How to test a nic card?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steven Robillard
  • Start date Start date
S

Steven Robillard

I am trying to test the hardware on my machine. I know I can change
the ethernet cable but how does one determine if the problem is in the
nic card or for that matter a different hardware problem?
 
The first thing you usually do to test your NIC card is ping the ip address
assigned to the nic.


Louise Bowman
MSFT
 
Most cards come with a self-test utility on the driver disk/CD, if not one
may be available from the manufacturer's Web site.
 
You can almost never go wrong by looking in 'Device
Manager'
-----Original Message-----
Most cards come with a self-test utility on the driver disk/CD, if not one
may be available from the manufacturer's Web site.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


I am trying to test the hardware on my machine. I know I can change
the ethernet cable but how does one determine if the problem is in the
nic card or for that matter a different hardware
Click to expand...
problem?


.
Click to expand...
 
Sure you can. All Device Manager tells you is that when Windows loaded and
initialized the drivers, the expected device was able to be initialized.
That doesn't mean it's working properly, just that it was able to power up
and respond to its drivers.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


You can almost never go wrong by looking in 'Device
Manager'
-----Original Message-----
Most cards come with a self-test utility on the driver disk/CD, if not one
may be available from the manufacturer's Web site.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


I am trying to test the hardware on my machine. I know I can change
the ethernet cable but how does one determine if the problem is in the
nic card or for that matter a different hardware
Click to expand...
problem?


.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
1. start in dev man start\run\devmgmt.msc
expand network adapters, look at the nic in question, should be green
icon not yellow, not red x green indicates the driver is installed,
at least the hardware was recognized by the OS
yellow banged out or red x means the driver isn't loaded, can mean bad
hardware but not usually

2. if driver is loaded, R click my network places/properties
local area connection for the nic should indicate enabled, no red x
cable unplugged indictates the nic doesn't see itself as connected,
cable bad or hub bad or possible bad hardware
R click the icon for the nic in question/ status should see
connected/the speed and under
"activity" number of packets sent & received 0 sent & received
indicates no packets, connectivity problem, 0 on receive side only probably
means bad connection on the side being sent to, or bad cable hub but the nic
is at least trying to send-don't know here if packets making it on the wire
or not
--
3. if you've already seen packets in connection manager this is redundant
start /run/ command/ ping 127.0.0.1 a reply indicates the networking
stack is up & functioning & nic is bound to the protocol- reply does not
indicate that packets are going out on the wire so this is not a test for
bad cable, bad hub, or bad connection on the other side

4. if all the above looks good, I would swap cables, hubs, & check the
connection at the other end
5. run hardware diags from vendor if available, at any point in the cycle
to verify the hardware
6. easiest to swap out a known good nic if available to check against the
cable, hub & setup

7. if cable, hub, nic, everything looks good, try changing the link speed
of the nic
start/run/devmgmt.msc r click nic/properties/advanced/link speed
Value default usually =Auto
try changing this value alternately between 10 half duplex & 100 half &
see if it resolves problem- some nics have trouble negotiating link speed
with various hubs/switches

these are very general steps, good luck
--
John McVea [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Richard G. Harper said:
Sure you can. All Device Manager tells you is that when Windows loaded and
initialized the drivers, the expected device was able to be initialized.
That doesn't mean it's working properly, just that it was able to power up
and respond to its drivers.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


You can almost never go wrong by looking in 'Device
Manager'
-----Original Message-----
Most cards come with a self-test utility on the driver disk/CD, if not one
may be available from the manufacturer's Web site.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Win9x] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


I am trying to test the hardware on my machine. I know I can change
the ethernet cable but how does one determine if the problem is in the
nic card or for that matter a different hardware problem?


.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I am able to ping myself and the device manager says everything is
working fine. This would seem to tell me my nic is not the problem.

So my real problem is that I cannot release or renew my ip address.
My ISP have indicated that everything works fine with the modem and
the setting are correct so the problem must be in my computer.

When I ping the other computer in my network which is working fine I
get " unknown host"

When the computer that works fine pings the bad computer I get timed
out.

Any suggestions?
 
