If Device Manager does not even detect an unknown device or something similar when the card is present, this is almost certainly not a card driver issue.

It might be a defective or damaged card (or a dirty PCI edge connector).

The card might be in a non working/damaged PCI slot.

There might be an incompatibility between the card and the motherboard.

Have you

a) tested the card in another PCI slot or tested a different card in the PCI slot ?
b) Inspected the card for visual damage and cleaned the edge connector ?
c) tested the card in another system ?

PCI devices are expected to be detected by the system in which they are physically installed, regardless of whether a driver is installed or even exists. If that is not happening, something else is wrong.

By the way, in what motherboard are you trying to get the card working ?

According to the manual for that card, Win 98 is not supported....

tomcattech wrote on 2026-02-14, 16:42:

According to the manual for that card, Win 98 is not supported....

Hm, seems like drivers for W9x exists https://www.mtmnet.com/3C980C_TX.htm . But link is dead.

darry wrote on 2026-02-14, 16:34:

If Device Manager does not even detect an unknown device or something similar when the card is present, this is almost certainly not a card driver issue.

It might be a defective or damaged card (or a dirty PCI edge connector).

The card might be in a non working/damaged PCI slot.

The card is detected by Windows 98, but unfortunately I can’t find drivers for it.

Ydee wrote on 2026-02-14, 17:06:

tomcattech wrote on 2026-02-14, 16:42:

According to the manual for that card, Win 98 is not supported....

Hm, seems like drivers for W9x exists https://www.mtmnet.com/3C980C_TX.htm . But link is dead.

I’ve been on that website too and found nothing.

tomcattech wrote on 2026-02-14, 16:42:

According to the manual for that card, Win 98 is not supported....

So the question is: will any other drivers work?

You can try these:
https://download.cnet.com/3c98xx1-exe/3000-21 … 2_4-149257.html

But there's only XP, Vista, NT, 2000...

If there's no dedicated 98SE drivers, try the Windows 2000 ones.
98SE, ME, and 2000 all use the same NDIS 5.0 drivers.

I have successfully used 3CSOHO100B with Windows 98SE, even though officially only ME, 2000, and XP are supported.

Grzyb wrote on 2026-02-14, 22:01:

If there's no dedicated 98SE drivers, try the Windows 2000 ones.
98SE, ME, and 2000 all use the same NDIS 5.0 drivers.

I have successfully used 3CSOHO100B with Windows 98SE, even though officially only ME, 2000, and XP are supported.

That’s what I’ll do. If it doesn’t work, I read something in the manual about creating floppy disks — I’ll try that tomorrow when I find some time.
Thanks

Winstonwolfe wrote on 2026-02-15, 01:16:

Grzyb wrote on 2026-02-14, 22:01:

If there's no dedicated 98SE drivers, try the Windows 2000 ones.
98SE, ME, and 2000 all use the same NDIS 5.0 drivers.

I have successfully used 3CSOHO100B with Windows 98SE, even though officially only ME, 2000, and XP are supported.

That’s what I’ll do. If it doesn’t work, I read something in the manual about creating floppy disks — I’ll try that tomorrow when I find some time.
Thanks

The initial link posted by Ydee is incorrect - there is no specific W9x driver...if you follow the driver link from there to the 3Com site (IA version) these are the ones available:

Based on that file, you can download the EtherDisk 2.1 Disk Set (1 thru 5) here... https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/drivers/3Com/3com_nic/3c980/

Strangely enough, the 3C980 ( Fast EtherLink Server PCI 10/100BASE-TX NIC (3C980-TX) ) is listed in the Windows 98 HCL ( archived copy https://hcl.retropc.se/win98/ ).

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2026-02-15, 04:28:

The initial link posted by Ydee is incorrect - there is no specific W9x driver...if you follow the driver link from there to the […]
Show full quote

Winstonwolfe wrote on 2026-02-15, 01:16:

Grzyb wrote on 2026-02-14, 22:01:

If there's no dedicated 98SE drivers, try the Windows 2000 ones.
98SE, ME, and 2000 all use the same NDIS 5.0 drivers.

I have successfully used 3CSOHO100B with Windows 98SE, even though officially only ME, 2000, and XP are supported.

That’s what I’ll do. If it doesn’t work, I read something in the manual about creating floppy disks — I’ll try that tomorrow when I find some time.
Thanks

The initial link posted by Ydee is incorrect - there is no specific W9x driver...if you follow the driver link from there to the 3Com site (IA version) these are the ones available:

The attachment 3Com 3C980C-TXM Drivers.txt is no longer available

Based on that file, you can download the EtherDisk 2.1 Disk Set (1 thru 5) here... https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/drivers/3Com/3com_nic/3c980/

I downloaded everything that was available. After extracting it, it turned out the drivers were only for NT, WfW, and DOS.

darry wrote on 2026-02-15, 12:20:

Strangely enough, the 3C980 ( Fast EtherLink Server PCI 10/100BASE-TX NIC (3C980-TX) ) is listed in the Windows 98 HCL ( archived copy https://hcl.retropc.se/win98/ ).

Yesterday I downloaded “3Com Installation CD Version 5.4.iso”. I couldn’t find any drivers for Windows 98 on it.

It looks like the card is only usable under Windows XP. I tested both cards and they worked. It’s strange that there are no drivers specifically for Windows 98. I’ll try looking for Windows 95 one...

Thanks

https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/drivers/3Com/3com_n … 980/3c98xx1.exe -> README.TXT -> "3Com does not support the operation of the 3C98X Family Server NIC with Microsoft Windows 95, 98 or Windows ME."

But there is the NDIS5 driver: EL98XN5.SY_ , along with the Windows 2000 installation file: W2KEL98X.INF - what happens if you select these in 98SE ?

There are also DOS drivers: NDIS2 and ODI, sometimes it's possible to use them with Windows 9x...

Grzyb wrote on 2026-02-15, 23:16:

https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/drivers/3Com/3com_n … 980/3c98xx1.exe -> README.TXT -> "3Com does not support the operation of the 3C98X Family Server NIC with Microsoft Windows 95, 98 or Windows ME."

But there is the NDIS5 driver: EL98XN5.SY_ , along with the Windows 2000 installation file: W2KEL98X.INF - what happens if you select these in 98SE ?

There are also DOS drivers: NDIS2 and ODI, sometimes it's possible to use them with Windows 9x...

Sorry for the long delay — unfortunately I didn’t have time to deal with this earlier. Today I tried all possible combinations, and unfortunately I couldn’t get this card working under Windows 98. I tested the 90x series drivers and other driver packages available online, but with no success.