Driver for network card can cause Windows 10 to crash.
Driver for network card can cause Windows 10 to crash.
That's a rather clickbaity title So yeah... My dad owns a Dell XPS 8700 in which the ethernet port was damaged by a lightning strike a couple of years back. This wasn't that much of a big deal since the computer also had a wireless card, but a few days ago he asked me to fix the port, i.e. buy a network card, due to the slower speed of wi-fi. I purchased a TP-LINK TG-3468 network card and installed it in the computer. Windows detected an ethernet connection, but there was no internet. I thought this was due to a missing driver, and installed a driver from realtek's website (note: the card does not support windows 10 officially, but it should work according to various forums). Since there still was no internet connection, I reverted back to the older driver, and used the "find driver" in the device manager window. After a successful install (still no internet), I restarted the computer in hopes that that would work. The computer shut down, but when it restarted it showed the BIOS splash screen and the dots in a circle, signaling that Windows is initiating, followed by a black screen. The mouse was working, but there was nothing else there. In addition the BIOS has now set the date to 01/01/1990, with no possibility to change the date My only conclusion is that the driver caused the failure, but at the same time it seems highly unplausable that a verified driver that Windows found should kill the kernel. Is this something that you guys have experienced in any way, shape or form, or is it just really bad luck? Cheers
I believe the board needs fixing. Take out the Ethernet card, briefly remove the CMOS battery, then reinsert it. Restart and configure the BIOS correctly. After Windows stabilizes, attempt the card once more. If issues persist, the NIC is likely faulty.
It won't activate after three unsuccessful tries. Using a USB drive with a Windows ISO might work to open the repair interface. I attempted the boot-repair feature, but it didn't succeed. With more than 3TB of photos on the system, restoring it safely feels risky since the files aren't backed up.
I can help with that. Please ensure your files are backed up before proceeding.
I believe you made an attempt to swap the CMOS battery, yet the system remains unresponsive. The card has been removed, but the device still can't update time or date.
I meant what you're asking about the process. Are you trying to confirm the correct method for accessing BIOS settings?
Once the current time and date were adjusted, the system reset to 01/01/1990 unexpectedly. This occurred even after saving and restarting.