Thursday, January 10, 2008

Unusual Network Adapter Problem

This morning I may have encountered one of the most unique computer problems yet. A customers onboard network adapter was not obtaining an IP address, even after a nice fresh install of windows and even on a Linux live CD. This I had seen before. Simple fix, pop int a PCI network card and call it a day.

Not so fast, the PCI network card would do the exact same thing. I tried two more, one of those of a different brand, with the same results. On top of that I got the exact same results under Linux. The only thing the PCI network cards and the on board network card has in common is the PCI buss. To make it weirder, a USB Ethernet adapter works just fine.

Obviously my recommendation is to simply use a USB Ethernet adapter. I just found it to be a strange problem.

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