Netgear’s FA311 Ethernet Network Card connects you to other networked computers, printers, zip drives, routers, network storage and the Internet. Plug it in and you’ll achieve high-speed transfer of all kinds of data.
Robust! NETGEAR’s single chip design improves the reliability of your network card performance. And you’ll be prepared for the future with both 3.3v PCI and low-profile PCI capabilityno upgrades required.
O/S CompatibilityAll major operating systems are supported: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft NT, Novell NetWare, RedHat Linux, and SCO OpenServer Unix.
Rapid Transit10/100 Mbps auto-sensing capability speeds up performance and eliminates the need for manual switching.
Guesswork-FreeThree LEDs on the front panel100 Mbps, 10 Mbps and Activityprovide intuitive feedback on network status and performance.
Plug and Play, All the WayOpen your PC, plug in the card, start your PC and install the driver from the floppy diskette. Simple GUI-driven installation instructions make setup a cinch.
UncomplicatedSingle chip reliability combined with NETGEAR’s renowned engineering ensure smooth-running usability.
FutureproofUse it in future 3.3-volt PCI systems, and in 5-volt PCI systems today.
Netgear's FA311 Ethernet network card connects your PC to other networked computers, printers, Zip drives, routers, network storage, and the Internet. Providing high-speed data transfer, the FA311 provides 10/100 Mbps auto-sensing capability, eliminating the need for manual switching. Compatible with all major PC operating systems, the FA311 ensures your readiness for the future, providing both 5-volt and 3.3-volt PCI capability. Three LEDs on the front panel for 100 Mbps, 10 Mbps, and activity offer intuitive feedback on network status and performance.
Getting started is simple: open your PC, plug in the card, start your PC, and install the driver from the floppy diskette. The FA311 Ethernet network card comes with a limited lifetime warranty.
1 AHHH! its horrible!
Please! for the love of god! do not buy this product! it is absolutly horrible. i'll admit that since i bought my computer and go this card back in 2002, i hadn't had problems until the past few months. i play an online game - a MMORPG - and after every time the game is updated and i have to install the updates i am unable to log onto the game! it freezes up, and either makes my computer crash or destroys my internet connections, forcing me to restart. as you can imagine, this gets rather frustrating, and if you play MMORPGs, you can see how it is even more frustrating. i am currently running XP home edition. i beg you, DO NOT BUY THIS ETHERNET CARD JUST BECAUSE IT IS THE CHEAPEST ONE OUT THERE! you get what you pay for! now i'm off to buy a new one!
2 Don't use this card with Windows XP
I've had constant problems with this card since I upgraded to XP. I've given up on trying to make this work and I'm going to go buy another card.
3 Flaky
Overall I like Netgear...but I think this card may have been rushed to market. It worked fine at first, but overtime developed issues to the point where, the card will not establish a connection with the Gigabit Switch. I have some 100 MB switch ports still available, and the card works ok in them, but when I connect it to the Gigabit Switch, it will not establish a connection. We have upgraded drivers, reseated the cards, tried different ports, even rebuilt the computer and it still will not maintain a connection unless we have it connected to the 100 MB switch...which kind of defeats the purpose. Hopefully Netgear's newer Gigabit cards are more stable.
4 *******Netgear erred with this one********
First, let me say that I'm a loyal Netgear customer - I love their wired and wireless products and I usually don't even want to consider purchasing any other brand. Which is all the more reason why it pains me to say that FA311 is a really bad piece of hardware. When running many types of online software (games, P2P, etc.) FA311 will cause your PC to crash (you've been warned!) Some experts have attributed the problem to FA311 Win XP driver; however, Netgear refuses to acknowlege this and has no updates available as of this writing. And although you can install fixed 3rd party drivers for this card, I'd recommend to play it safe and avoid FA311 altogether!
5 Great performer on RED HAT LINUX 9.0 on a old pentium PC
Great card.....Gave no problems with linux and a 6 year old
pc configuration. Like netgear for support with multiple
operating systems.....Linux, Windows, Unix.....
