to call the adapter an Intel 82580 Gigabit Network Connection, which isn't right. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?

Anyway, any help would be appreciated if possible

Cheers!

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by MrAnonymous123

[win32]

Unfortunately, it appears that Intel never made an official driver for this controller for anything older than Windows 7:

http://web.archive.org/web/20150917103541/https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/71307/Intel-Ethernet-Connection-I218-LM

Except for MS-DOS. Why DOS and not even 9x or NT 4/5?

The readme for this XP driver, which came out not long after the I218-LM, says specifically that it's not supported by the driver:

https://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NETWORK-CARD/INTEL/Intel-Network-Adapter-Driver-183-for-XP-Server-2003.shtml

Either we need to add its details to its INF, or look for a driver release after 18.3 (probably difficult because 18.4 is apparently the last one for Vista).

Edited April 29, 2020 by win32

[RainyShadow]

@MrAnonymous123

Check this one - http://web.archive.org/web/20181201110458/http://downloadmirror.intel.com/22928/eng/PROEmbSw11.exe

It contains drivers for Intel I218-LM, but with a different ID, so you may need to mod the .inf file.

[MrAnonymous123]

14 hours ago, RainyShadow said:

@MrAnonymous123

Check this one - http://web.archive.org/web/20181201110458/http://downloadmirror.intel.com/22928/eng/PROEmbSw11.exe

It contains drivers for Intel I218-LM, but with a different ID, so you may need to mod the .inf file.

Thank you for your help guys. As you say, very frustrating there's MS-DOS support but no XP!

With those drivers and without any modification, it installs the adapter as an Intel 82580 with the usual "this device couldn't start" error. Is there something else I should be doing here?

 

[RainyShadow]

7 hours ago, MrAnonymous123 said:

it installs the adapter as an Intel 82580

This doesn't seem right.

Which driver from this package did you use? In the PROEmbSw11.exe\PRO1000\WinXP Related\PCIe\ folder there is an .inf file saying I218-LM

[MrAnonymous123]

I know, it's puzzling. The .inf file is the one called e1d5132.INF. I've added the device id in order to install it, but that's what it decides to call itself...

 

[RainyShadow]

Do you have a way of checking drivers on a different Windows flavour? It could be WinPE for Vista/7/8/10 loaded from USB/network, or a full install.

Before i found that driver package, i stumbled upon this and it looks like Win8, so the problem might be with the hardware or something else, and not the driver itself.

Also, test with some Linux live CD/USB.

[MrAnonymous123]

Interesting. I may as well test on another S400 G3 then to rule out hardware.

Force installing the driver from the list in device manager as an Intel I218-LM also brings up the Code 10 error after installation.

I may just be out of luck here?! ...

[MrAnonymous123]

Same issue on another S400 G3, so we can most likely rule out the hardware being defective.

So, presumably there wasn't a driver for this particular adapter made for Windows XP then as above?

[RainyShadow]

That flickr post mentions an utility that may help.

Did you test with a different version of Windows and/or a Linux LiveCD?

[MrAnonymous123]

Hi,

Thanks again for your responses. Yes, tested on Windows 7 before installing Windows XP. I think I've tried everything I can now unfortunately to try and get it working