Dual celeron 400 net sharer, perfectly stable until another computer wants to access internet!

[Confused]

I have an Abit BP6 with a single Celeron 500, and this machine is my web sharer, and for the past few weeks it has been working fine, then i upgraded yesterday to dual 400s, and reinstalled Windows cos it was getting a bit clogged up and i also wanted it to get the ACPI Multiprocessor HAL properly.

When i got Windows XP reinstalled, it would work fine, get onto the internet with the Motorola Surfboard 4100 cable modem connected to USB, and would download until the cows go home. As i use it as my internet sharing machine, once i had got it up and running, i shared the connection using ICS as i had before, but as soon as another computer on the network tried to connect to the internet, it just freezes cold, and i have to hard reboot (even Ctrl-Alt-Del won't work).

I thought that this may be a problem with the latest drivers for the modem which i got from Windows Update, but when i reinstalled the drivers from the CD it still froze up.

I'm now on Windows 2000, and using Sygate Home Network, and it STILL has the same problem! I have tried all i can with different drivers, different web sharing programs, but nothing is working.

Does anyone know what may be wrong here?

Thanks

ConfusedBW

 

[DaiShan]

maybe something here can help? those are usb fixes for intel chipsets, dunno if it will work, but it is worth a try.

 

[Confused]

Nothing i found there has seemed to help, although the USB check said my computer was fine! which i know it is cos it was working until i swapped over to the dual 400s

ConfusedBW

 

[DaiShan]

yeah, was kinda a shot in the dark, is a fresh install of windows an option for you?

 

[Confused]

I've reinstalled Windows 2000 and also XP about 5 times over the past 2 days, and same problem each time!

It's even sitting here with each processor overclocked to 551 (92*6), and has been overnight, but as soon as another computer tries to access internet, at ANY speed, it jus freezes

I tried again disabling ICS and using Sygate, but no luck.

I might try a proxy program now, not what i really want, but it's worth a shot

ConfusedBW

 

[DaiShan]

try running at stock speed and voltage, how many watts is your psu? maybe when the comp gets network traffic there isn't enough power for everything?

 

[ttn1]

Poor power is definitely a network card killer. I have had 2 different machines with overheating power supplies and
the only symptom was dropping of the network. Although these machines didn't lockup.

The overheats on those machines were caused by dying fan on the PS.

Have you tried running some cpu stressing software? That may also tell you if it is a power issue.

My BP6 is also very finicky about card locations. If it isn't a PS problem you might try swapping cards around.

 

[Confused]

Well, it's not a PS problem, i tried it with my Enermax 350W from my Athlon machine, and it still locked up, but only when another computer tried to get onto the internet, both o/ced and not. The PSU in there at the moment is a Sparkle 235W.

I'm running Seti@home on it for Team Anandtech, and that picks up no problems, whether at stock speed or overclocked.

I can also transfer data across the network and remote desktop across the network without any problems, so i doubt it's a problem like that.


I've now just moved the NIC to another slot, so will try that.

If it doesn't work then i will try putting the cable modem in the other USB port. I can't test it on ethernet as i only have 2 NICs and need to get the other computer on the network to test it out

CBW

 

[Confused]

OK, this is weird!

I put another network card (which i managed to borrow off a friend) in, and then it didn't want to start Windows again, so i decided to format...again!

Anyway, i reinstalled Windows, with the other network card in as well, and in the setup it asked me for information such as IP address etc for that card, and my one.

So, it went through that OK and went into Windows, but wouldn't pick up an IP address from DHCP. But, luckily i remembered the IP address i had previously (it's dynamic but doesn't change much), and that worked. I shared the connection, went to other computer, and clicked on Internet Explorer...









The server was OK!

So, i uninstalled my mate's network card, and plugged the CM back into USB to give it one last go, fired the computer up again, installed the drivers off the CD, shared it, and it didn't die when the other computer got onto the net!

Now i'm cautious to use the updated driver from Windows Update, but it has worked before, but do i risk it!?


Thanks for all your help guys, but it seems that there is nothing Windows likes more than about 6 reinstalls! :Q


ConfusedBW

 

[ttn1]

I agree, I would be very cautious about running windows update on a working machine.
Glad to here it's working. I know at least 3 people, including me, that have fought with
the bp6. Lots of strange behaviour.

If there aren't any throughput problems I would stick with the current driver.

One very good motto in life is:

If it ain't broke don't fix it..

Many people seem to forget this when working with computers.