 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion Groups Platforms PCXboxPlayStationNintendoGames ActionStrategyRole Playing GamesSimulatorsSport Games |
Game Forum / Role Playing Games / EverQuest / January 2004(OT) Putrid PC - Need help diagnosing evil network problem.
Okey, I have a strange and hard to diagnose problem that's keeping me away from EQ, and I hope that maybe the colossal minds in this NG can shed some light on the causes. The story so far: I have a Mac and a PC on my desk. The PC is for games, the Mac for everything else. They share a USB keyboard, mouse, and two monitors (one for the Mac only, one shared) They are both connected to the internet via a NetGear ADSL router, with no problems whatsoever for the last few months. Until a few days ago... Normally, I have both the PC and the Mac running 24 hours a day, either idle or running SETI@home, but recently I started getting some pangs of guilt about the wasted energy, and decided to go green. First, I started letting the Mac go to Sleep, and found no problems whatsoever, so next I tried Standby Mode on the PC. Then, the nightmare started. Firstly, I wasn't able to actually wake it up, since it seemed unable to find the USB keyboard (I'm sharing a USB keyboard and mouse with a KVM switch. Works well if I'm careful at boot time), so I reset it. When it came back up, it had stopped seeing the router. The OS (Windows XP Home) claims there is nothing wrong with the network connection, and it's happily reporting zero packets in and zero packets out. There is no activity visible on the card itself, the lights are dead, but the Hardware Manager tells me that the device is working properly. It cannot ping the Mac or the router itself, and I cannot ping it from the Mac *or* from the router. The port number on the router is not lit up anymore, which means it's not getting any packets at all from the PC, but the icon on the PC's system tray is that of a working connection, not the red "disconnected" one. I've pulled out and reset the Ethernet cables, and even connected it to a different port in the router, in case that port had died for some reason. I've reset the router. I have uninstalled the network card via the Hardware manager and let Windows find it again (I haven't physically pulled it out yet, though... leaving that for last). I have made sure that all the TCP/IP settings are back to their last working configuration. I'm out of things to try. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for all input.  SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro "No, I didn't waste my youth... and I hate myself for it." >Okey, I have a strange and hard to diagnose problem that's keeping me >away from EQ, and I hope that maybe the colossal minds in this NG can [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > >Any ideas? Thanks in advance for all input. XP home doesn't do well with networking I've heard. So check to see that you still have a network running. If you can, go to a command window (don't know if XP has one!) and do an ipconfig command. It should show the status of your network. If you onlly see an address of 127.0.0.1 then you only have a loop back in place. A second thing is to check your security settings. I've seen virus software kill networking but it usually comes back with a reboot. If time is the 4th dimension, then money is the 5th dimension. We are always concerned about dollars per hour for the space we occupy. - Rod White Quoth Dies Deambulo : > XP home doesn't do well with networking I've heard. So check to see > that you still have a network running. If you can, go to a command > window (don't know if XP has one!) and do an ipconfig command. It > should show the status of your network. If you onlly see an address > of 127.0.0.1 then you only have a loop back in place. It returns only the current TCP/IP settings... the local IP, the subnet mask and the gateway as I configured them. There is no 127.0.0.1 loopback anywhere. Does ipconfig have a more verbose mode? > A second thing is to check your security settings. I've seen virus > software kill networking but it usually comes back with a reboot. I'm not running an antivirus (not using IE or OE keeps me pretty safe, although I do an occasional checkup with Housecall. All clean so far), and I didn't change my security settings previous to whatever killed the network. Thanks for the help. SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro "Let's torture the rat" -The Muppets Treasure Island > Quoth Dies Deambulo : > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Thanks for the help. Try turing the machine right off, wait a few, and bring it back up. Verify that the link light for the ethernet cable is on on your PC (if it has one), and on your ADSL router (it had better have one!). If you are using an onboard LAN port, pop into BIOS and ensure its enabled. (It should be if its still showing up in windows, but it doesn't hurt to check). If you've got multiple LAN ports (several motherboards do these days), make sure you are in the right port. If your lights are down, swap cables, swap router ports, etc. If that doesn't resolve it remove your network adapter from the Device Manager, reboot and reinstall it. If that doesn't resolve it get a new network card. If your lights are up, pull up the command prompt (cmd), try pinging both the Mac and the gateway. You can also trying pinging the PC from the Mac from the OS X terminal command line. Where does that get you? -PS there is nothing flakey about the tcp/ip stack in XP Home. The 'flakiness' has to do with some of the arbitrary limits MS imposed on the Home Edition