6 The worst network card ever
I have had some NICs of questionable quality, but this card is a joke. I bought it almost a year ago, and it worked just fine for the majority of that time. Recently, it has made my system unstable and I blue screen several times a day while attempting to download. My advice: get a better card from a better manufacturer.
7 Stay away from NA311, can't say on FA311TX
This is the closest area I could write about the Netgear FA311. You CAN'T use it. On a simple network with 3 computers and a SMC hub, it either locked my computer or made my computer reboot consistently. I thought it was conflicting with my modem - took that out and did no good. I thought maybe it was the hub.
Just added Earthlink to the house with a Netgear RP614 Router (THAT ROUTER DEFINITELY ROCKS:)), the cable modem and the other 2 pcs and the card STILL locked up my pc. I replaced the card with an old 3COM Soho card - no problems. I had all 3 computers (2 win98 and 1xp home all with 3com network cards with a motorola cable modem) running with smooth sailing. If you need a good network card, try 3COM.
8 Netgear - Avoid the FA311!!
If you are planning on using the FA311 in a Win98SE Environment then DON'T - buy something better than this Fisher Price "My 1st network card". After 3 days I finally manage to get Win98SE to accept the drivers and the PC's to acknowledge each other, but connect to the internet and use the networked PC to download websites, or send email and the Netgear crashes and re-boots the pc! - then the card isn't even recognised anymore!!.
Avoid this piece of junk - at least until Netgear learn how to write a reliable, easy to install driver!. What a relief to buy a competitors product and get the network up and running within minutes! - Netgear TAKE NOTE your competitors have the edge on you!.
9 Warning: This card can crash you machine.
The NetGear driver is faulty and under certain circumstances, the FA311 becomes overloaded. When it does this, it will turn itself off and back on. After turning itself back on, it will suffer the exact same failure and try to restart itself again. During the time it is off, Windows XP will freeze. If you use Windows XP Firewall, your computer will crash (blue-screen crash).
10 Works as it should....
Installed in a few minutes. Windows XP recognized it automatically. I didn't have to fool with installing any drivers.
It just worked... Great product.
11 Excellent
Does The job! I haven't had any problems, nor do I expect to. It's an ethernet card; not much can go wrong. I'd recommend this ethernet card to anyone on the market. It's name brand, reasonably priced at 16$, (Just be sure and get the free shipping or else it's another 7$) and has 3 little lights to tell you what connection you're using.
12 Netgear Warranty Sux
After 6 month operating the FA312 card, the card suddenly burned and the system won't power-up until i removed it. After calling the technical support, the response that i get is that Netgear's warranty doesn't cover a card that gets burned. Even though I and an UPS and tried to install it on different system and different motherboard, the tech support kept asking for more, like "go to your neighbor and install it in his system". Like who would let you install a card that can mess-up their system.
My best advice is to STAY AWAY FROM NETGEAR THEIR PRODUCTS AND THEIR "WARRANTY" that doesn't cover anything.
13 Chipset Incompatibilities
The card seems to be well-made, and the included documentation was sufficient for installing the card and doing minimal troubleshooting. As advertised, the card did fit in a PCI slot. However, when installed, my computer wouldn't boot. In fact, it wouldn't successfully complete the POST. I dutifully downloaded chipset updates for my motherboard and installed it in the slot formerly occupied by my sound card but still it wouldn't boot. There seems to be an issue with either the AMD 761 or VIA 686 chipsets on my motherboard. Others seem to have good luck with it, but I recommend avoiding it if you have an Athlon system with the AMD/VIA chipsets. I ended up returning this card and getting the D-Link DFE-530TX+, which works flawlessly.
14 Compatibilty problem with Windows ME
Card was easy to install and was working fine except for a compatibility issue with Window ME. It was next to impossible to get a clean shutdown after I put this card in. I eventually found Microsoft documentation that this was a known problem with Netgear FA310 cards, and it seemed to be the same with the FA311. I ended up replacing it with another brand, which solved the shutdown issue.
15 Compatibility issues
Good price, otherwise, the card was bad...
I bought it and used it with Iwill Xp-333 Mobo, and it wouldnt allow the computer to boot up when it was installed. Then I tried it in Dell 8200 and it worked, but didn't show the computer on the other workstations.
