The last Windows OS I used was XP so I'm not familiar with Vista & now Win7. I just installed Win7 & cannot connect to the Internet & until I do I'm dead in the water. It says I need a driver for my Netgear FA311 LAN card. So, Ilogged out of Win7 & re-booted to Ubuntu Linux, which is on a different drive, & got on the internet using this same FA311 card; did a search & found a driver that says it's compatible with Win7 for the FA311 but actually is for Vista. I put this on an SD card & rebooted to Win7 & installed the driver. Now, Win7 recognizes the driver but will not accept it. Is there another way to install this driver?

When you say it won't accept the driver have you tryed to install it manually in the device manager?

Hi blondI've installed Win7 RC & I've read this was not a problem installing this driver for Win7 beta. Win7 system trouble shooting says it's missing a driver for the FA311 hareware LAN ethernet to connect to the internet so I cannot connect in Win7 but can reboot & access the internet with Ubuntu on this same computer.I unzipped the file & used the .exe to install in Win7. Then went to the hardware device manager for the LAN ethernet & "update driver". The Netgear FA311 uses Realtek RTL8139 so Win7 sees this & offers is a the driver but will not accept it as the proper driver. I don't get it. It asks if it is the one I want to use but then rejects it as improper!Any ideas? Thanks, George.

The good news is I finally have a driver installed for my FA311 LAN ethernet driver. The bad is I still cannot connect to the internet. Even though I select broadband it wants to dial-up for some reason. It calls my network "unidentified network".I found a list of drivers & found the correct one. I don't understand why the system coundn't find it but it is installed now.

Are there any errors in the device manager for the FA311 LAN ethernet?What drivers are you using can you list them and where did you found them?

The bad is I still cannot connect to the internet. Even though I select broadband it wants to dial-up for some reason What software are you using or where are you trying to tell it to use BB?

I think I've found the problem. My Ethernet card is Netgear FA311 v1 . It doesn't say v1 but it is because it uses a National Semiconductor chip rather than a Realtek RTL8139, which is used with v2 & compatible with Vista. National Semiconductor never made a Vista driver for the FA311 v1 version. Looks like I'm up the creek without a paddle. I'm not going to buy new hardware. Who knows what else will fail?

George,Just some comments,It appears that you are running this on a machine with older hardware which was notVista compatible. The good news is that Win 7 will run on it better than XP.A supplier like Newegg has PCI network interface cards for $6.99 plus S & H.(Rosewill or Trendnet)You'll get in days. That's a lot cheaper than replacing a machine or not using a solid OS like Win 7. One of the main reasons I like Win 7 is that it will extend the life of older hardware. I installed it on a machine designed for Win 2000 (which ran Win XP slowly) and it was an improvement. It is faster than Vista on new hardware.It's not a failure, just a compatibility issue and there are many paddles available at reasonable prices.

There are only XP drivers for your "v1" version. Youcould try the one from this site: http://www.national.com/analog/interface/macphyter2. Users on other forums report that this driver worked for them on Vista, too. Others weren't so successful but it's worth a try.Mob. AMD64 3000+, 1 G RAM, Mob. ATIRadeon9700, 20x DVDRW, C:XPSP3 (55G),D:WIN7 (25G),F:DATA (250G)

There are only XP drivers for your "v1" version. Youcould try the one from this site: http://www.national.com/analog/interface/macphyter2 . Users on other forums report that this driver worked for them on Vista, too. Others weren't so successful but it's worth a try. Mob. AMD64 3000+, 1 G RAM, Mob. ATIRadeon9700, 20x DVDRW, C:XPSP3 (55G),D:WIN7 (25G),F:DATA (250G) It installed it but did under protest. The results are the same; nada!

George,Any update?Does your computer's motherboard have an onboard Network adapter? If it does, you could use that after removing the FA311 v.1. Win 7 RC would certainly find compatible drivers.

Nano None of these suggestions have worked. There is no on board Ethernet port. This computer was 4 years old when Vista was new & the manufacture didn't update this driver for Vista & therefore, none for Win7 either. It wouldn't seem all that difficult for anyone @ Microsoft or National Semiconductor to keep their drivers up to date. Let's face it; a programmer could probably write a new driver in a few hours for Vista & Win7. But, apparently, they'd prefer you to buy another. What concerns me is how much of a hassle it has been for 2 simple procedures; install the OS & connect to the internet. I've wasted a week of my spare time trying to fix this & will waste no more nor will I risk my newer computers. I will no longer invest my time & $$$ in any Microsoft OS. MS hasn't learned anything.