to Windows File Sharing, and the security model imposed on users to 'motivate' business users to purchase the Pro version. Quoth 42 : > Try turing the machine right off, wait a few, and bring it back up. > Verify that the link light for the ethernet cable is on on your PC (if > it has one), and on your ADSL router (it had better have one!). The lights are dead on both ends. > If you are using an onboard LAN port, pop into BIOS and ensure its > enabled. (It should be if its still showing up in windows, but it [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > both the Mac and the gateway. You can also trying pinging the PC from > the Mac from the OS X terminal command line. Cheers. Did all of the above previous to posting. The lights are down, but I still tried pinging the PC from the Mac (and from the router's own Ping interface). Not a sausage. The network card is not onboard, but PCI, and as far as Windows can diagnose, there's nothing wrong with it. :-/ I will replace it if it comes to that, but I'd like to exhaust my options first. > Where does that get you? Nowhere fast. But thanks nevertheless :) SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro "He fell into the Masticator... Man, what a way to go." > Quoth 42 : > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > Nowhere fast. But thanks nevertheless :) If you've swapped cables with a known good one, and swapped ports on your router with a known good one and the lights are still dead at both ends your ethernet port on your network card is dead. Its possible you've got a broken wire in the jack itself, which would not affect windows ability to determine that it is working correctly. Until you've got link lights there is no reason to bother with network preferences, pinging, etc. The *only* setting I've ever heard of that can bugger up the actual link is the link speed and duplex options. 10mbps at half duplex through 100mbps at full duplex, but these have all been reliably autosensed for many years now, and its highly unlikely there is an issue with that, particularly since the connection was working previously... and even if you set it wrong... assuming you've got a dsl router that acts like a switch there is no 'wrong' setting that simply wouldn't work. The good news is a decent popular nic like the dlink dfe-530tx is very inexepensive. Maybe 10 bucks. Borrow the cable and router port from the Mac first... you won't bugger up the Macs connection. Its a Mac ;) it'll figure it out. After that its time for a new nic. Good luck. >Quoth 42 : <snip> >Cheers. Did all of the above previous to posting. The lights are down, >but I still tried pinging the PC from the Mac (and from the router's own [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >Nowhere fast. But thanks nevertheless :) When a Windows driver gets hung you sometimes need to remove the hardware, reboot and delete the driver, reinstall the hardware and then reinstall the driver before it reinstalls correctly. Try that before buying a new network card, but then again network cards are cheap. If you do buy a new one get a different model card if it is from the same manufacturer. Not sure if XP home has the problem with reinstalling a driver to replace a failed or corrupted driver but previous versions of Windows have. Wulfbones >> XP home doesn't do well with networking I've heard. So check to see >> that you still have a network running. If you can, go to a command [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >mask and the gateway as I configured them. There is no 127.0.0.1 >loopback anywhere. Does ipconfig have a more verbose mode? Try ipconfig /all. Also, trying ipconfig /renew or /release may help(DHCP only) Quoth Freddie Agricola : >>> XP home doesn't do well with networking I've heard. So check to see >>> that you still have a network running. If you can, go to a command [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Try ipconfig /all. Also, trying ipconfig /renew or /release may > help(DHCP only) Did. I get the verbose info, but the /renew and /release options tell me that no adapters are in a mode that permits them. I suppose I should stop the network first and try again, but I'm getting the feeling that's what the "repair network" option on the graphical interface does, and it hasn't made a difference. Thanks, SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro A Shoggoth is for life, not just for Christmas. > Quoth Freddie Agricola : > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > what the "repair network" option on the graphical interface does, and it > hasn't made a difference. release / renew are only relevant if you have tcpip to self configure via dhcp. You don't. But, trust me, if you aren't getting a link light on your router you are wasting your time with that. Its not a tcpip problem. You should get a link light without even having tcp ip installed. Quoth 42 : > But, trust me, if you aren't getting a link light on your router you > are wasting your time with that. Its not a tcpip problem. You should > get a link light without even having tcp ip installed. I think you are right. Knoppix (a live CD Linux distro) has the same problem as XP... it sees the card, but not the connection. I'll just get swapping cables and/or cards, if needed. Thanks to all for the input. SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro The post above may contain deliberate errors. > I think you are right. Knoppix (a live CD Linux distro) has the same > problem as XP... it sees the card, but not the connection. I'll just get > swapping cables and/or cards, if needed. Knoppix is GREAT for things like this. I burned