I would go with something like Linksys, and integrated is even better
16 Great Card!
Great Card!. I have installed in several Win 98 2k and XP PC's with no trouble at all. The card works flawlessly.
17 Great Card
I used this card on a very old computer(running wingows 98) and it worked like a charm. If i recommended any network card thiswould be it. A GREAT BANG FOR YOU BUCK
18 Easy to install, simple to configure.
I've always liked any internal card that configures easy. Yes, they plug into the motherboard fine but the tougher task is always getting your computer configured for using the new card. I found Netgear's software very easy to use, the instructions were easy to follow for beginners and the card runs very well. Rarely do network cards ever fail, though I prefer Netgear's card versus Linsky's as their software for installation is better in my opinion and easier to use.
19 A Linux performer.
This card work wonderfully with my Redhat 7.2 system and was easy to setup. What more needs to me said. Great card, great price.
FYI: I used the tulip drive that came with me Linux distro, not the one on Cards diskette. Windows 98SE loves this card as well.
20 A Linux performer.
This card work wonderfully with my Redhat 7.2 system and was easy to setup. What more needs to me said. Great card, great price.
FYI: I used the tulip drive that came with me Linux distro, not the one on Cards diskette. Windows 98SE loves this card as well.
21 A Linux performer.
This card work wonderfully with my Redhat 7.2 system and was easy to setup. What more needs to me said. Great card, great price.
FYI: I used the tulip drive that came with me Linux distro, not the one on Cards diskette. Windows 98SE loves this card as well.
22 Not bad for the price
I had some trouble getting it to work on my Win 93 SE Amd Athlon 1Ghz computer. But after about 3 days of working with my DSL tech support we finally got her up and running.
I have not had a problem with it since.
23 Freezes up Window XP until reboot with Java applications.
When a Java program tries to access the network, the card causes Windows XP to repeatedly freeze up for 20-60 seconds then let you click for about 1-2 seconds. Logging off doesn't help. Shutting down processes doesn't help. The only thing that solves the problem is to restart the entire computer.
Do *not* buy this card. You will just end up buying a nice 3Com later.
24 Not very overclocking-friendly, otherwise easy to use
This card installs very easily with no driver/setup hassles. It performs great... at stock speeds. This card is not at all overclocking-friendly when it comes to raising the fsb speed. Even using BIOS controls to try and buffer/delay and limit PCI access speeds, it will barely tolerate over a 10% increase without randomly losing it's network connection and thereafter a total loss of ethernet communication abilites. By contrast the FA310 is much more overclock-tolerant than this card.
If you don't overclock, though, buy this card. You won't be disappointed.
25 Good Price, Easy to Install and it works
My title sums it up for me. I am very happy with the card. I installed it in about 10 minutes on my machine that is running Windows 98 2nd Edition. I had no problems with it. As for the price, when was the last time you got ANYTHING for your computer [for this little money] ....that worked ?
26 Very good ethernet card
I use this card in a Dell Poweredge 300 Server in my house. It works great. The one thing I remember having a problem with was the drivers included on the WIN2K CD were no good. I had to update them but that was no problem since the box came with drivers on disk. Im going to be buying another one to put in the server so that I can test out firewall software on it. Definitely a great product...
27 Netgear FA311 Ethernet card
I took the card out of the package, opened my computer, stuck it in (but is was a little tough to get into my Dell, i just bent the metal tip on the edge that goes toward the motherboard and it went in fine), then put in the floppy disk and search for the best driver. Simple as that. Works great with DSL. I am completely satisfied with this card and anything else made by netgear. Great price too. Easy set up(I have Windows ME).
28 Great card (so far) - supports XP Pro
I bought this card for ... after my previous RealTek card ... out...The package had a 'Supports Windows XP' sticker on it, but I was still happily surprised to see XP find it and welcome it without so much as asking for either the included driver disk or the XP disk. I'm on a dual-boot system with 98, and of course 98 was fine with it too - although I did have to go through the 'search for the best driver' rigmarole and use both the driver diskette and the 98 disk to get it going.
