# Interesting NIC problems



## Silverel (Aug 11, 2008)

Hi there guys. 

Usually I don't find much need to post problems here on TPU, I like to come and solve them. Today (the past week), I've been having some issues with my onboard network adapter. Apparently, it just died one day. Disappeared from the device manager and everything, reinstalling drivers didn't do anything to help fix it, as it couldn't find the hardware. The light at the port comes on when a cable is plugged in, but nothing else. It _was_ enabled in BIOS, and has since been disabled and ignored.

I can handle using a NIC, no problem. One of the spares lying around here had a CNET PowerPRO 200 10/100 NIC. Tis old, and not PnP. So I had to try and find some drivers for it. Luckily, there were some at the manufacturers site, however they were for a Realtek RTL8139C. Here's where this gets interesting...

The card is identified as "Other" without forcing these drivers on it. Once adding them it becomes a network adapter, but has little to no function. Oddly enough, disabling it through device manager only lasts the session, and a restart enables it by default. There's also something wrong with the card, as it takes 100% CPU time with one core every 2 seconds or so. At first I though this was Vista Readyboost kicking in since I had a USB stick plugged in. A bit of testing figgered that out. Disabling the NIC stops this behavior, but it sound familiar to a problem someone had here a few months back.

I use a Router->Cable Modem for internet and networking with my second PC. If I go into Network and Sharing Center with the card enabled, it'll find an Unidentified Network with limited connectivity. This confuses me, as everything was working just fine before the onboard died, it simply won't use the previous settings. Repair/Diagnose/Setup New/Merge etc., nothing works or helps from what I've been able to find.

If anyone can help out, or just think of something I haven't tried, I'd appreciate it.


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## francis511 (Aug 11, 2008)

So you`re sure they were the right drivers ?


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## Silverel (Aug 11, 2008)

francis511 said:


> So you`re sure they were the right drivers ?



Not at all, but they were from the manufacturers website, and I couldn't find anywhere else with drivers for that exact card. It wouldn't surprise me if Realtek made the chips on the card, or wrote the drivers. CNET isn't exactly a big brand name for PC hardware...


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## francis511 (Aug 11, 2008)

Try updating from microsoft over teh web.


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## Silverel (Aug 11, 2008)

I don't really understand what you mean by that...

What with my NIC having issues = No internets. This is a second PC, and it'd be hard to update onto a flash drive to transfer it over.


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## francis511 (Aug 11, 2008)

Yeah of course. If you ever get internet access back, drivergenius or something like that might work as well.


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## Deleted member 3 (Aug 11, 2008)

Why bother with an old non-pnp card? Just buy a cheap NIC for <$10. It safes you a lot of problems.


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## Silverel (Aug 11, 2008)

francis511 said:


> Yeah of course. If you ever get internet access back, drivergenius or something like that might work as well.


DriverGenius sounds interesting...



DanTheBanjoman said:


> Why bother with an old non-pnp card? Just buy a cheap NIC for <$10. It safes you a lot of problems.


Just working with what I got at the moment. I like a challenge, bit off more than I could chew. Figger I'd see if anyone here had any answers is all.


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## boogah (Aug 12, 2008)

your southbridge chip probably went out.  I had it happened on a few of the motherboard that i had to RMA.  the symtoms were the same if i plug a realtek pci card in it still won't read it since the southbridge controls the onboard NIC and the PCI slots.


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## Silverel (Aug 12, 2008)

Great, and the extra cooling I put on that didn't do anything then. lolz. Well, guess I'll have to deal with having a badass gaming PC with no net...

Or alternatively... I could go with an external USB NIC, yes?
Like this?

Just a spur of the moment thought, I'm not surprised they make them, but definitely intrigued... o.o


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## mrhuggles (Aug 12, 2008)

dude just get a 5 dollar PCI lan card omfg


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## Silverel (Aug 12, 2008)

mrhuggles said:


> dude just get a 5 dollar PCI lan card omfg



Golly gee! I hadn't thought of that alternative!

C'mon man, there's more to it than that. I wouldn't be asking if there wasn't. I've tried three different PCI cards now, and even a sound card. PCI slots are borked. Anytime I activate a device using one of them the CPU cycles go crazy on one core and nothing else happens.:shadedshu


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## boogah (Aug 12, 2008)

there's another alternative ^___~ 

3 letters   R M A ^___~


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## Cybrnook2002 (Aug 12, 2008)

Can you ping yourself in CMD? to see if the card is even being "active"?127.0.0.1  

EDIT: Im not talking about the onboard, im talking about the PCI NIC.

Edit again: forget it


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## boogah (Aug 12, 2008)

We already established that the southbridge chip is dead.


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