Onboard nic malfunctioning

[newmark]

I have an nForce4 Ultra motherboard with an onboard Nvidia network controller (nForce4 CK8-04 Marvell 88E1111/1115). I'm using WinXP SP2 and I have a broadband connection (PPPOE) which uses DHCP. I don't use a modem or router, I'm connected directly to my ISP's switch. For ~6 months everything worked fine; a few days ago the onboard nic started malfunctioning: I randomly lose Internet connectivity and I can't load any page anymore; if I try to disconnect the PPPOE connection or disable the LAN connection, nothing happens - that's because the nic has become unresponsive and Windows is waiting forever for something it never gets. If I try to reboot, Windows hangs at saving settings and I have to manually reset the PC - that's because Windows is still busy accessing the onboard nic and waiting for something. Anyway, after rebooting and returning to Windows, a yellow icon appears in system tray over the LAN icon, informing me I have limited or no connectivity. If I still try to connect to the Internet through the PPPOE connection, I get "the remote computer did not respond".

I tried various things - applying a Windows patch, repairing Winsock (netsh/Winsockfix), uninstalling the nic in Device Manager, reinstalling/switching nForce drivers, checking that I don't use nVidia firewall or NAM, checking that I don't have a firewall or antivirus running, performing a clean WinXP install in a different partition and trying to access the Internet from there, checking my system for malware, switching my USB mouse to a different USB port, resetting CMOS, disabling/reenabling the onboard nic in BIOS, shutting down the PC, setting "force 10 half duplex" - nothing worked. The only thing that worked was shutting down the PC, switching off the PSU, then switching it back on and restarting the PC. After that everything was fine again - for a few hours. Then, same problem - lost connectivity, had to shutdown/reset the PSU.

I noticed that when it's working, the speed is around 10% of what it used to be. Also, the nic freezes mainly under increased Internet activity - when downloading files or opening several pages (3-4) with lots of graphics. This somehow overloads the nic and it stops responding. I also noticed that after intensive Internet use, when my nic freezes often and I have to shutdown the system many times on the same day, the working interval gets smaller and smaller and in the end the nic freezes after only a few minutes of light browsing. Strangely enough, after rebooting, when I have no connectivity, if I unplug the cable I get "network cable unplugged", so it's not completely unresponsive; it seems part of it is still operational.

My PC is near a wall, there are no strong electromagnetic fields around, nothing that could generate them. I only have a TV in the same room, plugged in a different outlet and far from the PC. The cause of the problems is also not the heat (system temperatures are around 35-40C).

So this is clearly a hardware problem. The nic seems to be broken. So why did it break and what exactly is broken? The chip itself? Is this problem specific to a certain chipset (Nvidia)? Does it happen often with onboard nics?

There seem to be other people experiencing the same problem on various motherboards:
Asus motherboards
Evga motherboards
None of their solutions worked except resetting the PSU or unplugging the PC.

My configuration is the following: motherboard MSI Neo4-F rev.3, Athlon64 3700+, Seasonic 430W PSU, Gainward 7600GT, Audigy ZS, HDD Seagate 250GB and 3 optical units.

The motherboard is still under warranty and I'm gonna try to get it replaced. However, the new board will probably also malfunction after some time, so I want to find out more about this problem. I know that people with a broken onboard nic just start using a cheap PCI card but I'd prefer the onboard nic was functional.

Any thoughts, ideas, or opinions?

 

[JackMDS]

Giving your description it can be any thing in the network configuration and Not neccesarily the NIC.

It is not clear what you mean by I am connecting to the ISp Switch but still use PPPOE.

PPPOE software is very uncountable and can be the reason for your trouble.

Many DSL ISP actully give the Clients a combo Modem/Router so that the PPPOE can reside in the Router's hardware and thus avoid connection problems related to PPPOE.

In addition using a Router makes it much easier to debug network configuration since it sparate the Internet issues from the computer's LAN issues.

In any case, if you do not see a Ghost in the Device Manger next to the NIC entry, it might be other problem.

May be this can Help, http://www.ezlan.net/debug.html

You can also invest $5 in a PCI NIC, disable the onboard NIC and try the PCI one.

Takin out the Mobo, and RMA it might cost more.

 

[newmark]

Thanks for answering.

I'm not using any PPPoE software, just the support provided by Windows XP. I conect through a broadband connection that requires a username and a password, created with the New Connection Wizard. I'm not using any modem - the cable that is connected to the onboard nic gets out of my home and into a metal box where the ISP's equipment resides. I'm not sure exactly what's inside. I live in an appartment in a 10 store building; my neighbours are connected to the same equipment as I am and they have no problem. I haven't made any change in the software or hardware configuration of my system in the past months. After the nic becomes unresponsive, it's not functioning even in a fresh Windows XP install, where only the Nvidia drivers have been installed. I have to shutdown the PC and reset the PSU for it to start working.

In Device Manager, in Network adapters, I only have "Nvidia Nforce networking controller". If I enable "show hidden devices", I get some more entries: "Direct parallel", "Nvidia Nforce networking controller - Pachet scheduler miniport", "Wan Miniport (IP)", "Wan Miniport (IP) - Pachet scheduler miniport", "Wan Miniport (L2TP)", "Wan Miniport (PPPoE)", "Wan Miniport (PPTP)".

I've already checked and done everything mentioned on the http://www.ezlan.net/debug.html page - it doesn't help.

In 24h I'll have a PCI network card so I will be able to confirm further more that the onboard nic is broken.

 

[RebateMonger]

There have been numerous reports in these Forums of problems with the NICs on NVidia-based motherboards. I suggest doing what you are already doing - trying a PCI NIC. Assuming you have enough PCI slots, and the add-in NIC solves the problem, I wouldn't get too stressed over it. Life's too short.

And, no, it doesn't happen often with other onboard NICs. I think I've seen ONE troublesome NIC on a motherboard in the past ten years.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Try this first. Turn off the computer. Unplug the cable to the NIC, and then unplug the power to the PSU. Count to ten or so, then reconnect everything in reverse order (power, network cable, then power on). Nothing to lose if it doesn't work, but I have had that issue once, and mentioned it to two other people here who it helped. Worth a try at the very least.

 

[newmark]

Well, I already said that this works. Resetting the PSU (off/on) or unplugging/replugging the PC makes the onboard nic operational again, but only for a limited period of time. The problem is that I have to do this on a daily basis, and that the transfer speed is around 10% of what it should be.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: newmark
Well, I already said that this works. Resetting the PSU (off/on) or unplugging/replugging the PC makes the onboard nic operational again, but only for a limited period of time. The problem is that I have to do this on a daily basis, and that the transfer speed is around 10% of what it should be.

Hmm, okay. I was hoping the specific order might fix it for you as it did me.

 

[newmark]

I tried your solution anyway, but it only made the NIC work for a limited period of time, after which it became unresponsive again.

I managed to install a PCI network card, and I don't have problems anymore. It's interesting that I can download a file using the onboard NIC at around 10-20% of the speed I download the same file using the PCI card. I wonder what exactly broke on my motherboard. Somebody suggested there might be a faulty capacitor somewhere, and that's why the PC has to be unplugged for a few seconds in order for the onboard NIC to start working again. A visual analysis of the motherboard reveals nothing, though, and capacitors usually fail after a longer period of time, as far as I know. I'm a bit worried because I wonder: if the NIC failed, what else will also fail? I've read somewhere about somebody's problems with a motherboard where the NIC failed first, then the USB controller, then something else. I hope I'll be luckier.