Anyway, the card's looking good so far. I'd give it 5 stars, but I've only had it a day and, of course, Things Could Come Up.
29 High Price for No Value!
Card is unreliable and does not connect consistently to the internet. Spent many hours on phone with Netgear, to no avail. Have decided to spend more and get a better product. It is junk!
30 Works fine in Linux
The card works fine in Linux. I've had it going since Redhat 7.0 that I can remember. Uses the natsemi module perfectly.
I've always had the card working fine in Windows 9X, however, I have issues in Windows 2000 with my home network.
Every now and again, in Windows 2000/XP, Windows pops up a message saying network cable unplugged. This is not the case, the cables have been tested. However, it only does it with my 5 port 10mb Hub. If I tell it the media is 10mb single-duplex, everything is fine. However, I'd rather leave it to auto sense, and not have the annoying message popup every now and again (a few times per day).
31 Avoid - get a RealTek chipset.
What can I say?
I've purchased both the FA310 and FA311 cards...and surprize, you get what you pay for.
Windows did not have the drivers for these cards, installing from floppy went well initially - but after a few reboots, the card would get flakey and the BIOS wouldn't detect it.
Tried putting into a different comp, same result.
Ultimately the only "solution" was to physically remove the card, uninstall the drivers, reinstall the card... then it would once again work for a while.
No, it wasn't a matter of the card not being seated properly. I do tech support for a living (until I get my degree, then I'm outta there).... Get a card based on a RealTek chipset. Much more stable and dependable.
32 Nice card, nice price
To keep my small business network running, I've always tried to reduce costs where possible. Unfortunately, when it comes to network cards, using the lowest possible priced Ethernet card can be false economy.
The Netgear FA311 is one of the only cards I've come across where oddball compatibility issues don't arise. With others, there's always an issue or two, however minor they may be. A D-Link card that prevents a home automation package from working. A Linksys card that conflicts with an online streaming video technology. I could go on. The Netgear costs just a few dollars more than these others, but is still well under the price of brands such as 3Com in most cases.
For me, on all the machines I've tried, the FA311 installs quickly and easily, and works marvelously.
I have only one caution: Windows 2000 users should download and have ready the latest drivers from the Netgear web site. Across two FA311 purchases, the drivers delivered on the packaged floppy had various problems (e.g., major packet loss). I'm used to doing that as a matter of course for the majority of driver-dependent computer goodies, so I didn't find it to be a hassle in this case.
33 Works very well if you get past install
I have a love hate relationship with Netgear. Their products are all very high quality.. but they always seem to fumble the ball on the small things that make a big difference.
In this case, the driver software install isn't very robust. To install on the computers running Win98SE was much more of a headache then I have ever had with other LAN cards and involved a number of little ploys to trick the computer into recognizing the card and associating the right driver to it.
Sure Microsoft Plug and Play is a large part of the problem but Netgear should be putting together better documentation and software fixes to make it go easier.
Bottom line: Worked like a charm when I got it in but I don't look forward to reinstalling it.
34 reboot problems with FIC AD-11 MB
I've installed this card in a FIC AD-11 motherboard and the system will not do warm reboots under Win98 or Linux (2.4.3 kernel from Mandrake 8.0). Pressing reset does reboot the system and software installation then resumes where it left off without problems. The Netgear site has a FAQ which says that a cure for this problem (an IRQ conflict) is to switch the card to various PCI slots. The combinations that I have tried so far don't work.
35 bummer
Installing an ethernet card should be simple, right? Put the card in the slot, install the driver - bingo.
Not if the company has programmed it with an incorrect PCI ID. It will be unusable.
"A small percentage of the FA311 with serial numbers starting with the characters below is affected. FA35A09, FA35A0A, FA35A0B, FA35A0C, FA35A11, FA35A12, FA35B11, FA35B12, FA35B13, FA35B14."
Lucky purchasers of that small percentage may experience frustration, rage, and a tendency to avoid Netgear products in the future.
Eventually (using a borrowed laptop and a dial-up internet provider since we couldn't use our DSL without a functioning ethernet card) we were able to find a fix on Netgear's website.
