Quad Gigabit PCI Card

Does anyone know of a Quad Gigabit Ethernet PCI card they can recommend?

Obviously, looking for something XP compatible.

If your answer is no, or you're thinking of asking "Why?" Don't bother responding.

I'm looking for PCI in particular, not PCIe or PCI-X.

Thanks!

 

Ebay is your friend

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-36660...615153&hash=item23d9fe83ab:g:MA4AAOSwR3le8iBY

 

Thanks. I had already searched ebay, so it appears it's not my friend.

I had come across several cards, but could never find matching drivers for XP.

So, it'll be interesting to see if this has XP drivers.

 

This card is automatically recognised by XP

There are stacks of PCI cards that are 4 port. Some go really cheap.

I have seen systems where people have used PCI-X in a PCI slot but they only run at 33mhz rather than the full 133mhz. I have also seen PCI-E cards running through a PCI adapter.

 

I found the card you referenced from a US seller for $20 (minus a penny), and decided I would get it to fully explore the card.

Thanks again!

 

Just in case you have problems, although you don’t appear to be the kind to panic.

Virtually all HP network cards are just re-branded Intel cards with bloated software. It should be recognised automatically on any 32bit system, as an intel card. If someone has updated / flashed firmware or you need the 64bit version, then you will lose a total of 5 minutes of you life by reading below and downloading the drivers from the link I am providing. This is for both 32bit and 64bit the Vista drivers work on XP no problem

https://www.drvhub.net/devices/network/hp/nc150t-pci-4-port-gigabit-combo-switch-adapter

I generally install all driver manually, as I have worked in the industry for many years and don’t feel inclined to install useless bloatware from HP. You generally only need .inf .sys .cat files. Nothing else.

Just direct device, in your case that’s your NC150T to the driver folder and install. You have to go to device manager, pick the device that you got the drivers for, select "update driver software", then select "browse computer for drivers" You can always join HP support and download their bloatware if you want, but then you will certainly lose an hour of your life filling in all HP’s forms etc.

 

Thank you for the information. Greatly appreciated.

Though, I will kindly say that I am fairly up to speed with some of the things you mentioned.

I did not know that HP cards were rebranded Intels. This is good to know!

I know to do a direct driver install on most things. I have slipstreamed drivers on my install discs with Nlite. I would just do drivers, then decide after an Install to do any software stuff. Though sometimes, it would seem, I have little choice when some drivers are completely wrapped in an executable.

I will remember and consider the Vista driver approach. My dad, when I lived at my childhood home, had a printer where I used Vista drivers on my XP64 machine for proper install.

Do you suppose though, that I could simply use the Server 2003 driver set, as seen here? https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_d596c15cd1db4241b736c8856b

Yes, HP is bloatware supreme.

As I am on XP64, though do have XP32 as a dual boot reserve backup, I intend to collect both sets of drivers and install them appropriately.

 

It is my understanding that Windows XP and Server 2003 are built on exactly the same code base and Vista and Server 2008 are just an upgrade based on that same code. Obviously 64bit or 32bit specific. I think one can very often get away with swapping drivers on these 4 operating systems.

Regarding the Download you left the link to. After extracting, I checked the .inf file and it specifically lists XP anyway.

;*******************************************************************************
; Copyright 2001-2006 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
;
; INF for 32-bit Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows server 2003
;
; InfVersion 9.81.0.0.A
;
;*******************************************************************************
[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"
Class = Net
ClassGUID = {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CatalogFile = q57win32.cat
Compatible = 1
Provider = %HPQ%
DriverVer = 08/28/2006,9.81.0.0

It is an older version than the one I left the link for, but I would go with it, as it is a tiny driver file. To be honest, you might as well also get the 64bit direct from HPE support centre if they are that slim. HPE support have obviously got better than I remember them.

Last time I used HPE Support. - For a raid card, I had to download a 450mb iso, and mount as a virtual CD to get at the driver files. This didn’t put me in a good mood with HP, as I was in a clients factory, we weren’t allowed to use their network connection. So that 450mb was downloaded through 3G as it was then. It took 3 hours to download. All for a driver folder that was in the end under 1mb in size. Grrrrrr

 

Does this look like the x64 driver to you?

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_e29b27c73f4d49a1b2152732fe

 

;*******************************************************************************
; Copyright 2001-2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
;
; INF for 64-bit Windows XP.
;
; InfVersion 9.81.0.0.A
;
;*******************************************************************************
[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"
Class = Net
ClassGUID = {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CatalogFile = q57amd64.cat
Compatible = 1
Provider = %HPQ%
DriverVer = 08/28/2006,9.81.0.0

Yep it do

 

I very much appreciate your input! Thank you!