How to Install a Network Interface Card

A step-by-step guide to installing a NIC in your computer

In this article, you will learn how to remove and install a NIC Card where NIC stands for Network Interface Card. This card is found on the motherboard of a computer and as its name says, it is used to connect to the internet.

Steps

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    1
    Open the PC case. The power should be off when you do this.
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    Ensure that you have an antistatic wrist strap attached to your wrist and grounded to the PC when working with it.
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    Remove the strap before you switch on the power.
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    4
    Now take the NIC card and install it into one of the PCI slots by aligning the guide notches with the PCI slot.
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    Press straight down with gentle pressure until the card snugly fits into the PCI slot.
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    Secure the card with a single screw used to attach the card to the PC.
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    Check the card whether it moves from its position. If it does, it could damage itself when the PC is turned on.
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    Close the PC case and turn on the power.
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    Check if the internet works or not. If not then check the connections and repeat the above steps.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    Just installed a Rosewell Gigabit PCIe LAN card. However, Local Area Connection 2 status shows a speed of 100 Mbps. Shouldn't it be 1000 Mbps?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    If the other end of the Ethernet cable is connected to a device (modem, router, network switch, etc) that doesn't support a gigabit connection, you will get a slower than 1000 Mbps speed. You might also check that the card is properly configured for gigabit in your operating system.
  • Question
    Is there anything special I have to do in order to get the NIC to work?
    Paul Sargent
    Paul Sargent
    Community Answer
    Most are plug-and-play if you have an fairly new (i.e. Windows 7 or higher) PC. If the NIC you are using is ancient, you will need to find drivers; otherwise, it should run out of the box.
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Warnings

  • Always wear an antistatic wrist strap before working with your PC otherwise you will harm your motherboard components.
    ⧼thumbs_response⧽
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References

  1. For this article, i took help from my professor Mr. Roly Roy. He is a professor of Computer Fundamentals.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 11 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 117,537 times.
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Co-authors: 11
Updated: May 26, 2022
Views: 117,537
Categories: Internal Components
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