Hi, I am not to sure where to start but here goes.

I while back I bought a realtek network card for and old computer to connect
it to my new computer which runs XP, the new computer already had a network
card but I had to buy and fit one for the old one which runs
windows98, it was a bit of a struggle installing it, it was a ,
I had problems getting the right driver but I got there in the end (somehow)
and eventually managed to conect my two computers so I could share files
etc.

Anyway I stopped using that computer but I tried to use it again recently.
I had a few problems, one of the drives (slave) was not working and I
booted up with just the master (I thought that had failed at that point
too).
Anyway, I think it said something that it could not find drivers for the
network card or something like that, but I kind of ignored it and booted up
and tried to connect the two computers as before via a 'cross-over'
cable.
It did not seem to work as before, I could not see the old computer from my
new computer (view network or whatever) however it recogises a connection
and if I unplug the cable from the the old computer or switch it off it
reports a network connection as missing or something like that
"local area conection" "A network cable is unplugged" is the exact message
actually.
I plug it back in and it says "local area connection speed 100 MPS
status connected."
It says all that on the new computer, the XP but it says nothing on the
old one, the win98 one which has the realtec card i bought in.

It does not seem to know much about the card at all in fact, I seem to
remember it used to be listed in System - Device Manager, but it does not
seem to be there anymore.

I seem to remember it being listed there with yellow mark by it when it had
the wrong drivers, maybe in 'network adaptors' I can't remember too well.
Eventually I sorted out the drivers and it worked.

I think possibly what might have happened is that I put the drivers on
the slave drive which now longer there as it is broken,

If I click on - control panel - network, it says the following componets are
installed, one of them is Realtek RTL8129, it comes up twice I think.
Note it is not quite RTL8139D.

Anyway can anyone give me any advice?

Is my card working?

Should it be listed in the device manager?

If so why is it not there?

Did I maybe tell it to ignore the card at some point?

I tried taking out the card and putting it back in, rebooting with no card
in between, but it never said new hardware detected.

Incidently when I first booted up (after not using the computer for along
time) I think it did say new hardware detect and maybe that it could not
find the drivers, I am not sure, I ignored that message at that point, but I
thouogh it odd.
Maybe could not find the drivers because a driver was missing but I though
it could have copied them into the system folder anyway.

Help!!!