Is This A Network Card Problem??? 1

[Glassin]

This past week I took out my AGP video card and replaced it with a Verto 5200 PCI card. Since my previous card required the slot closet to the the AGP port to be open I put the new card in that slot then MOVED my network card down 1 slot so the new card could breathe.
Now whenever I'm downloading or transfering files to another computer on my home network my computer just reboot's itself (about 80% of the time). Does this sound like I may have damaged my network card or could this be something else? By the way I did reload drivers for the card to see if that would help to no avail. Thanks for any help!

NetGear Fa311 Fast Ethernet PCI Card ver. 2.0
1.2 AMD
WIN 98
512mg. RAM

 

[G0AOZ]

Well if the network card still works after a fashion, it suggests that that in itself is not the problem. Does the computer crash when you're NOT using the network? Try taking out the network card - does it still crash?

Did you uninstall any software associated with the previous video card before installing this new PCI one? And is there any BIOS setting to adjust as regards video boot (AGP/PCI)?

If all this still fails to cure it, can you go back to the original setup? Does that still work?


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[bcastner]

This is likely an IRQ issue. I should admit up front that I hate that NIC Card, the FAH 311/312. If you Google that card in Google you will find it is the bane of existence of the P2P crowd, those using mIRC, WinMX, eMule, etc.. The FAH 310 version worked great.

Moving the card around will make a difference in IRQ assignments. I would put it in the last slot, the one farthest away from the AGP port. Make certain that in the BIOS, if you have the option, that the default video has been set for PCI and not AGP. You might try in device manager trying, if it will let you, assigning a different IRQ to the card. You do not want to share the IRQ of the video board. I at times have used the setup routine for the card and manually chose to write into the eeprom of the NIC card a non-conflicting IRQ and then disabled with a jumper its Plug-and-Play feature. Look in device manager before taking this route because you will have to set the default Base Address and Memory Range. Finally if you look at some of the drivers sites, like

http://www.Drivers.Com

and others, see if you can find the earlier release of the drivers. Many claim that this solves a lot of problems they are experiencing using the newer drivers for the card.

 

[rblue]

Often the first PCI slot shares an interrupt with the AGP slot.

Moving the card to a different slot should solve the issue.

Also, check your BIOS. If you are using Win2k or WinXP, I suggest changing the "Plug and Play OS" setting to "Yes". That will allow the OS to do the IRQ steering, not the hardware.

 

[llambert2]

Moving it to a different slot... (actually if you can move it back to the original slot this might work) but be careful too ...some motherboards share IRQ's on everyother slot. So check and see that when you move it it is on an odd number from where it is now. Following all of the suggestions should fix your issue though. It sounds definitely like a conflict

 

[Glassin]

Sorry Guys that I didn't respond quicker; my computer crashed during the night and I just got it back up.
When I removed my old AGP card I installed the new PCI video card in the first PCI slot and moved the network card from the second PCI slot to the third PCI slot.I also removed all traces of the old AGP card nad the network card before installing the new video card and reseating the network card. Checking resources in Device Manager shows no conflict in any of the IRQ's. It only crashes when downloading while I'm on the Internet or transferring files on my home network - never while just running a program or playing games.

 

[bcastner]

Your symptoms are exactly why the P2P crowd hates that board. As far as I know there is no solution other than getting a different NIC.

 

[rblue]

The 310 worked so well becaused it is based on the old Digital DC211X chipset.

The 311/312 is based on a LinkSys chipset. BIG difference.

I've worked in the past with the developer with Intel Israel who wrote the drivers for the 310. The guy knows his stuff. That's why the card works.

 

[bcastner]

rblue,

Linksys does not make chipsets. The FAH311/12 is a Liteon chipset. Linksys generally has used ADMTek or RealTek, and if that was what had been used in this case it would be a fixable problem with different drivers.

Best.

 

[bcastner]

rblue,

Some claim this older driver solves the problems such as you are having:

ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/netgear1/f311v130.exe

 

[bcastner]

Glassin,

I apologize, the message above was meant for you. Please try the older driver version referenced above.

Two other notes:

1. Be careful of your MTU settings if on DSL. Set them to 1492 if on DSL. I use Dr.Tcp to set these sorts of changes:

http://www.broadbandreports.com/front/drtcp.html

2. If you are using an Intel-based motherboard, it would help to download their "Application Accelerator" that contains newer drivers for the chips supporting the processor. This fixes some IRQ steering problems.

 

[Glassin]

Okay, I bought a LinkSys LNE100TX ver.5.1 and installed it today. The LinkSys doesn't shut me down but when downloading or just trying to open web page it drags to the point that my mouse curser will stop repeatedly - but at least it's not killing me. I tried different ports with the Netgear card along with 2 older versions of drivers and it helped somewhat but took note of what Bcastner said about the Netgear card's reputation. I'll keep tinkering...!

 

[rblue]

Thanks for the reminder about the 311/312. I'ts been a while since I've laid hands on one.

 

[bcastner]

Glassin,

Linksys has made so many models of their LNE100TX board that they have had to resort to pictures to make sure you have the right one.

I generally recommend the brand's Web site for new drivers, but I make a few exceptions. The Linksys is one. I think, think, you would be happier with the chipset level drivers for most Linksys 4x-5x boards. If this makes things worse, remember you can roll back your drivers. I am pretty sure though it will help a lot:

http://www.admtek.com.tw/index/index/download.htm

Best.

 

[Glassin]

Thanks for the tip bcastner; I'll give it a try and see how it goes - by the way by just browsing these forums I can see that you do this site great service!