nForce4 stuck at 100 Mbps on Windows XP x64, driver help?

Hello, I have a performance problem with my XP installation: the LAN speed is limited to 100 Mbps instead of the expected 1000 Mbps.

The technical details are: NVIDIA nForce 430 with onboard GeForce 6150, connected to 1 Gbps router, installed Windows XP x64 SP2.

The story is this: my PC has only 2 GB of memory and a GeForce 210 card. I have a genuine copy of Windows 7 x64 and the genuine copy of XP x64. I do not want to waste my Win 7 on this modest PC, which is why I want to use the XP x64.

However, if I install Win 7 it will use its default “nForce Networking Controller” driver made by Microsoft (apparently in 2008) which allows 1 Gbps download speeds; but if I install Win XP then I need to also install the official drivers from NVIDIA (latest 15.26 from 2009) and I will be stuck with 100 Mbps speeds. If I try to “Update Driver” from Windows Update it will find and install a bad driver (!!!) which won’t work and the card gets disabled, requiring me to rollback.

I have tried Fernando’s nForce 2-4 “legacy” drivers for Win 7-10 and they work on Windows XP x64 as well. However the network speeds are not improved.

So finally, what can I do to enable 1 Gbps speeds, or force 1000 Mbps auto-negotiation, or what custom drivers must I install, such that I can keep using XP x64?

Could I somehow get the driver from Win 7 to work in XP if nothing else works? Thanks.

@NeanderthalXP :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Unfortunately good nForce Ethernet drivers are rare (except for XP x86) and NVIDIA has never invested much brain or money into the development of 64bit drivers.
Attached are 2 different nForce Ethernet drivers, which have been designed for XP x64. So you can try them and report the results of your tests.

I do not recommend to use Win7 x64 drivers for XP x64. Vice versa (using XP drivers for Win7) it would make more sense.

Good luck!
Dieter (alias Fernando)

64bit nForce Ethernet driver for XP x64 v73.35 mod by Fernando.rar (706 KB)

64bit nForce Ethernet driver for XP x64 v67.89 WHQL.rar (550 KB)

Thanks for trying to help. Unfortunately the 2010 files do not work at all and disable the card:



The 2008 files work fine, and have the same version 67.8.9.0 as my original driver (two settings are duplicated: "Flow Control" and "Speed/duplex settings") however there is no speed improvement.

@Fernando : if you have more ideas or alternative drivers, let me know, thanks. Otherwise goodbye for now.

I have stored a lot of different nForce Ethernet drivers.
Please give me the HardwareIDs of your on-board NVIDIA nForce Ethernet Controller.

@Fernando : FYI I managed to properly install driver version 73.3.5.0 from Windows Update, however it didn’t help with the speeds.

Anyway the Hardware Ids are…

NVIDIA nForce 10/100 Mbps Ethernet (currently 73.3.5.0)

1
 
{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV03ef
 


NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator (currently 73.3.0.0)

1
2
3
4
 
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_03EF&SUBSYS_25051565&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_03EF&SUBSYS_25051565
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_03EF&CC_068000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_03EF&CC_0680
 

@NeanderthalXP :
Attached is the 64bit nForce Ethernet driver v73.1.9.1 WHQL. You can test it, if you want.

64bit nForce Ethernet driver v73.1.9.1 WHQL for XP x64Ethernet.rar (677 KB)

@Fernando those don’t help either, unfortunately. I am giving up on XP after several days of trying.