pc hard crashing (related to plugging in ethernet cable?)

[mmasbou]

hi all,
so I built a pc a few summers ago, and so far has seemed to work pretty well. out of the blue, a few days ago, i hit the power button, fans/lights turn on for a second or two, then everything stops. doesn't even post. anytime i hit the power button, same thing happens.
i move the box from under a desk to on top, plug in kvm, and after one/two false starts, xp loads fine. okay...
i consider updating antivirus, etc. as soon as I plug in the ethernet cable, everything immediately shuts down.
if i try to restart with the cable plugged in, lights turn on for a second, turn off for a few seconds, lights turn on for a few seconds, black.

so basically it seems that if i have the ethernet cable plugged in, nothing works, if not, everything's fine. anyone know what might be going on?

info:
intel dp965lt motherboard, so ethernet is part of mobo
e6600 cpu
geforce 7600 gt
380W ps
wd 500gb hdd
1gb ram

please help! thanks

 

[corkyg]

Change ethernet cables and see if it persists. Is anything else on that network that works OK? That test could indicate on which side of the connector the problem lies. If all is well externally, then the problem is internal, i.e., from the connector to the motherboard. The reaction suggests some sort of short.

Since it worked before, look for some change you have made recently.

 

[techs]

Look in the ethernet port. Are any of the pins bent so they are touching each other?

 

[mmasbou]

There's a bunch of other stuff on the network that works fine. I got a new router recently, but it works with at least two other computers (a dell laptop, and another computer I built).
And the pins in the port look fine.

Any other ideas? Thanks!

 

[Nizology]

You might want to check the internal part of the ethernet controller and see if anything looks odd.

 

[mmasbou]

update:
turns out that the computer doesn't crash if the ethernet cable is not plugged into my router. so I guess the router's the problem? it's a new netgear WNR3500.
anybody know why this particular computer would crash when plugged in, but not others? (at least 3 others are on the network).
thanks.