I am able to ping myself
this tells us only that the network card is installed but tells us nothing about the cabling
we don't at this point acutally know if packets are making it out on the wire, or if the cable is good-easy check would be to swap cabling with the known good nic setup & see if good machine still works
the device manager says everything is working fine.
this tells us the driver is installed, most times, the hardware will be good here but not 100%
This would seem to tell me my nic is not the problem.
most likely in a general sort of way-could still be link speed issues if on hub/switch

can you do start/run/cmd ipconfig /all from suspect machine send output labeled "suspect" for nic in question (please include the part that identifies the adapter)

do start/run/cmd ipconfig /all from good machine send output labeled "good" for good nic in working machine (please include the part that identifies the adapter)

then we can check these to make sure they both have IPs on the same subnetwork

how are the 2 computers "bad/good" connected to each other? crossover cable, hub, switch?

Thanks
 
Here is the results from my testing:

*****
On the working computer The setup of these two computers is both
computers go to a hub and the hub is connected to a DSL modem.

Host Name . . . . . . . . . : GIRLS.dsl-verizon.net
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6
Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No
NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No

0 Ethernet adapter :

Description . . . . . . . . : Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-A0-CC-33-59-45
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 4.13.156.186
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.248.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . : 4.13.152.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 209.244.126.42
Primary WINS Server . . . . :
Secondary WINS Server . . . :
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 04 19 04 7:49:47 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 04 19 04 11:49:47 AM


******
On the non-working computer


With suspect cable attached to nic



C:\>ipconfig/all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Main
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Linksys LNE100TX(v5) Fast
Ethernet A
dapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-A0-CC-33-98-92
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.30.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . :


With proven cable attached to nic


C:\>ipconfig/all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Main
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Linksys LNE100TX(v5) Fast
Ethernet A
dapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-A0-CC-33-98-92
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.30.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . :


With proven cable to release all. (This is using no hub going
straight to the DSL modem from the computer


C:\>ipconfig/release all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

All adapters bound to DHCP do not have DHCP addresses. The addresses
were autom
atically configured and can not be released.


Same setup and try to renew.


C:\>ipconfig/renew

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

(I wait about a minute and then)

The following error occurred when renewing adapter Local Area
Connection: DHCP S
erver unreachable


Ping 127.0.0.1


C:\>ping 127.0.0.1

Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms


Even after this the Local Area Connection Status shows no packets sent
or received.


I will swap out the nic and then test again. If packets are sent I
will have my answer.

BTW how do I check for packets recieved and sent on my Win 98
computer?

John, thank you very much with detail and the reasoning behind your
answers. It has helped very much.

Steve
 
I have switched the nic and confirmed that it is not the problem. The
good compyuter still works and the bad computer still cannot connect.
I then moved the nic to another slot and reinstalled the drivers but
still no luck. I tried to find updated drivers on the internet but
was unsuccessful.

Does anyone know where the linksys website is?
 
Steven,

here is the link to linksys site win2k driver for the lne100tx
http://www.linksys.com/download/driver.asp?dlid=2&osid=5
there were many chipsets generically identified as "lne100tx" so double
check yours against the photos on the download page for the proper driver

correct me if I'm wrong here:
win 98 box in which both cards function
win 2000 box in which neither card will work

you can't check number of packets sent/recieved in win98-98 didn't have this
feature, don't really need to if the box has an IP address & is functioning

I would try 1 other thing on the win2k box if indeed this is the bad one
even though the 98 box connects thru cable, hub I would changes the speed
settings on the 2k box before going to the new driver (use the lne100tx
card in the 2k box)

Change link speed settings of nic
start/run/devmgmt.msc R click
nic/properties/advanced/link speed; default value is usually Auto try
changing this value alternately between 10 half duplex & 100 half & see if
it resolves the problem- some nics have trouble negotiating link speed with
various hubs/switches/OSs
--
John McVea [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


Steven Robillard said:
I have switched the nic and confirmed that it is not the problem. The
good compyuter still works and the bad computer still cannot connect.
I then moved the nic to another slot and reinstalled the drivers but
still no luck. I tried to find updated drivers on the internet but
was unsuccessful.

Does anyone know where the linksys website is?
Click to expand...
wire, or if the cable is good-easy check would be to swap cabling with the
known good nic setup & see if good machine still worksoutput labeled "suspect" for nic in question (please include the part that
identifies the adapter)labeled "good" for good nic in working machine (please include the part
that identifies the adapter)
 
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