NIC dead?

[jmmyz14]

my computer just crashed earlier today (my video card was glitching up and caused the whole system to reboot) and after windows started back up, my NIC (onboard gigabit) doesn't seem to be working anymore.

windows doesn't get an IP from my router (i verified the router port is OK) yet windows knows when the LAN cable has been unplugged. it just says "Limited or No Connectivity." ipconfig /renew does nothing.

anybody have any ideas what could have caused this? short circuit?

 

[RebateMonger]

It could be either hardware or software (Windows or drivers).

Try burning a Linux Live CD (Ubuntu) and boot to it and see if your NIC works correctly under Linux. If so, then it's likely not a hardware problem.

Also, one of the first things I would do in a case like this would be to insert a spare PCI NIC and see if that one works. If it does, then Windows is working correctly.

 

[jmmyz14]

thank you for your response. i will try that when i get home tonight. i've never used Linux Live before, although i've tried something similar called Knoppix. it seemed to detect most of my hardware quite nicely.

i am not quite sure how a software or driver error could have caused this issue. i am leaning more towards hardware failure.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: jmmyz14
thank you for your response. i will try that when i get home tonight. i've never used Linux Live before, although i've tried something similar called Knoppix. it seemed to detect most of my hardware quite nicely.

i am not quite sure how a software or driver error could have caused this issue. i am leaning more towards hardware failure.

Knoppix is Linux. Linux is just the name of the operating system kernel. The various distributions add their own stuff into the software. If you download the latest version of Ubuntu (8.04), it has a live CD option when you boot from the optical drive.

Have you tried just rebooting all your networking equipment as well? Unplug the router and the modem for a minute or two each and then plug them back in.