How to Determine If Your Computer Has a Network Card

We connect high-speed Internet to a network card inside the computer.  If your computer has a network card you will notice an RJ-45 receptacle on the back or side of your computer that will allow us to plug the networking cable into.

• Identification In A Desktop Computer

• Identification In A Laptop Computer

• Size Difference Between Telephone and Network Connectors

• Identification Through Microsoft Windows Device Manager

Identification In Desktop Computers

To the left is a picture of what the RJ-45 networking jack will look like in the back of a desktop computer.   You will commonly see the receptacle near some LED lights labeled any of the following:  Act, TX/RX, Link, 10, 100.

Identification In Laptop Computers

Below are examples of what a network jack will look like in a laptop computer:

In this image the networking cable is plugged into the side of the laptop computer. Notice the standard symbol of a network receptacle above the cable. The smaller jack on the left is a modem/phone cable receptacle.

This is an image of a "PCMCIA" type network interface card.  The metallic portion is the actual network card and is about the size of a credit card. It slides into one of the PCMCIA sockets on either the side of the laptop. The white cable plugs into the network card and provides the receptacle for the network cable.  Some PCMCIA network cards also have a push and pop-out receptacle for the network cable connector.

Difference In Size Of Phone Cable and Network (Data) Cable

Don't confuse a network jack with a phone jack.  As you can see in the image below the network jack is larger.  The network connector had 8 wires while the phone connector has up to 4.

How To Determine If You Have A Network Card Through Software

If you are still not certain after looking at the jack, try the second method, which is to check the hardware profile of your computer.

Check the hardware profile of your computer

On Windows 95, 98 or Me computers:
Step 1: Click on the Start button and under Settings select Control Panel.
Step 2: Click on the System icon.
Step 3: Click on the Device Manager tab.
Step 4: Double click on Network Adapters.
Step 5: If you have a line that has the word Ethernet under Network Adapters, you have a NIC installed that should have an Ethernet jack.

On Windows 2000 computers:
Step 1: Click on the Start button and under Settings choose Network and Dial Up Connections.
Step 2: Click on Network Identification on the left side of the screen.
Step 3: Click on the Hardware tab.
Step 4: Click on Device Manager.
Step 5: Double click on Network Adapters.
Step 6: If you have a line that has the word Ethernet under Network Adapters, you have a NIC installed that should have an Ethernet jack.

On Windows XP computers:
Step 1: Click on the Start button and choose My Computer.
Step 2: Click on View System Information.
Step 3: Click on the Hardware tab.
Step 4: Click Device Manager.
Step 5: Double click on Network Adapters.
Step 6: If you have a line that has the word Ethernet under Network Adapters, you have a NIC installed that should have an Ethernet jack.