Ah, so they knowingly sent us a defective product, it's not like it was a one-time fluke or anything, there's a bunch of people just like us, part of an unlucky "small percentage."
Thanks, Netgear! Produts that work are so boring. Thanks for mixing it up with some spicy defective ones that don't.
36 warning!
This card will cause a major problem if you have a Athlon DDR motherboard with the amd761 chipset. You will not be able to reboot!
The 310tx does not have this problem. The 311 has an updated controller, called a "soft" controller, that uses cpu power, much like a "win"modem vs. older, controller-based modems. In general, avoid these...
37 for Linux use natsemi driver
It's [inexpensive] and it works great! I had no problem making it work under Red Hat 7.1. I have two of these connected to a Linksys switch. They both talk to the switch at 100/full. Median ping time 0.373 msec.
38 Never had a problem yet with any Netgear product
I believe Netgear is a great company, that is gonna take the world over, with the internet related hardware that is.
I had 3 3Com NICs go out on me in a 3 month period. I would not trust another 3Com product ever. I believe 3Com is way over rated.
This Netgear NIC was super easy to configure, whether it was Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT 4.0 or 2000, or even Linux.
I own 4 of these NIC cards, one in every computer I have.
Highly recommended as they are very affordable.
39 Best Networking Card Ever
Gee, this networking LAN card is so easy to install in the computer internatly and also it is easy to install the program that comes with it. It's so good that i bought another for my other computer.
40 Worked with Linux
Good product overall. I liked it. It gave me no trouble at all. I wanted to setup a small network at my house with my Cable Modem, and this was the answer. Worked great, and it was cheap.
41 Watch the registry!
I'm semi-computer illiterate, but installing the card was a breeze, and it seems to work fine ... but! When I installed the driver, being careful to follow all the instructions, I found it had corrupted files that were referred to in the registry. As it happened I didn't need the files, but now whenever I boot up I get the infamouse blue screen and will have to get the registry fixed.
42 Does not work wtih everything!
This card works perfectly in my wifes PCChips el cheapo super socket-7 Mboard with the SIS chipset, however, it will not work at all in my Biostar M5ALA motherboard with the ALi chipset. I have had a Realtek 10Mb/s PCI and an ATI ISA 10MB/s card working in this computer but this one will not work. I even have a netgea router/switch and it will not link with that or directly to the cable modem. I have called thier techsupport and they were puzzled. I have changed everything in the BIOS and still no link. The LEDs should light up on the card as soon as I power up the computer (indicating linking with the router) but these don't. The only way I could get it to link was to reboot in to DOS mode and run their diagnostic utility. The first time it would run it would fail the internal controller loopback test (the second test) and then on the third test it would link up at 100Mb/s and the subsequent tests would all pass (even the one that previously failed). Then I reboot and no link. Also, if I remove the BIOS chip from the mother board (of course the computer does nothing but supply power to the board) then it will actually link up with the router. Also, the drivers are all installed and according to windows working perfectly. I have uninstalled-reinstalled several times. I think there just must be some kind of conflict with the ALi chipset and this card. I think it is an ok card for most but I would only buy an NIC from a place where I could take it back. I think Netgear is better than Linksys but I am going to try a Linksys card and then after that a 3Com. If you have an M5ALA motherboard don't buy this card, I would even think about it if I had any other board with the ALi 1541 chipset.
43 WARNING
Some of these cards were shipped with the wrong EEPROM resulting in the drivers not being recognized. I learned of this from Netgear's technical support after I spent a couple of hours trying to get it to work. You have to go to Netgear's web site and download S/W to correct the problem. If you are not comfortable with this, avoid this card. I use this card to connect my PC to a DSL modem. My DSL connection is slow. I don't know if this card is the reason by it is suspect.
44 Easy as 1 2 3
I have installed many cards for friends and clients but never like this. I installed the FA311 in my HP Pavilion, "WIN 98-se" and was up and running in under 5 minutes! I did however have a problem in my WIN 95-b machine. I could not get the card to install properly and it drove me crazy, "no fault of the card or software". Finally I moved the card to the first slot and "Poof", like magic it worked perfectly.
