Network card not recognised in old version of Win95

This message is a follow-up to the thread "Win95 to XPH through crossover
Ethernet cable", but I've chosen to open a new thread, as the problem now
seems to be very different.

My network card (SMC 1211 TX/WL 10/100) is not recognised as Plug and Play
by my version of Win95, and if I try to install the driver manually, all I
get is a "Code 2" error in Device Manager. This network card worked OK
originally, but I failed to mention that it worked with a different version
of Win95. The version that I have now reports as "win95 ver. 4.00.1111" at
the command prompt, with command "ver". I don't know which version was the
previously installed one, but it wasn't so old.

The reason for having changed the win95 version is a mistake by the shop
where I bought my PC : when I tried to re-install Win95, I found out that my
Win95 CD and my Microsoft Certificate didn't match. So I went to the shop,
and all they were able to do was handing me a new CD with the correct
Certificate. But, as I'm saying, the new Win95 CD corresponds to a version
that is even older than the original one.

Another thing worth saying is that the driver provided (on internet) by the
SMC company comes with a diagnostics program, that does recognise my card.
Anyway, when I run the tests, the loopback test always fails. The rest of the
tests turn out OK. And the Win95 (NDIS3) that SMC recommends will also give
that "Code 2" error.