Ethernet driver error 3/4 through process, no internet

Also posted here: Gaming K3 X370 - Killer Network Driver Killed My Internet | GIGABYTE USA Forum

My "Killer Network" driver froze 3/4 through the installation process. Internet went out on my PC, and now the computer no longer connects to the internet at all. I tried bringing a driver from my laptop through a flash drive, and that stopped 3/4 through the process as well. I bought a TPLink WN881ND wireless PCiE card to try and get it to at least connect wirelessly, and the driver installs but does not show the device in device manager, adapter options, and will not show any networks.

Pictures of the error should be attached, and the error log was too large to upload so that can be found on the Gigabyte link. Just hoping for any ideas on fixing this.

This is my first post, sorry if I've made any mistakes. Just getting really short with the errors I'm having, and in the process reading a ton about how Killer is to be avoided like the plague.

Welcome to the forum. What format is the driver ie is it a .exe or a load of files with a setup? you could try right clicking on the install and choose run as admin

Samuria said:

Welcome to the forum. What format is the driver ie is it a .exe or a load of files with a setup? you could try right clicking on the install and choose run as admin

Thanks! Driver is an executable. I have attempted it as admin, no success unfortunately.

EdTittel said:

You might try opening and unpacking the Killer .exe file using 7Zip. I've had success in the past with manual updates through Device Manager after using this technique on a Killer N1202 NIC. Never tried it on your model (don't have one) but if it worked for my older model, it *MAY* also work for yours. Can't lose much by trying anyway. Just checked my latest killer install file and it does indeed "unpack" using 7Zip.
HTH,
--Ed--

Thanks for the response. Was your installation process for that as simple as:
Extract the executable files to a folder
go to device manager
choose to upgrade driver
choose the folder extracted to manually
done (?)

I'm just checking in case you had a different process and I'm messing it up.

My device manager is listing that I already have the best available driver when I do the process I listed, but when I select the folder that has the executable on it's own, it tries to upgrade and still fails. Pretty frustrating.

edit: People in various forums, including on the Gigabyte post I linked to in the original post, are saying Killer is atrocious. So far we've had no successful results in our back and forth emails, but support is making a genuine effort. Can't mark them down on that. However, apparently my problem is not uncommon, which leads me to believe that their driver system is not so good.

edit 2: changed formatting of post so it's easier on the eyes.

EdTittel said:

Yes, your understanding is correct. I simply unzip the contents of the .exe file to a target directory, then point Device Manager --> Choose Killer NIC device --> right-click and select "Update driver," browse my computer for driver software, and point to the target directory. Pretty straightforward, once you've done it once or twice.
HTH,
--Ed--

Got it. Thanks for the response.

The problem ended up being solved. The good news is that my internet works perfectly again, and that my driver was working just fine the entire time.

The bad news is, Windows was the problem. I booted into a fresh kubuntu install (as I was curious if I could install that specific Killer driver through a different OS) and the first notification that popped up on KDE was that my ethernet connection was established. Not looking good W10.

I'll probably throw in a fresh install of Windows just to test later if drivers will work again, but frankly the reason I've been holding off of using a Linux distro is because my lack of familiarity with the driver installation process. Last night I did sit down and learned that it's very easy.

See ya 10! Thanks for the help everyone in this forum!