When you bought the NIC (network) card was it a retail box with a CD or an OEM version? Seems to me you are trying to install the wrong drivers for the card. Perhaps use the computer you are on to download the drivers from here

You can also go here for the ATI Rage drivers for the video card

Thanks Owbisk. Retail box for both.
The D-Link is brand new. Bought it yesterday. Came with a CD. Instructions were to install drivers before installing card in comp. Drivers installed o.k. on computer, but when the files began floating over from one folder to the other, proceeded for a short duration and stopped. Thats when I got the message that a problem had ocurred.

The Netgear I purchased some while back, but never used it. Claimed to support XP. Came with floppy disk. Followed instructions to a "T". Came up with same results. Went on line, got the latest driver, downloaded it to a floppy, Same results. This leads me to doubt the cards are at fault.
I ask my Sis when was the last time she was able to boot and run this comp. Oct. 2008. After I repl. the power supply a few days ago, was the first boot since Oct 2008.

Owbist, Would you please go to the D-Link site and advise which of the versions I should download? The card I have has REV F2 printed on it. I went ahead and downloaded for version 7, extracted , but haven't burned to CD yet. Waiting for your reply.

gringo..

Gringo if you entered DFE530TX+ you should have downloaded the correct file. That file however is zipped so double click on it and follow the instructions to unzip the files and show them. Note where they are located.

Click Start, click Control panel, click System, click Hardware, click Device manager.

Now scroll down to the network card and double click on it. In the new window click the Drivers tab then click to update the driver. Click to refuse Windows permission to search and click Next. In the new window remove the dot from the top choice to the lower one and click Next. Now use the second option and point to where you have stored the unzipped files and follow along. You probably will need to reboot after if the pdate goes through

Thanks for your help owbist.
Followed your instructions but came up with the same results. Don't know where to go from here, but I'll keep exploring.

OK so let's get back to the computer itself. Most factory built machines come with an onboard network card, does yours? I am wondering if perhaps you are trying to install drivers for the onboard network card rather than one one you inserted in the PC slot.

did you fully disable the original one prior to trying to install the new one? did you remove it through device manager?

owbist, the original was a PCI card.
raven, I uninstalled the original card by way of device manager, then shut down and gave a fresh boot hoping it would re-install similar to a cd-rom drive. Result: no indication of the card in device manager. I then shut down, removed card, booted up, installed drivers of new card first from cd-rom as specified, shut down, installed new card, booted up, got "new hardware found" in sys tray, followed instructions. The rest is history. Please see original post above. BTW, the computer
I'm posting with obviously isn't the one we're discussing.

I forget how to fully show hidden devices in xp device manager but think a quick search will turn it up.

Do the show hidden routine then perhaps you'll see too many previous NIC's and can remove some & your duplicate which 'maybe' will clean up things a bit and hopefully you'll lucky...

So there are 2 NIC cards and you cannot install drivers for either of them. At this point perhaps we should turn our attention to the motherboard. Have you tried using a different PCI slot? You might also try installing the video drivers to see if there is an issue there as well.

Why did you decide to replace the CMOS battery? Nothing wrong with doing that but I was curious as to why you did it.

Did you remove the power cord from the rear of the computer each time you went in making changes?

As you had a PCI NIC card is this a home built computer? If so what motherboard is in there? If factory built give us a make and model of the computer.

According to the dlink website, Windows XP already has the correct drivers for that specific card. They say Windows XP will detect it as a realtek card, but the drivers will work.
They recommend that if you are having problems, to restart in safe mode, go to the device manager and remove all the drivers for network cards, and reboot into normal mode so Windows will detect the card.
Just my 2-cents.

Terry

Mikie, sounds like a plan. Please explain proceedure.

Owbist, There was the original that I mentioned 4 post back. Then 2 more, one at a time. A D-Link and a Netgear. I will make an effort to install new drivers for the graphics card. Yes I did try another PCI slot.
I was advised during my first boot up after replacing psu that the CMOS batt. was weak and the date and time needed to be set. The date on the calendar was 1999. I always remove the power cord and ground myself. It's a Dell Dimension 4400 vintage 2002. Purchased new by Sister.

Marooma, That's been done, no help. Thanks. We're on the same page.

Show hidden devices,

see link

Here is a link that might be useful: hidden-devices

At the top of the device manager window, click on view, and there should be a place to "show hidden devices." That must be what Mikie is talking about.

Terry

Problem solved.
Sis came over and we copied all her important files,etc. to cd's. Then I bit the bullet, drug out all the computer documentation and re-installation cd and made a clean install. Updated to SP2 and IE7. Works great. Quite a chore though.
I thank you all for your interest an valuable assistance. Had an interesting experience along the way. BTW, I installed the D-Link adapter. The original was defective. Sending this message with the repaired computer.

Thanks for letting us know Gringo, glad you got it sorted and by wiping the drive you got rid of all the excess rubbish lying about on the drive. There was a time I wiped at least once a year.

Good to hear you found the experience interesting. Over the years I found working on troublesome computers I was able to learn far more even than when building computers.