Is my LAN port dead?

[Tullphan]

Gigabyte GA EX58-UD4P motherboard.
All of a sudden, no internet.
The light on my router that shows where a cable is plugged in isn't lit when it's plugged in.
The light on the back of my motherboard where the LAN connector isn't lit when a cable's plugged in.
New cable didn't help.
Plugging in directly from the modem didn't help.
Uninstalling & reinstalling new driver (from Realtek, not Gigabyte...done tried that too), didn't help.
Installed PCI network card & it works.
Onboard LAN dead?

 

[her209]

Most likely.

 

[Tullphan]

Dang...& this thing isn't even a year old.
Is it worth the time, trouble & cost to RMA, or are the network cards jut as good?

 

[lopri]

I highly recommend this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106033

It's so much better than the Realtek crap. Is the dead port connected to X58 or ICH10R? I'd make sure all the PCIe slots rooted in the same chip are functional. The above network card can perform that duty as well. I don't have much hope/expectation for on-board NICs any more, regardless how expensive a motherboard is.

Edit: Download the latest drivers if you choose to go with it.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...duct=Intel®+82574+Gigabit+Ethernet+Controller

 

[Tullphan]

I highly recommend this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106033

It's so much better than the Realtek crap. Is the dead port connected to X58 or ICH10R? I'd make sure all the PCIe slots rooted in the same chip are functional. The above network card can perform that duty as well. I don't have much hope/expectation for on-board NICs any more, regardless how expensive a motherboard is.

Edit: Download the latest drivers if you choose to go with the above card.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...duct=Intel®+82574+Gigabit+Ethernet+Controller

Well, it's the X58 chipset, but I don't know about the ICH10R.
I installed a Belkin 10/100BT LAN card that I had lying around. 7 detected it right away & it got me up & going.
What difference would I notice if I went with the Intel card you linked to?
Thanks!

 

[lopri]

If the main duty of network is the internet, then Fast Ethernet (100Mbps) should do just fine. For heavier network traffic such as backup, streaming, or multiple uploading/downloading, the difference between onboard Realtek and discrete Intel NIC can be dramatic. (lower CPU usage, much better system responsiveness)

On my AMD board, the Realtek NIC is rooted in the north bridge (790X).



On my Intel board, the Realtek NIC is rooted in the south bridge because P45 doesn't provide extra PCIe lanes.



X58 gives 36 lanes, so after 32 lanes for the PEGs there are 4 more lanes. Depending on individual board's design, the NIC may be rooted in the north bridge or the south bridge. Usually the board's block diagram in the manual provides this information.

 

[Tullphan]

I looked in my owners manual & the block diagram is almost identical to your intel board block diagram, so I guess my LAN is rooted in the south bridge.
So, I assume i'd be better off using a PCIe NIC card?

 

[lopri]

If there is a PCIe slot rooted in the NB, then yes it is desirable to use it over a slot rooted in the SB. Even if you install it in a slot stemming from the SB, the discrete Intel NIC should give a noticeable performance boost over onboard Realtek NIC.

Edit: Just saw a pic of the UD4P and it's got plenty of PCIe slots. You can use any slot (x1, x4, x16) and unless you have an SLI setup you always have an extra x16 slot available on X58.