Wil
03-17-2006, 11:57 AM
I'm pretty sure that I have a bad NIC, but I want to make sure before I replace it.
I have two PCs with onboard gigabit NICs. One of them has a PCI 10/100 NIC in it. I recently moved the PCs around like this:
1) Bridge the onboard and PCI NICs
2) Connect the other PC with a crossover cable between the 10/100 PCI NIC and the onboard gigabit NIC
3) Connect the cable from my router comes into the bridged gigabit NIC.
Note that my router and my cable modem, as far as I know, are operating fine.
What's happening is that one or both connections in the bridge show "network cable unplugged". Sometimes the bridge itself says it is disconnected. The link lights on all three connections are on. In most cases, I still get connectivity.
But every so often, I lose all connectivity - between the machines, and between the bridged connection and the router. Other machines one my network continue to operate just fine. To get connectivity back, I have to unplug the crossover cable and remove the bridge. Internet connectivity seems to be fine if I plug the internet connection directly to either gigabit NIC (without a crossover), though I have yet to try plugging it into the PCI NIC (that's next).
My assumption is there is something wrong with the PCI NIC, but before I replace it I wanted to find out if this is common and what some of the common solutions/issues are. For example, could going from the 10/100 to the gigabit cause this issue? Why would Windows report multiple adapters having a cable unplugged, but still have connectivity?
I have two PCs with onboard gigabit NICs. One of them has a PCI 10/100 NIC in it. I recently moved the PCs around like this:
1) Bridge the onboard and PCI NICs
2) Connect the other PC with a crossover cable between the 10/100 PCI NIC and the onboard gigabit NIC
3) Connect the cable from my router comes into the bridged gigabit NIC.
Note that my router and my cable modem, as far as I know, are operating fine.
What's happening is that one or both connections in the bridge show "network cable unplugged". Sometimes the bridge itself says it is disconnected. The link lights on all three connections are on. In most cases, I still get connectivity.
But every so often, I lose all connectivity - between the machines, and between the bridged connection and the router. Other machines one my network continue to operate just fine. To get connectivity back, I have to unplug the crossover cable and remove the bridge. Internet connectivity seems to be fine if I plug the internet connection directly to either gigabit NIC (without a crossover), though I have yet to try plugging it into the PCI NIC (that's next).
My assumption is there is something wrong with the PCI NIC, but before I replace it I wanted to find out if this is common and what some of the common solutions/issues are. For example, could going from the 10/100 to the gigabit cause this issue? Why would Windows report multiple adapters having a cable unplugged, but still have connectivity?