On board Ethernet got disabled by a bootable utilities disc

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videobruce

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
412
AMD 970 chipset Gigibyte MB
Win 7 Pro
Realtek on-board chipset with a 1/18 dated driver update.

It's kinda hard to describe this,, but long story short;
I was tiring newer versions to update those bootable CD's with troubleshooting programs on them for possible future use (hopefully not) eg;
Ultimate Boot CD,
Knoppix v7.2 & 8.1
EaseUS Partition Master WinPE,
All IN One Rescue Toolkit,
MiniTool Partition Wizard
for examples.
I believe it was one of the Knoppix versions that did something as they have Ethernet drivers so one can use the included browser, but that is only a guess.

Somehow, the on -board Realtek Ethernet chipset got disabled or corrupted to a point I had to connection to the Router. The 1st time, in Device manager, the network device entry wasn't even there. I managed to get thing back, I believe by powering down and/or rebooting.

The 2nd time, Device manager had the Ethernet device entry there and it showed that it was working, but no connection. Network & Sharing showed a "Unknown Network". The Router showed the port connected as did the LED's on that back of the Tower including activity. I couldn't even access the Router.

I reset defaults in the UEFI BIOS, but that didn't work. Then I did something that I haven't had to for probably 16+ years, I cleared the CMOS on the MB, then reset the BIOS again on bootup. Connectivity was restored.

So, the question is; what could of been done and how did this happen? How could a program outside of the installed O/S affect a on-board device after the program is closed? Has anyone heard of something like this happening?

Mind you, I also didn't have connectivity when I re-loaded two of those bootable discs, so this is NOT a W7 O/S issue. I have a 2nd bootable HDD (same O/S) and that was dead also.

I don't believe it was a 'virus', the iso's that I burned to the CD's came from the original source.
 
I hope I didn't loose anyone, if so please re-read. It had to be some 'tampering' with the on-board Ethernet chipset and the driver it temporarily loaded. :(
 
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haha...yes, this is the cause of a setflag in the hardware driver being set wrong by one of the programs in the bootable CD. The windows driver when they programmed it probably had an assumption the hardware flag would be set at a certain value, depending on the code it would disable the port or set the flag to the opposite of what it was expecting.

So no, not a virus. Just poor logic of multiple hardware drivers setiing flags on the same hardware.
 
You are referring to this "flag" being set in the BIOS, not the O/S, correct?
Again, NEITHER bootable HDD, nor another bootable (known good) CD program was able to access the Internet which ruled out a 'Windows' thing. ;)
 
Which is located on the MB, outside, not associated with the O/S. IOW's it affected the chipset no matter what you booted into.
 
Just find what program on the Boot CD is using the outdated Linux driver. Delete it and your problem is solved.
 
Updating the kernel should be the real solution (and probably should update the network stack too, and all other programs if you can). If updates don't solve the problem, it's probably a bug that hasn't been fixed/discovered yet. Search for bugs effecting your nic's device id, see if they've been fixed in future versions or git, and try those if you can.

Also, you mqy get better help in the OS subforum, or on a linux forum (preferably one related to the support disc you're using). Just try to be patient and explain your situation as best you can, some forums can be unforgiving.
 
Unbelievable, I just tried to help him out because nobody else answered him, then I get shit for people not understanding the answer. You really expect him to re-compile these programs with an updated Kernel as a solution and say I am so unforgiving saying just delete the program and find something else? ...like WTF is that.

Also you shouldn't have to depend on these shitty freeware boot tools in this day in age. If you have a proper backup aggregation with restore points even if your hard drive caught fire and blew up from a nuclear bomb you could be back up and running with no data loss in 5 minutes with a half decent network config.
 
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BrokenAnimator said:
Unbelievable, I just tried to help him out because nobody else answered him, then I get shit for people not understanding the answer. You really expect him to re-compile these programs with an updated Kernel as a solution and say I am so unforgiving saying just delete the program and find something else? ...like WTF is that.

Also you shouldn't have to depend on these shitty freeware boot tools in this day in age. If you have a proper backup aggregation with restore points even if your hard drive caught fire and blew up from a nuclear bomb you could be back up and running with no data loss in 5 minutes with a half decent network config.
Click to expand...

If that was directed at me, then you are mistaken. I was not replying in response to your post and it was not meant to be taken as your advice being wrong. I was just saying that he should update the kernel, and everything else he can while he's at it, because it's probably fixed in a later version. There's nothing wrong with disabling or deleting programs if you don't use them, but if you do you're better off updating them instead. Also, updating the kernel doesn't mean recompiling it, nor does it mean you need to recompile everything else.

if anything, you shitposted the op, if I'm being honest...
 
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Trying to help out is shit posting? What kind of fucked up reality do you have behind that computer screen? So let me get this straight. I can’t get frustrated because the guy obviously has no freakin clue what my answer was, but acts like he knows that I am wrong. It’s like wtf...fuck this guy. I pointed him in the right direction to expand and do research on, depends if he’s smart enough to understand that or he can just think I am a dummy like him making up weird unlogical assumptions. Who knows....I don’t care.

Not worth the hassle.
 
/facepalm
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videobruce so anyway, back on topic...

Update the kernel and software, or burn an updated iso to disc and see if you still have issues with the network. If it still causes the nic to behave badly, we'll continue troubleshooting.
 
Nobu said:
videobruce so anyway, back on topic...

Update the kernel and software, or burn an updated iso to disc and see if you still have issues with the network. If it still causes the nic to behave badly, we'll continue troubleshooting.
Click to expand...

It says in the original post if you bother to read it, he’s using the latest versions. Did you even read it or you just post to try and troll someone and get some cheap entertainment? The reason why Internet forums are useless nowadays and nobody takes them seriously.
 
BrokenAnimator said:
It says in the original post if you bother to read it, he’s using the latest versions. Did you even read it or you just post to try and troll someone and get some cheap entertainment? The reason why Internet forums are useless nowadays and nobody takes them seriously.
Click to expand...
Yes, good thing there's no "program using the outdated linux driver". I did read his post. You can update programs and libraries in knoppix without upgrading the whole system or burning a new disk. I suggested he upgrade the kernel and everything else if he can because he might not have, not because I'm incapable of reading. Stop trying to explain why I'm an asshole and your not, because it's not helpful. I am an asshole, but I'm not trying to be one right now.
 
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