Working around a software problem

Tim

Had a little software problem today. Nothing major, but here's how I got around it.

I installed Windows 2000 Server on a Dell Dimension L866r desktop. This PC does not have an on board Ethernet port, so I put in my Startech ST100S PCI Ethernet card.

BUT - only XP and above has the driver natively for this ethernet card. 2000 and below does not.

The floppy disk that came with this ethernet card never did work right, but the driver is readily available online.

BUT - the driver is in a ZIP file, and my version of Winzip 11.1 was too new to open on a 2000 installation with no service packs yet installed.

So you can't go on the internet to get the service packs because you don't have the software to open Winzip to install the driver for the ethernet card, so you can't go on the internet to get the service packs to install Winzip to install the ethernet card so you can go on the internet to..... you know.

So how did I work around this problem? I went to google and typed in "older winzip versions".

Found a page full of older versions of Winzip. I downloaded and installed 7.0 (with my flash drive on my main PC), and flash drived the data over to the 2000 PC.

So now Winzip is installed, the driver file is installed, the internet is working, and I'm downloading all the service packs and upgrades! :celebrate

A little PC problem now and then is good, it keeps you thinking. But not more than once every 3 months!

Kwitko

Unzip it on another computer then copy the files over with a USB thumb drive.

Tim

I tried that, but once the files were on the other PC, using the tools and Device Manager to update the driver weren't getting it installed correctly.