Network lost randomly

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 12:15 am

Hi there. Since I bought my BP6 I'm having a bunch of network problems. (I had a BH6 before)

Every now and then (very randomly, like it can go up to 4 days or down to 2 hours) my Win2k loose the network. The ARP tables are either empty or sometimes only my gateway IP shows up (192.168.1.1) with a MAC address of 00-00-00-00-00-00... And of course no network is accessible.

I didn't have any problem with my old ABIT BH6. I also reinstalled a new Win2k in the process of changing my motherboard.

The only solution is to reboot. I've tried to set my gateway mac address (with ARP -s) with no success so far. The mac address shows up in the ARP -a command but no ping goes through

does anyone has any idea ?

My config is the following:
BP6, 2x533MHz Celeron, RU w/o HTP BIOS
Win2k, ACPI SMP
Realtek RTL8139(A)-based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Adaptec 1200A IDE RAID Controller

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 6:58 am

What PCI slot are you using for the NIC?

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 10:58 am

Well, I tried 3 different PCI slots so far, with a little success. I always try to avoid PCI slot 3... Maybe I should try it!

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 11:24 am

It may work. In both of my BP6 systems, there is a 3Com NIC in PCI slot 3. If the NIC card and the driver for the NIC are designed to share IRQ's, then it should work. The driver for the HPT366 controller (which shares the IRQ for PCI slot 3) is designed to share the IRQ.

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 12:24 pm

The thing is I didn't install the HPT366 drivers because I have no devices attached to it

. Maybe I should do it then ...

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 1:40 pm

Sounds like a plan...

boostland · Post by **boostland** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 9:49 am

I just replaced a Bp6 server that was having random network failures, very similar to what you were describing.
It was running Nt 4 Small Business Server, it would run for days, weeks some times months at a time with no problems. then randomly the network would lose contact with the server.
I replaced the network card, updated the drivers and tested all the cables and the thing would still do it.
One of the raid drives failed and I took the server apart for cleaning, I then noticed a large sticky buildup above the 2nd cpu H/s on the Caps.
It turned out the caps were leaking and as a result the voltages are not stable.
I'm gunna give the bp6 to my brother he can replace the caps and use it for a 3dsmax render box or something.

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Mon Apr 21, 2003 2:04 pm

yes

look for blown or leaking caps

i can give you things to look for when you have think you may have blown caps

voltage swings way too far (no more than + or - .05 VDC, lockups randomly, the chipset gets REALLY hot, a CPU will get REALLY hot, cards fail, programs will error out randomly following a lockup

solutions

send to Abit and have them fix it

buy the $15 woth of caps and replace al lthe caps yourself

hope this helps

Kuun

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 12:10 pm

kuun wrote:buy the $15 woth of caps and replace al lthe caps yourself

How do I know what kind of caps I need? How do I replace them? Is it dangerous? etc...

Thanks

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:06 pm

umm

well there are 2 basic caps in the BP^

the 1500MFD 6.3V radial electrolytic
and 1000MFD 6.3V readial electrolytic

both have a rating of 85C and you wanan try to get the smallest ones you can

if you know how to solder and desolder you're good to go, if not, i wouldn't attempt it.

but if you want you can get the caps at www.digikey.com

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Thu May 08, 2003 7:19 pm

So I did install my Win2k Drivers for the HPT366. My NIC is *not* on slot3, but the problem seems to have disappeared...

I say "seems" because it is kind of random, but it didn't happen since Apr 18...

How could that be possibly related? I'm just confused.

boostland, did you have the drivers installed on your server where you had problems?

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Sat May 10, 2003 10:28 am

hmm

i've never had success in installing hpt366 drivers for my 2K machine and getting the machine to actually work...

Kuun

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Mon May 12, 2003 11:44 am

Well, I didn't have any problems. The thing is I don't have any device connected to the HPT, but the drivers are installed.

This thing sucks. If we could just surgically remove it it would just be great !!!

the_flames · Post by **the_flames** » Tue May 13, 2003 8:21 pm

i find teh same problem with my NIC ... all caps fine , hpt installed and works fine ... I just put it down to PC pixies in my system

as it doesnt affect my pc performance

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Sat May 17, 2003 10:15 pm

heh

i don't loose the network, but thena gain i don't have the HPT66 installed

*shrug*

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Mon May 19, 2003 4:10 pm

After more than a month of uptime, I lost the network again yesterday! I almost thought the problem was fixed!

Well, all my caps are fine (at least they look fine), my HPT drivers are installed, no PCI card is on slot 3, and I run out of alternatives. Maybe the solution is to throw away the BP6 after all...

Well, I'll try again with another NIC, just in case and then (If it doesn't work) I'll roll back my server to a mono Celeron 333 on a good old BH6. That's slow, ok, but at least it works

Any suggestion is more than welcome. I'd really like to keep my dual 533!

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Mon May 19, 2003 5:07 pm

i see a common link between those that have the network problem, and those who do not

the culprit = HPT66

uninstall it, make the computer think it's something it's not, and then disable it and leave it alone

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Mon May 19, 2003 8:10 pm

Weird. Both of my BP6's have a 3Com NIC in PCI slot 3. I transfer data from one BP6 hard drive to the other BP6 hard drive without any problems. Both hard drives are on the HPT366 controllers.

Like I said, weird. Ding!

What driver are you using for your NIC? Win2K, latest driver from manfacturer or ?

Post by **Derek** » Mon May 19, 2003 9:00 pm

hyperspace wrote:Both hard drives are on the HPT366 controllers.

You're setting a bad example!

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Tue May 20, 2003 3:07 pm

that or he's insane

Post by **Derek** » Tue May 20, 2003 4:22 pm

kuun wrote:that or he's insane

hyper, nah! He's just plain crazy!

Sometimes the HPT works, other times it doesn't.

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Tue May 20, 2003 5:45 pm

i guess he's a lucky one eh?

hyperspace · Post by **hyperspace** » Wed May 21, 2003 8:56 am

No, not lucky. Just SCSI!

kuun · Post by **kuun** » Wed May 21, 2003 12:13 pm

mmmmmmmm scsi... *drool*

pieroxy · Post by **pieroxy** » Wed May 21, 2003 12:56 pm

kuun wrote:i see a common link between those that have the network problem, and those who do not

the culprit = HPT66

uninstall it, make the computer think it's something it's not, and then disable it and leave it alone

I tried both. With no HPT366 drivers installed, I loose the network from every day to every week. With the HPT366 drivers installed, I loose the network every month or so (so far).

So the HPT366 drivers are beneficial in my case. And it seems to prove that the HPT is the problem. Now I could try and move my NIC to slot 3... (or to any other slot, once again).

I also loose the network after I reboot my router (not right after, just a couple of hours later - and not every time of course, but still pretty consistently), which didn't happen with my old Mobo. So it could be a totally different problem and the HPT driver is just a coincidence.

BP6.Com

Network lost randomly

Network lost randomly

HPT366 Drivers

AAAaaaaargh