[tssells]

Hello All,

I have a very strange problem and for the life of me can't figure it out.

Here's the deal: A neighbor gave me a computer to fix for him (lucky me). He said it wouldn't connect to the internet and he didn't know what was on it as he just got it from his brother. I said hey no problem - I'll format the drive and put a clean OS on it for you.

Here is the PC:
AMD 3000
Asus A8V Motherboard
1.5 gig Ram

So I F Disk the drive and install Windows XP Media Center Edition. I get all the drivers updated (via USB key) and try to connect to the internet but can't. The light on the Onboard NIC Card was lit up as well as my switch it was connected to. The connection in Network Places shows a disconnected network cable.

I figure hey - seen this a thousand times - bad onboard nic - try a card. I have a box of cards in the closet so I pull out 4 to choose from. I start going through them and with each one I get the same results - no IP address. For a sanity check I tried a different cable as well as plugged my laptop into the cable this PC was using - everything was great. So I know it's the PC and nothing else.

With one card it wouldn't attempt to Obtain an IP address with a generic message. Another mentioned not being able to get the TCP/IP settings from the card. This card did say it was connected though - strange. I know for a fact that not all 4 cards are bad as they were working when pulled from the machines they were in.

I figured maybe an IRQ conflict was causing some problems so I turned off all peripherals that were not needed in the BIOS along with the failing onboard NIC. Still no change. I even tried different slots ( 4 PCI open) and no difference there either. Since I couldn't connect to net I downloaded XP SP3 via MSDN and installed it - again no difference. I tried the old Winsock Reset Fix just to make sure the TCP Stack didn't become corrupt. I also checked the Event Log and nothing but references that the NIC couldn't be started.

My question for you all is before I tell this guy he's screwed would you all agree with my assessment that the motherboard is faulty? If not do you have any other ideas?

Perplexed in Florida.....

[tssells]

Anyone???

[TerryNet]

You said you tried connecting to a switch, but never told us to what else the switch is connected. Where/what is the Dhcp server?

In case something got messed up with the "old Winsock Reset Fix" better run the correct repairs before proceding with more testing ...

(From a JohnWill post)

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

Start, Run, CMD, OK to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reboot the machine.

[tssells]

The Network layout is as follows

ISP - RR Broad Band
Connected Via Cable Modem
Modem is connected to a Linksys WRT-54g running DD WRT
Router is connected to a SMC Barricade Gigabit Switch
PC's (5) are connected to the SMC including the Machine

Please keep in mind the problem is not with the network. It's a standard DHCP setup that have had numerous PC's connected to. Also note this PC started this behavior with a brand new OS installed. I did try the reset catalog fix with the same results.

[valis]

first off, can you ping home (127.0.0.1)?

Secondly, if you are getting a light on the card, you got juice to it; have you checked the device manager to check to see if the drivers are correctly installed? A lot of them come with a huge variety out there; that's got me more than once.

Finally, what address is the dhcp server assigning?

[tssells]

You can't ping home. If you do an ipconfig or ipconfig /all from the command line then you get nothing back - like you do when no network cards are installed on the machine. However - they do show being installed in the Device Manager. None of them showed an error (Like error 10 - device could not start ,etc). They would even show up in the task bar (bottom right) as the device being disconnected.

[valis]

you can't ping home, and these are known good nic cards?

[TerryNet]

"Please keep in mind the problem is not with the network."

Now that you've outlined your network I will keep that in mind. You wouldn't believe how many people connect a switch or hub to their modem and don't understand why the second computer does not get an IP configuration.

I agree with you that this certainly sounds like a motherboard problem. But if you want something else to check, does the ethernet connection (any of them) show up in Network Connections? And not disabled?

There is at least a little possibility that networking may be possible with a USB ethernet or wireless adapter.

[tssells]

Yeah I know - I get that all the time too where people insist on certain things but don't understand them. You have to always probe. My buddy at work actually recommended the wireless USB adapter as a test so he is bringing one in tomorrow I am going to test with. Before plugging it in I am going to remove all current network adapters and clear them from the machine via the DM and the registry. Once doing that I will reset the catalog again and then attempt to load the USB device. If that works then I almost have to say there is a problem with the PCI bus on the MB.

Thanks for the help and insight - I will post my results tomorrow more for an FYI than anything - I think it safe to say its the board at this point.

[JohnWill]

Check your Services are Started on all PCs:

• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic (or perhaps manual).



Let's see this as well.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[tssells]

All,

Problem is solved. A USB wireless adapter works fine. It appears anything on the PCI Bus doesn't work. Internal NIC, NIC PCI cards...etc. I am going to flash the bios. If that doesn't work - hold motherboard over trash can - release.....

Thanks again.

[JohnWill]

Thanks for the feedback. That's an odd one, normally I find it's the USB network stuff that doesn't work well.