A Great value and wonderful performance!
45 The Perfect Home LAN Card
When it came time to put together my home LAN of four machines, I decided that I needed a fast card that would be easy to install and setup on all of my machines no matter what OS they were running. Thar card fit the bill perfectly! I've got it in all four machines and it functions flawlessly weather you're running under Windows NT/98/ME or under Linux. The only thing I will say is to run under Linux you gotta know how to install kernel modules, however most netcards are like that unless Linux has the support built in already. All in all a great card for any Home LAN. Strongly reccomended.
46 Very easy for novice networkers!
I had never done anything more complex than installing RAM and a 56K modem before this and this was a breeze. You do have to know how to remove the cover on your CPU and be reasonably familiar with the guts of your PC, but not much more than that. The software, where these things tend to fall down, installed flawlessly. On one of my PCs, the screens matched the documentation exactly and on the other, it was close enough for me to figure out. Tonight I am tackling my Netgear RT-314 DSL/Cable router and hopefully, I have the same success
47 Linux hacks required
5 stars, but a word of warning. The drivers supplied with these cards are known not to work with Linux. You will need to compile & install the Linux drivers manually.
To do this you will need the "natsemi" drivers - NOT "tulip" as per other/older netgear cards.
Apart from that, no problems running under WinMe/Win98 or Win2k.
48 Great Value
I had no problem installing the card and it works just as it should. Highly recommended.
49 Major bang for little buck
This is the best Ethernet card available in value and in speed. The Windows drivers are flawless and the autosensing works without a glitch.
One error is that this is not the Tulip chip that the Linux vendors say it is. Search for the "natsemi" driver on any Linux discussion group. Someone has posted this file just-about everywhere and it is exactly what is needed to bring this amazing card into Linuxland.
Don't pass this deal by.
50 FA311 for: Windows 9X = 5 Stars. Linux = 5 BROWN Stars.
If you are a Windows 9X user connecting to a Cable/DSL connection, you really can't beat this card - Especially where price is concerned. I've had this card up and running on a Win98 machine for about 4 months now; with nary a glitch. However, there is one *big* caveat with this card that has to do with false advertising on Netgear's part. Netgear claims that this card is Linux compatible. If this is the case, then I would love to know what distribution of Linux they have running over there at Netgear. I have yet to come across a kernal that comes loaded with the drivers to support this NIC. After spending days sifting through usenet groups and downloading a supposed driver update from Netgear, I never got this card to work on my Linux box. If you're looking for a truely Linux-friendly NIC, try Netgear's FA310tx. Every major distribution of Linux comes loaded with the tulip driver needed to get that card up and running.
51 Great Card, Even Better Price
Running the card on a WIN 2K Pro/98 dual boot and have had absolutely no problems. Install was a snap, however the WIN 2K drivers are not certified.
I will be back for a couple more cards as soon as they are in stock.
52 Ethernet card works flawlessly at a great price!
I have bought over 5 of these for home and office use. They work flawlessy and for the price you cannot beat the functionality. I was running Windows 95 or Windows 98 on all the computers. Setup was a snap. Just pop in the card to an empty slot. Then install the drivers from the floppy disk that comes in the package. Worked flawlessly everytime. I had no problems hooking up the ethernet card to a Linksys DSL/Cable Router, Netgear ethernet hubs, or a college dorm ethernet connection.
Get this card and you will get the convenience of file and print sharing when used in conjunction with some sort of hub and windows network neighborhood. Anyone with little to no computer expertise can do this just by following the instructions. It may be a little difficult if you are scared of computers, but it can still be done. Just follow the pictures that come on the step by step setup foldout.
53 dont be a fool- get the 310 tx-c or the 311 buying guide
the 310 311 and 310 txc are all great cards. but the tx-c is the same NIC at teh same price and includes a 10 foot cable. if you do not order it, you are missing out on the free cable. the 311 is the newer chipset and offers an upgrade path to the new 3.3 v bus. it works like the 310 and offers newer docs and a newer chipset.
