Good PC Help Forum?

fisab

Hi,

I'm having problems with the integrated network card on my PC.
Does anyone know a good PC Help forum that I could post my problem on?

many thanks for any help.

quazzy

I think you may find some good help right here from your friendly neighbourhood boardsters.

What is goin' on exactly?
What's your OS?
What are you trying to do?

The more details the better.....

fisab

Great stuff - I thought I had better ask first before firing in my problem.

I've run into problems with my Dell 5000 integrated network card. It is no
longer detected by the PC (shows as unknown device in Device Manager
under XP).
I've tried reinstalling the device - no good.
I've tried disabling it, and putting in a standalone US Robotics card -
but I keep getting the "limited connection" problem with it (even
though I know the router is fine (can connect a laptop no problem)).
Still get the problem when I disabled the integrated one via F12
(System setup).


I've even reinstalled a fresh copy of XP (with hard-drive reformat) and
the integrated network card still comes up as unknown.


I'm surprised I couldnt get the standalone card to work.


Do you think my motherboard is in trouble?

irlrobins

Have you installed drivers for the chipset? (Normally from Intel) And drivers for the network card?

Chipset drivers here and Network Card here

fisab

Thanks for the input.

I tried the network card alright - installs away fine but Device Mgr still reports unknown device. Then when I choose install (from that screen) and pointed it at the Dell folder that was created , it cant find relevant drivers.

The card (and machine) have been working away grand for the past 18 months.

I'll install the chipset tonight, thanks.

fisab

Some updated info:

Just found out that there definitely was lightening in the area the night before the integrated card stopped working. Coincidence? Maybe.
If there was a power surge thru the DSL line, maybe it should have also knocked out the Zyzel600 router as well - but that is working away grand.

Even if a power surge did knock it out, the rest of the PC seems to work fine but I cant get a standalone card (US Robotics) past the "the connection has limited or no connectivity" error.
Still worried that the motherboard is in trouble.

daywalker

Go into Control panel, then into network connections, right click the local area connection (us robotics one), and select properties, at bottom of properties screen untick the option for "Notify if connection has limited or no connectivty". This should clear the problem

Steffano2002

Did you recently flash the Bios? I'm asking because when I flashed mine last week I stumbled upon this:

"Warning: For NFII chipset based motherboard, please do not give "/F" instruction. Otherwise, LAN MAG IP will be lost that might cause your LAN feature failed."

fisab

daywalker wrote:

Go into Control panel, then into network connections, right click the local area connection (us robotics one), and select properties, at bottom of properties screen untick the option for "Notify if connection has limited or no connectivty". This should clear the problem

Correct me if i'm wrong ( and I've known to be before:-) ), but wont that just remove the 'notification' not the problem. I cant ping to the router from the PC and can no problem if I stick the cat5 into a laptop.

fisab

Steffano2002 wrote:

Did you recently flash the Bios? I'm asking because when I flashed mine last week I stumbled upon this:

"Warning: For NFII chipset based motherboard, please do not give "/F" instruction. Otherwise, LAN MAG IP will be lost that might cause your LAN feature failed."

Nope, no changes.

Steffano2002

fisab wrote:

Nope, no changes.

OK... Then I don't know I'm afraid... I'm not that good with computers, especially when it comes to network stuff!

Good luck though!

mathew

if you have a firewall running that could be the problem with the limited or no connectivity. Happend to me once before was ages before i realised the firewall had updated itself and deleted the home network address from its allowed list. If you have a firewall like norton or zone alarm etc make sure your home network address range is in the allow list.. it'll probably be 192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.255 or else 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.0.255

Dont know about your integrated card tho'.. did you run a Diagnostics test on it? If so can you post the log?

Cuddlesworth

Just on a side note, install xp sp2?

fisab

mathew wrote:

if you have a firewall running that could be the problem with the limited or no connectivity. Happend to me once before was ages before i realised the firewall had updated itself and deleted the home network address from its allowed list. If you have a firewall like norton or zone alarm etc make sure your home network address range is in the allow list.. it'll probably be 192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.255 or else 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.0.255

Dont know about your integrated card tho'.. did you run a Diagnostics test on it? If so can you post the log?

Only using Windows firewall (along with the Zyzel firewall). I've it turned off since the problem occurred.

Cant do a diagnostic check on the card as the PC will no longer recognise it as a network card.

Thanks for the input.

aidan_walsh

Have you run the Dell diagnostics application? (Hit F12 [I think] to access it when the Dell logo appears on screen during bootup).

Does your card show in the system BIOS? (Hit either F2 or Del [I think] to access again when the Dell logo is on screen during boot up).

If neither of those can see it, chances are the card is damaged and may need to be replaced.

Anti

possible IRQ conflict ?

fisab

anti wrote:

possible IRQ conflict ?

That sounds like something I should definitely check - it would be great if that was why the standalone card won't work.

But could there be an IRQ conflict if I have the integrated card disabled in the BIOS?
If so, any idea how I can stop the conflict?