HELP! Im losing my mind!!!

[Homerboy]

Ok... this is what I have:

Abit BP6 MB, 2xCeleron 366 OC'ed to 550
3x128PC100 RAM (un-known make/models)
Bunch of Harddrives
Netgear and/or Linksys NIC (more on this in a bit)
WIndows 2000 Professional ( w/SP4 )
Running: Apache Jakarta TOmcat, mySQL, bulletproof FTPD and a few other small programs.

Problem: Everything is working just fine. HOWEVER completely randomly and without warning the NIC will lose connectivity. Not just Inet but LAN etc, liek the cat5 was pulled out. Works fine on reboot. Ive tried everything I know of and even a new NIC (intially the Linksys and just bought a new NetGear to test it out).

If I use an old ISE 10BaseT NIC in place of either one of the 100baseT options, it runs perfectly fine forever. No issues at all.

Why would this RANDOMLY drop?! Its driving me freakin' crazy. Ive reinstalled OS, and every damn program. Please... PLEASE somebody help me.

 

[RhythmAddict]

From the looks of it, you've tried everything..but maybe you didnt try one of the following things?
1- the setting on the NIC properities...is it on 10/100/auto, etc?
2- Diff PCI slot? (i am sure you tried this, but you never know)
3- Are you using generic drivers for the NIC?
4-Connect 2 NIC's just to see what the hell happens? (hehe)
5- Changing the IRQ settings (getting less logical now)
This is a strange problem...Definitely play with the advanced NIC properties...
Also, is there any way you can test out this PC on a diff network?? That may be helpful...let me know what happens.

 

[ITJunkie]

I know you may not be happy about spending more money on another NIC but I have always had good good luck running with Intel Pro 100's and 3Com 905B/C's.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I really doubt that the Intel NIC is going to work any better than the Netgear or Linksys NIC. Yes, it's going to be a bit faster with lower processor overhead, but I've used Netgear NICs for years, and they don't suddenly drop the connection. Have you checked the integrety of the cables? This sounds like a cable or connector issue to me.

 

[Homerboy]

Agreed on the change of NICs... shouldnt make any differnce.
I DID try the cables, but if it WERE the cables Win2k would give me a pop up saying "Local Connection (or whatever) is disconnected"

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

When I've observed flaky operation at 100mhz and solid operation at 10mhz, it's frequently miswiring of the twisted pairs in one or more cables. Some folks don't understand that twisted pair really means that particular pair of wires is twisted!

 

[Homerboy]

Sadly not that
Ive tried dif cables and Ive made 100's of cables in my years.Im at a lost
good one hey?

 

[StraightPipe]

is the light on the nic on when the connection dies?


i'm thinking possibly your nic is going bad, definately get newest drivers installed (or reinstall the ones you've got)

if you'vwe got another 100 nic, and it works then go with that. if not, newegg sells nic's for $5+$5 for shipping.


if new nic doesnt fix it, i'd look into a reinstall of windows, but I think it's nic related.

 

[bbqweed]

Are you using standard Cat5 cable? Is it longer than 15-20 feet? If so....bump your card down to 10Mbps,...instead of 100Mbps. It should work fine.

If you still have problems...10:1 chance that you have IRQ sharing problem.

Check pinout of cables too:

Cables should be 568B pinout.

1-Orange/white
2-Orange
3-Blue/white
4-green
5-green/white
6-blue
7-brown/white
8-brown

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Why would CAT5 cable make it necessary to drop to 10mbit for more than 20 feet? CAT5 is rated for 100 meters at full speed!

 

[Homerboy]

Cat5 can run run 100meters n/p as long as teh cables are made correctly (TWISTED pairs)

 

[Bruck]

buy a new NIC, i purchased a brand new linksys nic last month and It did that, it would just drop the connection and then pick it back up again, only reason i knew it was happening was because i had log reports and would see the quick "network status" messages. .. took the card back and got it replaced with the same model and it works flawlessly now.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Cat5 can run run 100meters n/p as long as teh cables are made correctly (TWISTED pairs)

When we say CAT5 cable, it's implied that it's a properly made cable!