Realtec RTL8139/810x Ethernet device upgrade on Switch to Windows 7

[rightcharlie]

I am looking to upgrade my laptop's operating system from XP to Windows 7. I have run Microsoft's Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to check if this is possible. Everything seems fine except for the device "Realtec RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC", with regard to which the advisor suggests I visit the manufacturers website to download the latest driver. I am not having much success in this regard, however.
I connect to the internet and my printer via a wireless router. The only other connection I use is a USB2 hard drive which I use to backup files etc.
Can anyone help with regard to updating the ethernet device driver or do I even need it?
P.S. I intend to update to Windows 7 via Vista as I have a XP to Vista upgrade disk that originally came with the laptop. (I never installed it as Vista was rubbish!). Then I will upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 via a Windows 7 disk.
Many thanks.

[patio]

You can get a PCI or PCI-e network card that won't cost a bunch of money...
The NIC they are referring to is onboard so all you would need is a card that has Win7 drivers...

[Geek-9pm]

Not clear what the issue is.
The OP can get internet over wireless - Right?
And also his printer.
So, even if the NIC did not work in Win 7, it should not be a problem.
And as Patio said. a NIC is very cheap nowadays.
Under $15 in USA

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

If you upgrade as you say then there won't be a problem. The drivers are updated or carried forward as you go from windows xp to vista and then 7. I would backup the Laptop before you start as I think you are doing this to avoid reloading all your programs? if so there is lots of things that could go wrong especially in the vista to 7 part of the operation it would be a shame if you had to do a clean install instead of the upgrade.
At least with the backup you will be able to restart the operation if something does go wrong. 
The other thing when using upgrade versions of windows make sure you have plenty of free disk space
   

[rightcharlie]

Thanks for the replies so far. They've been very helpful. Geek 9pm seems to indicate that I don't really need ethernet if I can still connect via wireless modem anyway which is what I was hoping for (as I don't connect any other way to internet or my printer). If not I guess I can always get a cheap PCI. All my files are backed up to a USB hard drive and I will do this again before starting the whole process.

[patio]

If your fine with using it wireless than i'd just make sure there are Win 7 drivers for that PC...they will be listed as WLAN.