How do u diagnois A network Card

H

heavenlykid

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
300
Ok I did google search and there no real direct answers. How do u troubleshoot a network adapter. How can u tell if your adapter itself is having trouble or hardware malfunctions????
 
ping 127.0.0.1
no reply? it's dead.

it does reply?
then....

manually assign a static IP and subnet (255.255.255.0 will work fine) (or do an ipconfig to get the DHCP-assigned IP).

now ping that IP address you just assigned (or the computer had DHCP-assigned). No reply? Could be firewall issue, or NIC.

There is a reply?
ping the router (default gateway on DHCP-assigned IP)
 
Yes but how do you know if no ping responce from the network card means it is definitly bad or could it be a protocol causing it to not funtions properly. I need to know a way to prove 100% that the network card is bad. When a mechanic says ur motor is blown because it threw a rod. And u ask he how he is sure and he hands u a rod thats all bent and twisted hes proof positive thats what caused the engine to go bad. No one seems to know a proof positive way to prove if a network card (hardware) is bad. I can ping it all day long so it responds. How does that mean that one of the other funtions of the card is working properly???? Am i making any sense here????
 
Shockey said:
try it in another computer? Try it in another slot?
Click to expand...

that would be your only other option then.

but every time I've seen where a ping to 127.0.0.1 times out, has been a bad NIC.

and FYI... if something is screwed up in the TCP/IP stack on the computer, or Winsock catalog, chances are the computer will fail at sending the ping.

usually an... error 90 I believe? When I've seen the cause of the issue being corrupt TCP/IP and/or Winsock, you can't even ping anything. And it's not that it times out receiving a reply, it fails at sending the ping request.
 
If it can ping and connect but there are other problems...

packet sniffer on another computer, connect to other computer creating traffic.
A bad nic that is just partially working will show up as bad packets.
 
with all do respect still no one has completely satisfied an answer for this. these are all guess and check measures, There has to be a way to tell for sure if the card is malfuntioning.
 
heavenlykid said:
with all do respect still no one has completely satisfied an answer for this. these are al guess and check measures, There has to be a way to tell foe sure if the card is malfuntioning.
Click to expand...

Welcome to computers. There is a lot of checking and troubleshooting. It's not going to be a single test and BOOM, a yes or no answer. For all you know it could be a bad PCI slot or a software issue. Or, hell, it could be misconfigured in the BIOS or something.

There is a lot of "guess and check measures" in the business of fixing and working with computers. Yes, with experience you can kind of spot the easy ones. You hear the symptoms and know exactly what is wrong, but that is still only 99% effective...
 
With all do respect what is the situation?

Usually it is easy enough to tell if it is totally not connecting properly to the network vs. just a protocol or other small issue. Plus cards are cheap enough that you can try replacing it and see if that fixes the issue, if it does probably a bad NIC.

Ya, there is a slight chance it is not dead and some other issue, but NICs are cheap, time is not.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Welcome to computers. There is a lot of checking and troubleshooting. It's not going to be a single test and BOOM, a yes or no answer. For all you know it could be a bad PCI slot or a software issue. Or, hell, it could be misconfigured in the BIOS or something.

There is a lot of "guess and check measures" in the business of fixing and working with computers. Yes, with experience you can kind of spot the easy ones. You hear the symptoms and know exactly what is wrong, but that is still only 99% effective...
Click to expand...

Exactly, its not like YES or NO in most cases. Troubleshooting can be annoying as hell at times, but you work down to your best guess and then start replacing/fixing. If it fixes it, hooray! You are good to go.
 
Every time windows has any kind of issue that involves time every ones answer is to reinstall windows, We have a pc in our network for some reason always has issues with internet conectivity. We have moved it to different locations and still same problem places where other pc's ran for a long time with no issues, We have check wiring multiple times to its original location with no errors there. Just every once in a while it will stop browesing the internet but no one can figure out why and everyones answer is reinstall reinstall reinstall. With yes this often corrects the problem but only for a short time. At first we thought it was updates so we set it not to auto update same thing still happens reinstall and every thing works fine again, Fact is im tired of reinstalling every time this pc messes up and I cant just go to the boss and say hey i think its bad but i have no proof so we need a new one he wants to know why and whats wrong and not sure bout ur bosses but mine dont except the answer we know its broke but dont know whats broke. I need a for sure answer on whats wrong with it plus if i walk in and say i dont know for sure it makes me look like i cant do my job. Every ones answer is to just swap parts and see if it works ok then. Ok so if i swap cards and everything works then ok i would know the card was bad but i still wouldnt know what actually went bad in the card.
 
Umm, welcome to IT kid, and our answer is not to always reinstall windows, just many times that is the easier answer and most cost effective for the client ;)

This is why techs need spare parts on hand, every answer is not simple and for sure just like that. IMO when the connectivity issue does arise you need to do more testing like can it see other devices on the network? What do the IP settings look like? What do the security settings look like/what software is installed for security? etc.

No one can give you the answer just like magic though, computers are too complex.
 
heavenlykid said:
with all do respect still no one has completely satisfied an answer for this. these are all guess and check measures, There has to be a way to tell for sure if the card is malfuntioning.
Click to expand...
Sorry if my free answer was not enough for you.
For $100 an hour plus travel expenses I will come and fix it for you.
Or just replace the nic and see if the problem goes away for $20
 
heavenlykid said:
Ok so if i swap cards and everything works then ok i would know the card was bad but i still wouldnt know what actually went bad in the card.
Click to expand...
Does it matter?
Who has time and money to track down what went wrong on a card its either bad or not.
People will not remember how you fixed the problem, just that your fix worked and it was done in a timely manner.
So far you are failing on both counts so listen and try it.
 
heavenlykid said:
Ok so if i swap cards and everything works then ok i would know the card was bad but i still wouldnt know what actually went bad in the card.
Click to expand...

are you an electrical engineer?
probably not... therefore, nobody would know why it died.

it just did.

unless you have the time, knowledge, and patience to trace all the electrical traces... have the means to test all the individual chips, etc.
 
How do you tell if something is working? If Card A does not work in computer #1, try it in computer #2. Then try card B in both computers and you should be able to draw some conclusions about things. For testing to see what is going on with the card, check the switch that it is connected to for any errors, or better yet, though I've not used one, it looks like the Fluke NetTool Series II Inline network tester would verify functionality for you. So instead of hiring someone for $100/hr or replacing the network card for $20, I'm suggesting a $2000 handheld device.
 
HoppyChris said:
Fluke NetTool Series II Inline network tester would verify functionality for you. So instead of hiring someone for $100/hr or replacing the network card for $20, I'm suggesting a $2000 handheld device.
Click to expand...


Send me one of those to try out. :D I'd LOVE to have one of these. I'd test anything and everything I come across. Just for fun.
 
When your boss ask you why it bad. Point him here to this thread ;) say trial and error the what they said.

Other have pretty much summed it up. There is no yes or no answer.
 
heavenlykid said:
I need to know a way to prove 100% that the network card is bad. When a mechanic says ur motor is blown because it threw a rod. And u ask he how he is sure and he hands u a rod thats all bent and twisted hes proof positive thats what caused the engine to go bad.
Click to expand...

Well that's if you know about cars. Show some 50 year old lady that knows nothing about cars a rod that's 100% good and say "that's your problem" she probably will agree with you.

I don't know how many times I replaced dead motherboards and then the person asks me "can you see anything wrong with it" and no, it LOOKS fine, nothing burnt, no bulging capacitors, etc, but I know for sure the board was bad.
 
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