Any way to test a NIC? Everything I transfer to WHS is corrupt

[computerpro3]

Are there any test programs I can run that will tell me if a NIC is bad? I'm using the onboard realtek in my WHS and lately literally everything I copy is ending up slightly corrupted. Not so much that the file won't load or anything, but for example if it's an ISO I'll get weird errors during installation, or maybe a .rar will get corrupted. None of the hashes match up so there is definitely a problem.

I'm trying to figure out if it's the Raid 5 setup or the NIC, so any suggestions would help.

 

[C7J0yc3]

I will almost guarantee that your realtek has gone bad. Easy way to test is pop in a flash drive and transfer over the network to that instead. Almost every board I have used with a realtek nic has gone bad at some point.

 

[computerpro3]

I'm also 99% sure the NIC is bad now since it corrupted to the flash drive too. And it's not the wndr4000 since I just transferred a 4gb iso from my htpc to my macbook air and the hashes checked out perfectly.

Is this an okay NIC to buy? I tend to trust Intel more than any other company when it comes to networking.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360498

 

[Procyon12]

yes

 

[Nate7311]

Before you go nuts, Remove the driver and download it fresh on a separate computer and try that. The realtek's are basically software NIC's where all of the intelligence is in the driver, rather than the hardware. I've seen Realteks and Via Rhine's go funky because of a corrupted driver.

 

[Valnar]

No, go nuts instead. Trash the Realtek and buy the Intel if you have a spare PCI(e) slot.

 

[Procyon12]

yes. i have put intel nics in brand new systems over realtek ones.

 

[computerpro3]

Bought the Intel NIC and had the same problem. Then it dawned on me that I was using OCZ ram.

Ran memtest and sure enough, fails test 5. Makes sense now, don't know why I didn't think of it earlier.

I always wondered why people spent more on ECC memory, server motherboards, etc. Now I understand. When I move, I'm going to sell off this micro center AMD bundle deal and get some real server hardware.

At least I have a decent NIC now though.

Gonna throw in 8gb from my desktop and see if the corruption issues go away.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Real server hardware is great. I got a box in the basement that is only booted for updates with no issues.

 

[computerpro3]

Wow, it worked. I can't believe it. This issue has cost me probably a hundred hours before I even noticed things were wrong. It cause failed installs of OS X, Win 7 ISO's, office, my pictures were corrupt, etc.

I'm never skimping on server hardware ever again. Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.