a copy of Knoppix recently and was "jaw droppingly impressed". And I've generally thought of Linux as "not ready for the desktop". Knoppix (finally) changed my mind. For those who don't know, Knoppix is Linux on a bootable CD. It comes up in full GUI beauty and has TONS of apps installed. Including a few web browsers, office suites, development tools (C, C++, Java, more), games, the list just goes on and on. It's amazing what they fit on a single CD. > >Okey, I have a strange and hard to diagnose problem that's keeping me > >away from EQ, and I hope that maybe the colossal minds in this NG can [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > >Any ideas? Thanks in advance for all input. > XP home doesn't do well with networking I've heard. XP home does just fine with this sort of networking. Just don't try and stuff it into a domain.. > So check to see > that you still have a network running. If you can, go to a command > window (don't know if XP has one!) Of course it does. If you don't find it under Start -> Programs -> Accessories, then just go to Start -> run and type "cmd" > and do an ipconfig command. It > should show the status of your network. If you onlly see an address > of 127.0.0.1 then you only have a loop back in place. > A second thing is to check your security settings. I've seen virus > software kill networking but it usually comes back with a reboot. Sounds to me like the OP's eth card never woke up from that original Sleep. I'd suggest shutting down the XP machine (not reboot, but shutdown), then fire it back up and see if that doesn't get it going again. -- Darkensolo - 64th Epic Dwarven Cleric Lizsolo Spiritmaster - 65 Epic Barbie BeastLord Rodcet Nife Quoth Darkensolo : > Sounds to me like the OP's eth card never woke up from that original > Sleep. I'd suggest shutting down the XP machine (not reboot, but > shutdown), then fire it back up and see if that doesn't get it going > again. Oh, done that a bunch of times. As far as XP is concerned, the Ethernet card is perfectly happy... It keeps telling me "the device is working properly", ipconfig works, the icon looks happy... It seems only the user is pissed off. SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro The post above may contain deliberate errors. > Quoth Darkensolo : > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > properly", ipconfig works, the icon looks happy... It seems only the > user is pissed off. ipconfig /all gives you what sort of output? (can you cut & paste it here?) -- Darkensolo - 64th Epic Dwarven Cleric Lizsolo Spiritmaster - 65 Epic Barbie BeastLord Rodcet Nife <snipped> > Any ideas? Thanks in advance for all input. This has actually happened to me before and turned out to be a bad network cable. Don't know how it went bad but replaced the cable and now works fine .. good luck in your search. regards @ndrew Quoth @ndrew: > <snipped> > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > regards > @ndrew Worth a try, I guess... I'll see if I can source a new cable. I'm *not* touching the Mac's connection. :) Cheers. SignatureVenerable Hanrahan, Storm Warden (Human), Fennin Ro "Look at me! I'm the Mont Blanc of dandruff!" >Quoth @ndrew: >> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >Worth a try, I guess... I'll see if I can source a new cable. I'm *not* >touching the Mac's connection. :) Ping localhost. If that won't ping then the driver is not bound to your network card or you have a bad network card. That can happen with Windows that a driver can get corrupted. If that is the case you need to reinstall the driver. To do a complete reinstall of the driver, turn off your computer, remove the network card, turn your computer back on, remove the driver, turn the computer back off, reinstall the network card, turn computer back on and reinstall the driver. If that doesn't work then you have a bad network card. Hope that helps. Wulfbones Wulfbones >>Quoth @ndrew: >> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > network card, turn computer back on and reinstall the driver. If that > doesn't work then you have a bad network card. Pinging localhost has nothing to do with the NIC. If you can't ping localhost, your problem is more likely with TCP/IP itself. --Inyidd <snip>. >Pinging localhost has nothing to do with the NIC. If you can't ping >localhost, your problem is more likely with TCP/IP itself. > >--Inyidd It will also show if your TCP/IP stack is bound to your NIC. I've had it happen a few times where that was not the case. Yes, that is a problem with your TCP/IP stack, most likely it is corrupt and that is why it doesn't bind to your hardware. Wulfbones > from the router. The port number on the router is not lit up anymore, > which means it's not getting any packets at all from the PC, but the > icon on the PC's system tray is that of a working connection, not the > red "disconnected" one. If you don't get a link light on the router or the NIC, it's probably a hardware problem. First exchange the network cable, then the NIC. Signaturenino Jeril, 65 Bard, Venril Sathir Top posted but.... I'll second this below suggestion. --------------------- If you don't get a link light on the router or the NIC, it's probably a hardware problem. First exchange the network cable, then the NIC. Signaturenino Jeril, 65 Bard, Venril Sathir > Top posted but.... > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > If you don't get a link light on the router or the NIC, it's probably > a hardware problem. First exchange the network cable, then the NIC. David, Where did you get to on this? regards @ndrew |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.