anyone else have problems with 3com 3c905 NIC?

[psteng19]

I've been having problems with this NIC. it works intermittently.
when first turning the comp on, it would work fine no problems. after prolonged use (sometimes for hours, sometimes for 20 mins), it would stop working. The ACT led stays lit (as opposed to blinking), and i cannot ping any of my other computers on the network.

is it just a defective card? it's happened to 2 of my 3com NIC's already.

 

[lilnnjaboy]

that seems odd that they do that. I have had 50+ 3Com NIC's at work. And I haven't seen a single one do that. Well they sound bad to me, if they will work for a while and all of a sudden just stop working. Maybe they are overheating. So if they are heating up like that, did you plug then in correctly? And if you did, check the temp. And then call 3Com. They are good on warranty.

 

[psteng19]

i suspected overheating as well, because after extended use, they would stop working.
they next morning, they work fine.

but i have very adequate cooling (4 fans in my system).

i tried 3com warranty, but their website is so confusing, i can't find out where. plus, i bought them from FS/FT so i don't have real proof of purchase.

 

[majewski9]

My comps at work have 3com NIC and win95! They work fine for P2's!

 

[lilnnjaboy]

well they are 3com products...they have the serial numbers. And just say you bought them a while ago. What version of the 3c905's do you have? B or C?

1-800-NET-3COM is their main number. You can use that to get anywhere in the company. Talk to tech support, or check their knowledge base. See if there is any answers. Tech Support should have something, if not...they will give you an RMA number and you can send them back. Majority of their products have a life time warranty.

Do this...after the network cards stop working...feel how hot the chipset is on the card. I know for a fact, that those cards are not suppose to get hot.

 

[psteng19]

thanks a lot lilnnjaboy

i did in fact touch them after they stopped working, because i was trying to swap pci slots. it was not extremely hot, but hotter than i would think a NIC would get.
i'll try the 800 number when it dies on me again.

edit:
it is the 3c905-tx. under win98, it does not say B or C. on the card itself it says rev B on the edge. what's the difference between B and C?