Powerline Adapter issues with new on-board NIC

[dnut_00]

Hi all.

I've asked for ways to determine the issue I've had with my new Gigabyte UD3H motherboard's Intel NIC in the general help forum and I've got a suggestion that worked to some extent. Here it is, for reference.

Here I want to ask a bit more technical, network gear specific question.

1. I have a powerline adapter (to a TP-Link router, where the second one is plugged, obviously) that works perfectly with my Lenovo T420 (old-ish, I know) and an even older desktop (about 5 - 6 years old)

2. New computer, with the above Gigabyte motherboard won't even recongnize the adapter - it shows that the NIC is fine (all tests pass) but that the cable is faulty at 2 meters distance.

Now, I used the same cable to connect the NIC to the router directly - works fine (there were some drops of connections/reconnects when it was on AutoNeg, but putting it at 100Mbs Full Duplex seems to have solved it).

I'd like to be able to use the PA, as the alternative is to go wireless, which I afraid would suck when gaming.

My questions are (and thank you in advance):

1. PA is still more reliable than Wireless N these days, is it not?
2. What can I do to fix the issue?
3. Can it be that the motherboard is at fault? How would I claim RMA on such a thing, since it works correctly when connected directly.

Thank you.

 

[JackMDS]

If the Motherboard Network card works OK when there is No Powerline involved I would say that it is OK.

PA is quit Flimsy technology that its quality is highly dependent on the PowrLines and the noise/spikes that generated by home appliances and what ever else is plugged to the Electrical system.

Assuming that PA is better than Wireless N is far fetched. In situation where the Wireless can not work well because of obstructions and other environmental noises that affect the transmitted signals, PA at times might work better. However in general PA is an inferior technology.

 

[dnut_00]

Yeah, it seems that you are correct. WiFi works flawlessly so far. Perhaps the new NIC is more sensitive to wire disturbance, or perhaps the sheer wattage that was added to the adjacent grid prevented it from working.

 

[evilspoons]

If you have to force your NIC to 100 Mbit/s full duplex to get a solid link even when plugged straight in to your router, you have a problem with your NIC or your cabling.

It's possible the "output" circuit of the powerline adapter (that you connect back to your PC via a traditional Cat5e/Cat6/whatever cable) is also screwed up, but at a minimum I'd get your NIC working on auto negotiation directly connected to the router first.

 

[azazel1024]

Sounds like a cable issue, though possibly a NIC issue. Drops on autonegotiate shouldn't happen.

Unless there is something wrong with it, it should connect and autonegotiate 1,000Mbps within a second or two (I'll grant I've seen one or two routers where it took 3-4 seconds to autonegotiate, but the longest I've seen a switch take upon connect is about 2s).

The only time you should HAVE to set the speed, is faulty wire. Replace it and see if it keeps happening.