Ethernet connections support high-speed Internet data transmissions traveling over great distances.
If you subscribe to high-speed Internet, such as cable or DSL, then you probably use an Ethernet connection from your PC to the modem or router to get the most out of that service. Broadcom's Ethernet adapters (or "NIC," network interface card) transmit data at speeds reaching 10 Gigabytes per second. All of this speed capability is useless, however, if your Ethernet adapter lacks the correct or updated drivers to communicate with the operating system. Broadcom publishes and releases regular updates to drivers via the company's website so that you can continue to browse and zip along the Internet.
Instructions
1. Open your Internet browser on your computer, then click the link to bring up Broadcom's "Ethernet NIC Driver Downloads" web page (see Resources).
2. Click on the link that pertains to the family and model number of your Ethernet card to advance to the driver page. For example, "NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit" is the family and "57710" is the model number.
3. Find your operating system on the web page and click on the yellow icon labeled "ZIP" to begin downloading the "Broadcom Management Applications Installer." Be sure to save the driver file to a location on your hard drive that you can easily remember such as the desktop.
4. Find the location where you saved the file on your hard drive.
5. Double-click on the file to open it. It is a compressed (.zip) file, so it will go through an extraction process to show the driver files in a window.
6. Click on the folders in the window to open and drill down into the contents. Look for the "Setup" file or use the search box in the window to look for a file named "setup."
7. Double-click on the setup file to open the dialog box that will begin the process of installing the Ethernet drivers. Read and follow the instructions to complete the update for your Broadcom Ethernet driver. Be prepared for a system restart.
Tags: Broadcom Ethernet, file open, hard drive, high-speed Internet, model number, operating system, your Ethernet