Apple Computer Take PCs off the net!

[Citadel535]

I am pretty sure that it is related to my brother's Mac but hear me out. I have a cable modem connection with Linksys 4-port router. Now whenever my brother is online, my connection is bumped off for around a couple of seconds to a minute or two. Is it possible for this to happen? I am wondering if the NIC is malfunctioning where it is transmitting messages without detecting a collision and making traffic on the network?

Edit:It happens every so often while using the computer and when his system is off, it doesn't happen.

 

[kgraeme]

I have the same router with a mixed network. We run Mac and PC simultaneously with no problems like you mention. I have other strange things happen, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the Mac because it's only on one PC and not the other.

 

[Citadel535]

I am not sure if it is just the Mac but rather maybe a bad NIC.

 

[Soccerman]

what protocols are running on the machines? IP only? IPX? Appletalk?

you should try to limit the protocols running to 2, IP and IPX (cause both have a fair amount of games that need them), though IP is the priority protocol (for the net, and now for games I think).

 

[kgraeme]

I should have said that I was certain the Mac wasn't causing problems in MY case, not yours. There is nothing inherently different about a Mac's ethernet than a PCs. Even if AppleTalk over ethernet is enabled, there shouldn't be any problems. I'm doing it.

The first thing I would think to check is the IP addresses for each computer. Are they statically assigned or are you using DHCP? If they are static, then if you have the same IP for both, I can see that being a cause for the problems. The DHCP in the Linksys is generally pretty good, but one of my PCs sometimes has problems. Like you I think it might be a fault of the NIC. I use the Netgear FA311, which I have heard causes some people problems in some configurations. It's generally considered an excellent card, but you can never tell what will be incompatible with what.

Those are the only things I can think of.

 

[gsaldivar]

Could this be a simple "limited bandwidth" issue?