Installation of the Network Card

Before you power-down your PC to install the network card, have to prepared properly
everything:
- you decided on the cabling type and purchased the proper cables ?
- you decided on the name of the computer and workgroup and the protocol to be used ?
- you made sure to have all required CD-ROM's and/or floppy disks ?
- you did check your current Network Configuration ?

If not, please do it now !
A good preparation is important and will save you time later.

Before installing the network card, some advise on handling it:

Did this ever happen to you ? you are touching something (like the handle on a door) and
a spark is jumping from your hand to the handle ?
This is called "static electricity" and it can damage computer boards !
when walking on certain type of carpets and/or when cloth is moving on non-isolating materials,
there can be a build-up of static electricity. The voltage can be very high (otherwise it could not
cause a spark to jump through air) but luckily the amount of the charge is very low, so that is only
a minimal power-flow from your hand, just giving you a small shock.
But such a spark would be very dangerous to the high-density chips on modern computer boards,
it can destroy them !

I remember very well in the early days of computers, that Service Engineers had special
bracelet , to connect them to a metal part of the computer, to "ground" themselves to
dis-charge any static electricity (I have not seen these for years, we have become a little
"sloppy" with handling computer components, but the danger still exists !)

To protect cards against this "static electricity", they are usually delivered in a plastic bag.
When taking the card out from the plastic bag to install it in a computer:
- first touch a metal-part on your computer to dis-charge any static electricity
- do NOT touch the chips on the board with your fingers !
- please touch the board ONLY at the metal-part with the outside-connector

- when having to push the card into a slot of the PC, use you thumb to press on the top edge .

There are different procedures for Desktop-computers (where you have to open the cover to
install a new card) and notebook-computers:

Notebook installation

This is easy:
just locate the PC-Card /PCMCIA-Card slots
(usually on the left or right side of the notebook)
and insert the card !
to my knowledge it needs to be done while the
notebook is powered on, so that Windows detects the
insertion of the card and installs/activates the proper drivers>
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided to
use on your own risk, I am not reliable for any damage,
which may occur.

Windows will detect the new card and start installing the drivers.

PCI Network cards in a
desktop computer

- shutdown Windows, power-down your system
- disconnect the power-cord ( let's play it save to avoid any accident ! )
- take off the cover of your computer

Have a look inside your computer:
these long connectors are called slots.

On today's modern PC's, there is most probably only
1 or 2 of the old ISA-slots (and on some PC's: no ISA slot)
(most PC's use black connectors for ISA slots, as in the picture on the left)

Since ISA-network cards have more-or-less disappeared from
the market, I am now assuming that you have a PCI-slot
network card (most PC's use white connectors for PCI slots)

	for the selected slot: remove the Slot cover
	Slide the network card inside the slot, make sure it is seated properly by applying carefully some pressure.
	put the cover back on your PC, then connect the network cable: - plug in the Twisted-pair or
	- connect the coax-cable via the T-connector

- re-connect the power-cord
You are ready to power-on your system for Windows to detect the new network board

Next Step:

Installation of Network Card Driver