NIC problem on K8N Neo Platinum...

[Steve01S4]

My sister's computer, built on the Neo Platinum, lost network connectivity the other day. It had been using the onboard ethernet. After messing with it a bit, I'm pretty sure it's a hardware issue. Before I do anything major, I'm going to try a Linux live CD to make sure it's not a Windows issue, and if that doesn't work, try one of my extra NICs in it to narrow things down. If my guess is correct, and the onboard ethernet is shot, it seems to me that I have two options.

First, just add a PCI NIC to the system. My concern here is that the board may develop other problems down the road, and I'll have to deal with it again. Should I be worried about this?

Second, replace the motherboard. If I go this way, what's the best S754/AGP board available today?

I don't mind doing whatever's best to fix the problem, as long as I don't have to fix it again anytime soon.

 

[caffiendo]

Did you ever clear this issue up?

I have/had the same MOBO. I had issues with it as well. Strange NIC problems. I have 4 other MSI boards that have strange NIC issues.

Here is what I have found that can cause conflicts in MSI boards. Hard drive jumpers. On a K7N Delta 2 Plat and a K8N Neo 4(or 2) Plat, I had issues with the NIC when I had jumpers on a Western Digital HD that was the sole drive in the PC. The IP address could not be set. It kept setting itself and re-enabling itself on re-boot.