Linksys WMP54G and HD questions with Vista

[towhatben]

Hi all,
I recently upgraded to vista, but since installing it my Linksys WMP54G network card hasn't been working.
It does not appear in Device manager and the green light at the back is not on at all, this leads me to think its nothing to do with the driver but instead the hardware?
But when i turn the PC on the green light flashes once then disappears so i'm guessing it is connected properly, also before i installed Vista it was working fine.
The only thing that could have possibly messed up the card itself is that i had the case open and spray dusted some crap out of the case?
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I also put in a second HD before installing Vista, when i formatted the drive it showed up there. Also in windows it shows under device manager, just when i go to the "computer" part it only shows one hard drive, i looked on the properties of both the drives and they are both set up the same as far as i can see. Anyone have any ideas why i can't see the new one?
Thanks, Ben

 

[fastco]

Did you install the VISTA Driver for the network card? If not download the driver, uninstall the card through the Device Manager then reinstall it with the new driver. As far as the hard drive goes, did you check to see if it is recognized in the bios first? If it is then go into the Control Panel, System and Maintenance, Administrative Tools then double click Computer Management. Right click on the hard drive if it is listed and click format. Good Luck! Let us know if this stuff works?!

 

[towhatben]

The network card is in my PC but has absolutely no mention in Device manager.

I did download the vista drivers and stick them on a disk but without recognising the card having the drivers isn't doing much help. Any suggestions? Can i check if the hardware is faulty? Seems a bit strange because it was working fine before i installed Vista but i can't understand why its not showing in Device Manager.
Any suggestions would be very welcome!

The HD advice seems to have done the trick i thin, it showed on the windows thing as being inactive but now its formatting and has a letter assigned to it and stuff so i guess i'll be good to go on that once its finished formatting. Nice one!
Thanks very much for the help!

 

[fastco]

You are welcome, as for the network card, does the computer have an on-board network port? If it does make sure it is disabled in the bios. I would buy another network card if you can. If it were working it would at least show up in the device manager. Try pulling it out of the computer and reinstalling it physically.

 

[towhatben]

I tried physically reinstalling but unfortunately no luck.
I'll try disabling the onboard port and see if that helps at all, if not i think i shall have to invest in a new card. they're pretty cheap anyway i guess.
Any recommendations?

Thanks again for the help, really appreciate it!

 

[fastco]

3Com NIC's are good but expensive. I've always had luck with Dlink or TrendNet NIC's. As you can see I like Newegg.com they have always been good to me as well.