3COM 3C905-TX Network card

[Philippine Mango]

I've got a 3com 3C950-TX network card I've tried to install into three different machines all with the same result, not working. I've used the deault windows drivers and tried installing 3com's drivers all to no avail. 3com apparently doesn't have a network diagnostic utility, I've pinged local host which works fine, its able to generate an IP address but is unable to talk to the DHCP server, the settings are right and when I manually set the IP, it still doesn't work. So I have no real idea if the network card is bad or not..

 

[spikespiegal]

Force the cards to 100/half duplex manual.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Tried changing it to that, does nothing.. When I run IPconfig /renew I get an error message saying it can't contact the DHCP server. I have a similar card 3c905b-TX <--pretty sure thats it, and when I hook up to the same cable, it finds the DHCP server fairly quickly.

 

[John]

If the card fails to work properly on 3 pc's then it's safe to say you've got a defective nic.

 

[Philippine Mango]

I just don't understand though why it would just one day stop working...

 

[bluestrobe]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
I just don't understand though why it would just one day stop working...

Isn't that how all electronics work?

 

[John]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
I just don't understand though why it would just one day stop working...

My customers ask the same question.

 

[Philippine Mango]

I've HDDs that are older than this, no moving parts, nothing, also I'm able to ping 127.0.0.1...

 

[John]

Time is irrelevant. I've had assorted hardware fail in a matter of days.

 

[spikespiegal]

The 3com 905abc-xyz series were some the flakiest cards I've ever used. The B's tended to work the best in my experience.

To compound matters, 3Com lists multiple and conflicting drivers for the cards, some of which cause all kinds of problems as you describe. Often the driver install gives you a list of about 100 different cards, and you have no idea which one to put in. Guess 3Com and ATI share the same drivers engineers

If I fight with them long enough, I can generally make them work. Or, I just pull a spare 3c980 from my bag, which is a much better card and autodetects better.

One thing Netgear did right over 3Com was their FA series NICs.