Network controller vs Ethernet controller

[shashgo]

If I go to the dell website or hp website or whatever to get drivers, sometimes I dont see drivers that correspond to what I see in device manager.  like for example I see ethernet controller and network controller with yellow question marks in my device manager on my dell inspiron 5100.  But on the dell website, when I search for the drivers for inspiron 5100, I only see a driver for network controller.  So where is the other one.

and what is the difference between ethernet controller and network controller,, i mean what does what

[potere scuro]

A Network Controller assists with the Ethernet card's ability to work. Helps with computers that have the ability to be servers or work on networks. they seem to be about the same dealing with the network. this is what i have found on the internet. have you downloaded the driver for the network controller? 

[shashgo]

i tried to download the driver on a different computer that had internet access , and then put it on a thumb drive so I could transfer and load the driver onto the computer that needs it so it can access the internet.  But I dont know which one to pick.  can you help

[potere scuro]

i need your service tag

[potere scuro]

is there an error code?

[potere scuro]

if so than these might help out:
http://barugon.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/windows-cannot-load-the-device-driver-for-this-hardware-the-driver-may-be-corrupted-or-missing-code-39/

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&k=Dell+inspiron+5100+drivers&cat=sup
this one might solve your prob.
wish you the best of luck

[shashgo]

Thanks all,  I got the driver finally by trial and error, and then I just went to device manager and let it find the updates fori the other drivers by connecting to the internet. 

But the thing is: if you check out your device manager and then go to your company website, you dont usually see drivers there that are named exactly what you want.  For example your device manager might show ethernet controller, but on your company site, you may not see  driver that is called ethernet controller.  Weird.

[potere scuro]

glad to here it     

[patio]

Different manuf. call the same device different things...Welcome to the wonderful world of PC's...
Meantime DLoad and install Everest Home ...
It will tell you more about your machine than you need to know.