Netgear FA311 10/100Mbps PCI Ethernet Interface Card

List Price: $24.00 Discount Price: $4.40

Features:

• PCI
• FA311
• Network Card
• 10/100
• Networking

Accessories:
Belkin A3L791-S 7-Foot RJ45 CAT 5e Snagless Molded Patch Cable (Gray)	Belkin A3L791-S 3-Foot RJ45 CAT 5e Snagless Molded Patch Cable (Blue)	Belkin A3L791-S 50-Foot RJ45 CAT 5e Snagless Molded Patch Cable (Blue)	NETGEAR FS516 16 Port Fast Ethernet Switch (10/100)	Belkin R6G088-R-10 10Pack RJ45 Modular Connector Kit For 10BT Patch Cables

Customer Reviews:

A solid performer at a great price. [Posted on 2005-07-21]
I recently developed a rather urgent need for a PCI Ethernet Card. After upgrading my old computer from Windows 98 to Windows XP, I discovered that the PC's old SMC ISA network adapter would not work under Windows XP. (Should have listened to the XP Compatibility Wizard!)

Based on price and reputation, I took a chance on the Netgear FA311 TX 10/100 Ethernet Card. I was nervous about installing it, based on some of the reviews below. But it seemed most of the complaints related to online gaming. My networking needs are not quite as demanding - browsing, email, Web design, a little Internet chess. So, I crossed my fingers and installed the Netgear into one of the available PCI slots. Both the hardware and software installations were a breeze. The FA311 worked right away, getting an IP address via DHCP from my DSL router. It's kept working ever since - in fact, I can't say much about it, since it works so well. Shouldn't all Plug and Play devices be so invisible?

Users with special networking requirements might want to continue researching this and other cards. But for the average home user, the Netgear FA311 TX 10/100 Ethernet Card is a solid performer at a great price.

Ehh... [Posted on 2005-08-25]
I got this card for free via Verizon Online DSL because of a switch-up and it has its ups and downs. For one thing, it was VERY easy to install, because it was my first time going in the computer. But the manual and the actual computer read out isnt the same, making it somewhat confusing. I'm running a 5-year-old Windows 98 SE that survived from a crash in 2003. I guess that my computer acted up when installing because during the crash, two files, NDIS.VXD and NTKERN.VXD got corrupted and i was relying those files to load the driver! Now I have to go to my computer-know-it-all cousin who has a Windows 98 SE disk. But, let me tell you to NEVER buy a Hewlett-Packard (HP) Computer! They told me I never even had a warranty after signing for a 5-year-plan and paying $499.99!!! They basically messed me over $500!!!

Terrible network card  [Posted on 2005-09-05]
SUCKS I had this right form the start with my compaq 7970 which is amd k7 processor and has the via chipset. The computer seemed to work for a while or at least had few errors when I first used it but I guess that was when I had windows 98 for 2 years. When I upgraded to windows XP it just got terrible I had frequent blue screens and errors. I thought it was my video card or my ram or Irq sharing tried all that didn't seem to be it. Eventually I was wrong it was this card as mentioned before by others apparently it does not like some amount of internet use and when the card gets stuck it shuts down and windows xp just says error or points to the video card or irq sharing ot page fault in non page area as the problem. The card was the problem buy another card other than fa310,fa311 the one I have and fa312 even if you have intel or something else I would not waist my money on this card it will probably give you problems down the road. I have tried updates from [...] and updating my ram and video card have checked my irqs and reformating hard drive none worked. I put in a 3 com card I bought a few years before this computer and wow no crashes that other computer is now wirelessly connected to my home network.

Save yourself the trouble... [Posted on 2005-12-27]
If you like to gamble on mediocre hardware, then by all means by this card, maybe you'll get lucky and it won't lockup your machine or freeze your system for several minutes randomly. Do yourself a favor and search google for "netgear FA311" and look at all the problems. This card has a major hardware flaw that can't be solved by drivers or firmware updates. I've tried using 3 different drivers, two from netgear, and one from the chip manufacturer themselves, all 3 resulted in random freezes within 5 minutes of booting into Windows. If Netgear is aware of the problem they're yet another company that doesn't support their customers because they don't admit it and they don't offer a fix. Probably because it's a hardware issue that can't be fixed with software. I hear these problems are solved on the FA312 because it uses a totally different chipset, so if you absolutely have to buy a card from Netgear, get that instead of the FA311.

Netgear FA311 V2 [Posted on 2007-09-02]
This unit was truly plug and play unlike its predecesor (not V2).
I installed it on a 2001 HP pavilion running XP Home with absolutely no problems and no configuration or drivers to mess with.

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