Bad Built-In Network Adapter

[MrAl]

Hello there,

The other day my network adapter built into the mother board quit working. It worked that same day at some point, then a few hours later it just wasnt making contact with the router box anymore.
There was no lightning or anything else strange that could have caused it, and besides the network cable is indoors only as the outside line is a fiber optic cable (ie that is what goes to the pole not the cable).
I had to use a PCI network card but that took up my last PCI (regular) slot.

I've heard that mother board network adapters are not that reliable. Is this true?

Second, did anyone here ever try a PCI Express x1 network card?
How about a USB network adapter?
If so (either) was there any special software installation requirement?


Thanks...

[Janitor Tzap]

Normally they don't go bad so quickly.

But it is more common for the cable going from the computer to the router/modem to go bad.
Did you replace the cable at the same time you put in the PCI network card?

As for USB network adapters.......
Well they are suppose to work, though I've been seeing only ones for the slower speeds.

You know.......
Most newer router/modems have both USB, and RJ-45 connections.
So if you have that on your router/modem.
It would of been easier to just connect your computer up that way.
And since USB has a faster bit rate then Lan.
It would make web surfing, and stream video much easier too.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[MrAl]

Hi Janitor,


I tried three different cables first, including a brand new one, but what else i did next was connect the cable to another computer and that one communicated with the router right away, no problems.
This lead me to believe the on board adapter was bad.

This router doesnt have a USB connector, and my ISP is limited to 20Mbps anyway.

So i guess if i were to look for a USB network adapter i would have to look for one that uses USB 2.0 and not USB 1.1 then? I need at least 20Mbps and i know USB 1.1 wont work that high but USB 2.0 will.


Thanks.

[Janitor Tzap]

Hi Janitor,


I tried three different cables first, including a brand new one, but what else i did next was connect the cable to another computer and that one communicated with the router right away, no problems.
This lead me to believe the on board adapter was bad.

Bummer.
If the Mother Board is still under a year old.
See if the manufacturer will replace it for you.

This router doesnt have a USB connector, and my ISP is limited to 20Mbps anyway.

Bummer.

So i guess if i were to look for a USB network adapter i would have to look for one that uses USB 2.0 and not USB 1.1 then? I need at least 20Mbps and i know USB 1.1 wont work that high but USB 2.0 will.


Thanks.

I checked with CyberGuys.
They carry this USB to RJ45 LAN Adapter.
http://www.cyberguys.com/product-detail ... oss=SEARCH


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[MrAl]

Hi Janitor,


Thanks for the info. That adapter looks pretty nice really, at least for my needs.
One question i would have to ask however is just how do they expect to get 1Gb/s out of USB 2.0 which is only 480Mb/s (which is approximatly 0.5Gb/s). I guess they dont I could see it with USB 3.0 though, which i believe is 4.8Gb/s isnt it?

I've seen all kinds of misadvertisements with USB 2.0, saying it is USB 2.0 when really it just is able to plug into the socket and does no where near 480Mb/s.

[Janitor Tzap]

Yeah,

It seems that most of the USB 2.0 to RJ45 LAN Adapters are only rated at 480Mbs.
And I'm not even seeing anything for USB 3.0.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[MrAl]

Hi Janitor,


Yes, that was strange when i read about it. One workaround would be to use two USB ports for one adapter, but that would require two connectors.

I was looking at the PCIE-X1 cards too and they look quite promising.

I ended up getting another PCI card because i know that works ok with XP. It was only 18 bucks so it wasnt too costly either.
Down side is now i dont have any PCI slots left because with this Biostar MoBo i had to get a PCI card that had serial ports because i needed serial ports. That uses up both standard PCI slots. Too bad. I guess what i need is a PCI card that had both Lan and serial ports

[Janitor Tzap]

Hi MrAl,

Is the Router/Modem yours, or belongs to your (I)nternet (P)rovider?
If it's yours, I'd replace it with one that has USB connection.
If it belongs to the IP, ask if you can exchange it for a Router/Modem that has USB connection.

As for finding Combo Serial/LAN PCI Cards.
Good Luck!

The best thing I've found was 8 port Serial PCI Card, or an 8 Port USB PCI Card.

Just not much call for the multi-I/O cards now.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[ltx71cm]

Why not swap? Use the PCI NIC and move the serial port adapters to a USB connection. You certainly won't saturate USB 2.0 with RS232 and the adapters can be had dirt cheap. Plus USB has hubs if you're low on open ports.

[Janitor Tzap]

Why not swap? Use the PCI NIC and move the serial port adapters to a USB connection. You certainly won't saturate USB 2.0 with RS232 and the adapters can be had dirt cheap. Plus USB has hubs if you're low on open ports.

That may sound like a good idea, and it may work with some of the devices that MrAl has.
But for things like serial EPROM burners, some Old serial printers, and other devices that must have IRQ's or pacific data return lines.
USB to Serial Adapters just won't work with them.

I tried to get a older printer to work with one.
Ended up having to take it back, and just installing {like MrAl} an PCI I/O Card.

For every solution.
There is a problem.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[MrAl]

Hi again,


Sorry, i neglected to mention that the serial port card also has a parallel port too. The Biostar MoBo didnt have a parallel port either and i needed that too at one point. I may be able to get around that now though.
Still, i have at least two USB to serial port adapters and didnt want to have them hanging around anymore plugged into ports, even though they are handy sometimes. The serial/parallel card gives me two serial ports so i liked that, and didnt take up any USB ports, and worked pretty nice with the serial ports although the parallel port was slowwww as can be.

Yes i guess i can go back to using the USB adapters at some point if i need that PCI slot, that's a good idea still. I think i'll have to plan better in the future as to what MoBo i buy.
I wouldnt mind trying a PIC-E x1 card though, maybe i can get a serial port like that with parallel too. That would be nice.

I was kinda kidding about the Lan/serial port card before, i didnt think they made one either

[Lenp]

We had a system come in with an on-board Network adapter that was in trouble. At boot there was an error. With no hardware jumpers to disable the adapter. The BIOS options, although they were supposed to disable it, still did not clear the problem. A PCI NIC was not recognized since I guess the trouble making system adapter was still enabled. A USB adapter saved the bacon. There is still an error message at boot but if the user acknowledges it the system works fine with 100M connect over the LAN.
Len

[MrAl]

Hi Len,


Thanks for the info there. I guess at some point i should try that and see how it works with XP.

Was looking at new MoBo's just for the heck of it too, and i see now many of them do not have a floppy connector. They are big on USB 3.0 now and SATA 6gb/s though. USB 3.0 is supposed to be really fast, i'd just like to see some USB thumb drives that can work faster too.