God-Tier computer geeks, I needs halp

[Jand3rson]

Ok, so I got this computer for free from a customer a few months ago, it's an Acer Aspire M5100 desktop. Motherboard is an Acer F690GVM.

http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/desktop/0000/Acer/AspireM5100/AspireM5100sp2.shtml

It's hardly used, and I'm going to use it as just an internet/photoshop/media machine in my office. It originally had Vista on it, so I wiped the HD and put Windows 7 on it, and installed a GeForce GT610 GPU with a Thermaltake 430W PSU, and 4GB of RAM. Windows 7 installed just fine, but I have 2 problems at the moment I can't figure out.

The video card gives a Code 43 (Windows has stopped this device because it reported problems). I've installed the Windows 7 drivers for it, and it won't work. The device manager sees the video card, but no correct resolutions are available, and it's not working properly.

The ethernet, I can't figure out, either. I have the most recent Windows 7 drivers for it installed, too, but I can't get internet on the computer. Windows is telling me that it does not have a valid IP configuration.

In my Googlings, many people have installed Windows 7 on this machine with little to no issues, and these seem to be the only 2 major ones I have right now. I can get into the BIOS and fiddle with a few things, but I have little experience beyond simple things like changing boot order and what not.

[Fusion]

Did you do a Win update? Seems people have this problem because of the update.

[nokincy]

Is your BIOS the most recent?

[cale]

sevenforums.com is very very helpful when diagnosing issues over ones head

[gtdragon980]

Have you installed manufacturer drivers for the video card? Is the ethernet on-board, I'm assuming it is, or are you running a pci card?

[Wschnitz]

Shoulda went ATi card with that AMD. But that shouldn't be a problem like you're having. Maybe make sure the card drivers are up to date with the nvidia website? There are also apps that will check and auto install all your drivers for you, its very helpful.

[Jand3rson]

I can't do any updates or anything to it because I can't get it online. It's onboard ethernet. The drivers I installed for the video card are directly from NVidia's site.

And I haven't updated the BIOS, not really too sure on how to do that on my own, not something I'm comfortable attempting.

I registered and posted a thread on Sevenforums, but any help is appreciated. I'm trying to get this machine up and running asap so I can give my laptop to my wife.

[cale]

It's not all that difficult, you can do it from a CD or thumb drive. I recommend doing it manually vs. an automatic updater. Just don't brick it!

[ethrtyiS]

go to acers website, download the driver for the ethernet from another computer and put it on a usb/cd/dvd and install it manually. sometimes when you wipe the drive clean, the os reads a different ethernet card that what is actually in there. if that works, windows update should be able to sort out the video card.

edit:

http://support.acer.com/us/en/product/default.aspx?tab=1&modelId=356

seems there are 3 separate drivers, if you can find out the right one via the device manager then that's great, if not, install one at a time and remove until you get the right one.

[Jand3rson]

go to acers website, download the driver for the ethernet from another computer and put it on a usb/cd/dvd and install it manually. sometimes when you wipe the drive clean, the os reads a different ethernet card that what is actually in there. if that works, windows update should be able to sort out the video card.

edit:
http://support.acer.com/us/en/produc...=1&modelId=356

Maybe you didn't see above, I've already done that. The most recent driver available for that ethernet controller is already installed, and the device manager shows it working. But I can't get the computer online.

[ethrtyiS]

Maybe you didn't see above, I've already done that. The most recent driver available for that ethernet controller is already installed, and the device manager shows it working. But I can't get the computer online.

oops, sorry, didn't fully read it, i thought you only tried the windows 7 driver for it, and not the ones directly from acer. try removing the device via device manager, and rebooting the computer.

[Jand3rson]

As soon as I do that, upon restart, Windows automatically reinstalls the driver for the ethernet.

[ethrtyiS]

cancel whatever windows is trying to do and manually re-install it via the device manager.

[Jand3rson]

Just did that, and device manager now shows the most recent X64 Windows 7 driver installed, still unable to get online.

"Local Area Connection doesn't have a valid IP configuration"

[adjmcloon]

Check your connection properties and make sure it is set to obtain an ip automatically. If so, make sure your wifi router or whatever you use to connect to then Internet has dhcp turned on. You can go to a prompt and type ipconfig /all to see what address your adapter has. If it's a 169.0.0.0 address your adapter is fine, but you aren't getting an address from your router. As a last resort, you can in install tcp ip in your adapter properties to rebuild the ip stack. Or, if Google "rebuild tcp/ip stack"

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