Network card, can that be my problem???

[gbiddle]

I have spent the ENTIRE weekend fighting this problem.
Wednesday: I got my new Linksys BEFRS41 router, 100 ft. Belkin 10/100BT CAT5 Patch cable, Linksys Etherfast ENET PCI 10/100 PNP network card and 7 ft. Belkin 10/100 CAT5 Patch cable.

Thursday: Hooked up the router using the 7 ft. Belkin cable between my router and network card. I used the patch cable supplied by my ISP between the modem and router. The network card supplied by my ISP when they hooked up the modem was a Kingston KNE30T EtheRx Client PCI 10BT Ethernet Adapter card. I left it in the computer (Win 98SE & Speedguide Tweak) and set everything up and it seemed to work good.

Friday: Pulled the 100 ft. Belkin through the house to my other computer I wanted to network to. Installed the Linksys network card in the other computer (Windows ME no Tweaks) hooked the cable up and went through the setup. Everything worked OK.

Saturday: I started working on getting the computers to see each other, sharing drives, and sharing printers. Everything worked good there. I was on my main computer checking out different things to make sure they worked AOL IM, MSN IM, ICQ and Email.
Then I went to Napster and noticed that no one was downloading from me and I could not download from anyone on my "Hot List" and IF I did a search for a file and found users with that file it would take selections from different ones till I could find one to download from and the speed was nothing like what I had experienced before the new router.
Without making this any longer than it already is I have tried a lot of things and have come up with nothing. Firmware upgrade, releasing ports, changed so many settings it is mind boggling. Still nothing....

Sunday: I install Napster on the other computer (Windows ME / Linksys network card no Tweaks) and I can download from most anyone and it is FAST!

Could the problem be the Kingston card?
I did notice on the Linksys Firmware page that there were "known" problem network cards. There were some Kingston cards listed but not "exactly" the number I have. Close but not exact.

Anyone want to jump in and offer some advice???

[glc1]

Originally posted by gbiddle:
Could the problem be the Kingston card?That's easy to find out. Take a "working" NIC from one of the other systems and try it in the troublesome system.

[ 02-11-2001: Message edited by: glc1 ]

[DDELFIERRO]

While I know next to nothing about networks or wiring... doesn't 100' of any kind of cable sound like a potential problem?

[steve]

I suggested in your other post that you check your cabling also, pretty easy & fast to do. Give it a try.

[crazyman]

yes,thats what I say also,I beleive that you need to keep cat5 to 50 foot max runs.

[twwabw]

No, not true. Cat5 can run with no loss or problems up to about 325 feet max. 100' is nothing.

I would suspect the NIC. Yes, there are some cards that pose problems with the Linky, for unknown reasons. I just set one up last week for a guy with a New Dell, that came with a 3Com NIC, that would not let the router get a WAN IP no matter what I tried. Removed the NIC, replaced with another brand (Intel), and it instantly picked up the WAN IP.

Go figure.


Originally posted by DDELFIERRO:
While I know next to nothing about networks or wiring... doesn't 100' of any kind of cable sound like a potential problem?


Originally posted by crazyman:
yes,thats what I say also,I beleive that you need to keep cat5 to 50 foot max runs.

[gbiddle]

The computer that is hooked to the 100ft cable (Windows ME) is the one Napster will run on. I read up on this before I bought the 100 ft cable and what twwabw is saying is exactly what I read on a networking site. There is not suppose to be a problem as long as the run is not over 300 and whatever feet long. Also the model Belkin cable I purchased is suppose to be one of their top of the line cables they have.
I have talked to one of the networking people here at work and he thinks I need to take out the Kingston card and replace it with another card.
The way he explained it to me was my ISP furnished me with a MAC address tied to the Kingston card I that I need to use and he says I need to get that out front on the router and box the Kingston card and use another card in the computer so that the card that has the MAC address is not in the computer. I have a little trouble understanding this but it does seem logical.
He talks way above my head on this but I think he is right.
I'm off to the computer store this afternoon to get one and set it up and see what happens.
I'll report back.

[ 02-12-2001: Message edited by: gbiddle ]

[Gandalf]

could be..

[glc1]

Originally posted by gbiddle:
There is not suppose to be a problem as long as the run is not over 300 and whatever feet long.328 feet, to be exact :)

[steve]

Check the back of your computer case and make sure you see a light where the NIC card is. I had an AOpen NIC card that had a really bad intermittent connection and would drop off my LAN, until one day when I was messing around and saw the light blinking on, then off. I reseated it, put it in a different slot, and it still did the same thing, in that box and another. I trashed it and put in a 3Com card and now it works great. I still think you should try switching your 2 Cat 5 cables just to see if you still have connectivity. Hope your new card works out for you, it'll be worth it in the end.

[gbiddle]

FINALLY!!!!!
I got it working.
I replaced the network card with a Linksys.
Set up my MAC address in the router with the one that my ISP gave me.
Napster still would not work.
Uninstalled Napster.
Reinstalled Napster.
When I got to the part about the firewall it was already checked that I was behind one. (It must have determined that on it's own because I do not remember that being the default selection on previous installations.)
Logged on and BINGO.... fast and I seem to be able to draft off everyone......L*.. till the courts close them down.

*THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT TRIED TO HELP!!!*