Does this make sense to you? PCI adapters

[memory]

If this is in the wrong place, I am sorry. Anyways, to me this does not make sense. I was using a Belkin Wireless G PCI card for a while on my desktop because the one I was using messed up and had to send it back to Linksys to get a replacement at no charge. That is why I was using the Belkin card.

Well I got my replacement Linksys card back so I take the Belkin card out and put the new Linksys card in. I figured I was going to have to install the drivers and whatnot for the new card but when Windows loaded up, I did not have to do a single thing. I didn't even uninstall the Belkin card. Internet started working instantly.

Is this normal? I mean I figured I would have to do something to get it working again.

 

[808Alaska]

Could possibly be that you still had the drivers in your PC when you took it out the first time so when you plugged in the new one it automatically recognized it.

 

[patonb]

Also could just be a default driver that windows comes with.

I get wifi driver updates through winupdate all the time.

 

[oldskool]

If this is in the wrong place, I am sorry. Anyways, to me this does not make sense. I was using a Belkin Wireless G PCI card for a while on my desktop because the one I was using messed up and had to send it back to Linksys to get a replacement at no charge. That is why I was using the Belkin card.

Well I got my replacement Linksys card back so I take the Belkin card out and put the new Linksys card in. I figured I was going to have to install the drivers and whatnot for the new card but when Windows loaded up, I did not have to do a single thing. I didn't even uninstall the Belkin card. Internet started working instantly.

Is this normal? I mean I figured I would have to do something to get it working again.

Yeah, that's normal. Like it was said above, Windows comes with a lot of drivers these days, especially later OSes such as Vista and Win7.

 

[memory]

I figured Windows would have drivers for it but nothing came up about finding new hardware. I just never had this happen before so that is why this seems strange to me.

 

[KSoD]

I am willing to bet with at least 99% certainty that once you booted Windows after installing the card you got the message "Windows is searching for drivers for your new device" which would come right after the ballon pop up of "Windows has detected new hardware". As such the search had results for the adapter and installed them which allowed it to work without having to install drivers.

Oldskool is right, Windows is getting more and more advanced drivers included with the Os's now and as such there are default drivers for many devices out there.

My advice at this point would be to go to the Device Manager, check under the adapter's driver tab. Check the date listed for the driver and see if there is a newer driver out there. The driver, while it works, may be outdated and there could be a updated driver that fixes some known issues.