problem:

my freinds laptop network card isnt working properly, and he runs win 98. sometomes the system starts up fine (although it takes a very long time) and sometimes i get system crash.
i tried reinstalling the card but didnt work (again restart problems and then it didnt work anyway when i finally got into windows) and i have tried taking off the protocols and putting them back on etc. any idea what could be problem or where i could look for the problem? i suggested getting new drivers(doing that right now) but i have a feeling it will not work, any ideas?

(network card used for internet access through a proxy, but thats working fine, already tested that)

If your network card only works when it's "talking" to the proxy, but doesn't work when it's not (IE: takes a long time to boot up). I would check to see if your get your IP address from a DHCP server.

If the computer is setup to get an IP address from a DHCP server ( or any network device that can run a DHCP service)When you first boot up it will try to find a DHCP server and get an IP address. If there is no DHCP server\service running then the computer will wait till it "times out" before moving on.( in other words it will wait 3 or 4 min. sometimes longer and if no responce has been received it will display an error then finish booting up).

To check this open control panel and click the "network" icon (or right click the "Network Hood" and choose properties). Now choose and highlight TCP/IP (if it's not installed, then DHCP isn't the problem). Now click "properties" and on the first page see if "obtain an IP address automatically" is selected. If it is you might want to create another "hardware" profile that doesn't include network support and use that when your not connected to the proxy/network. Or you could deselect the "optain...." and type in your own IP address. ( for example 10.0.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0 When you close the window you may recieve an error about a "WINS" address. Ignore it and move on).
This last option might not work for you because you would have to reselect "optain...." everytime you wanted to connect to the internet/network again.

If this doesn't help you. Please post more details about your proxy connection and how your "connected" when the network card isn't working.

Good luck http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

dhcp is not the problem as i suspected. i checkd it and everything is fine as other comuters are on the network which work fine aswell. im sure its the network card or a conflict but i dont know what it is.

until today, iv been told, the laptop started up fine and fairly quickly. but now it starts up really slowly as i mentioned before. now, i could not find any reason for this so i assumed he must have intalled something or done something to his settings to make this happen(tried deleted recently installed files). but im am vexed with this and cannot figure it out.

is there anything that can be done? what about msconfig, anything in that?

i would like to reinstall the system, and with a new os (win2000, much better that 98) but he will not let me do that yet http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif
just want to know if there is anything else i/he can do

You might check the metal teeth of the NIC where the RJ connector is plugged in. They could have been bent or torn lose. The only conflict i can think of that would be a problem would be a Memory one (I/O range or memory address) Device manager would list those.
Does the "connection" light blick at all during the logon process? That would at least give you some idea about traffic across the NIC's port during logon.

Reinstalling the driver and the NIC is a good idea as that would take care of any bad configuration settings the user might have put in. And a new patch cable would also be a good thing to try.

Most of the problems I have had with NIC cards cause a user's network login to fail. Never had one that caused a user's computer to crash.
But we run NT/2000 so it wouldn't crash anyway.


The only other thing to look at is the wall jack and the switch/hub port the wall jack is plugged into.( long shot)
I would guess the NIC is dead. Sorry I can't be of more help, but if I think of anything else by morning I'll post it.


Good Luck http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by scada (edited 11-21-2000).]

[This message has been edited by scada (edited 11-21-2000).]

Does your user use a docking station?

If he does go into the BIOS and disable it.

A docking station is about the only thing I can think of that would conflict with a NIC card.

[This message has been edited by scada (edited 11-21-2000).]