Topic: Network card problem

[Bert]

I have a little bit of a problem when my air conditioner kicks on occassionally my power flickers and this seems to cause my local network nic card to stop working and the only way I have found to bringi it back is to leave the server turned off for a long time (a few days) I have installed a battery backup to keep the server from losing power but for some reason today the server stayed active but the nic died.   Can anyone give me a suggestion on how to bring my nic back to life other then leaving my server off for a few days?

[Cyrus Bharda]

Bert,

Sorry to state the abvious, but have you thought about buying another nic, they are as cheap as chips.

Firstly I'd try another network card to see if it is, it might be the MB, who knows, could be a software thing for all I know, which isnt much .

Yeah see if you can get a spare nic from somewhere, one you know works and try it, if the same thing happens you know its not, if it doesnt happen than bingo, buy another nic and your problem solved

Cyrus Bharda

[Bert]

I have three of them spare and I have tried them and the mother board recognizes them I just cant use a second nic new or not after this happens.  It is almosty like the os disables the second nic.  Can anyoine give me some decent advise

[Cyrus Bharda]

So you have done a full reinstall with the different cards in it? You just cannt swap netowrk cards and expect SME to automatically detect the change, you will probably have to do a full reinstall with the new card to get SME using it, other than that I will refrain from giving out any more un-decent advise.

Cyrus Bharda

[Bert]

Hate to say it but I have done that also and no avail the only way to get it working again that I have found is to just let is sit for a day or two I was just hoping someone would have anybetter advise and SME will recognize nic swaps if they are the same type of nic

[Tom Haynes]

Not that I am the expert, but if it does this with more than one ethernet card, I claim you have a motherboard problem. You might want to try another slot if there is one. I would also start looking for a new motherbord/whatever.

From the console utility (possibly the default login) on the local machine, "configure your server" to make it find a new card. I moved a hard drive to a new machine, and ran the configure. After a reboot, it all worked.

[Bert]

Where is this utility at??

[Bert]

I would like to apologize to the two of you for being kinda snappy this problem has been bothering me for quite sometime and it happened again.  I did figure out what my problem is I think my hub is going bad.  But thatnk you for you assistance and again I apologize

[Cyrus Bharda]

SSH to your server and logon as admin and then use number

"2. Configure this server."

Cyrus Bharda

[Cyrus Bharda]

Bert,

That's alright, we all get that way sometimes it is very annoying trying to troubleshoot hardware sometimes

Hope it all works out in the end for you

Cyrus Bharda

[Tom Haynes]

If you have local access to the machine the server console will be what you see when you boot (unless you have it set to go to a login prompt). If you get the login prompt, login as admin.

We all get a little testy sometimes. HW stuff can push me over the edge.

Don't sweat it...

[Scott Smith]

Hate to bring this up, but if your A/C is pulling down your line power, then it is very likely you will continue to have problems. Replacing an ailing/failing hub or NIC or motherboard may solve your problem short term; however, major fluctuations in line power can wreak havoc with electronic equipment. In other words, you may be facing similar problems down the road.

You should replace the suspect hardware, that is certain; however, you should consider rectifying the problem with the A/C and/or the line power. You may also want to invest in either a power conditioner or a full online UPS for your system.

[Mark]

Scott Smith wrote:
> Hate to bring this up, but if your A/C is pulling down your line power,
> then it is very likely you will continue to have problems.

I agree with Scott. When I read your note I was reminded of network problem I ran into some years ago. You might want make certain that the network cables and devices are not too close to the A/C unit itself.

In my case, every now and then the server "disappeared" or files got scrambled. It was hard to figure this out because, in the end, the source of the problem was not the network hardward per se. It was a machine was in an adjacent room, rarely used but one that generated a magnetic field that was detectable above ambiant levels some 12 feet away. The machine was a rotor winding device for rewinding electric motors used on submarines.

As it happened a workstation was against the wall common with the machine in the other room and a mere four feet from the machine itself. We moved the workstation and all was good again. Never did upgrade the cable or the NIC's.

HTH,

 - Mark

[Michael Smith]

Don't forget to put your hubs, switches, routers, etc. on a UPS!  You can get cheap ones that will run a number of low-power devices such as those for $40 US.  I even have one of these in my entertainment center, keeping the VCR, cable box, entertainment center PC, DVD player, etc. powered.