Really weird network problem

[percy]

* English is not my 1st language so something that I try to convey will sound unclear... sorry....

I have spent about 2 weeks trying to figure out this problem with my network.
It all happen because I move and switch my service provider from a Cable to a DSL, and I had to reinstall the server to win98 as win2k is not supported...bummer....

It problem is that everything works fine but once in a while all network cards on the server seems to shut off, but they will be reset in 1-2 minutes. So every single network transaction will be cut off at that time
Initially I though it is the DSL problem, but later I tried pinging the server from one of the client "ping 198.168.0.1", whever the NIC connecting to the DSL modem seems to stop responding but received a time out responce with the NIC connecting to the INternal network as well. Which shows that the windows just turn off both the network card.


okay.. here is the I have 2 NIC on the server, 1 Netgear and 1 Realtek with updated driver. And windows98 SE have all critical updates installed. Netgear is connecting to the internal network and Realtek is connecting to the DSL modem. ( I tried switching them but received the same problem) I use winroute from tiny soft but I tested it and this is not the problem, as I still get the same problem before it is installed.

Setup for the internal NIC of the server -> Specify IP 192.168.0.1 Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Disable wins.. and the rest remain the same.

Setup for the client. -> specify IP 192.168.0.2
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Gateway 192.168.0.1
DNS Server 192.168.0.1
Disable wins.. and the rest remain the same.

Everything should be right as the setup works ... but the contants internet dropping is just plain annoying, as download are cut, connection are drop and chat was kick out.....

Really appreaciate it if anybody could help.
Thank you everybody.

Percy

[YeOldeStonecat]

Can we assume that the hardware is the exact same configuration as you had when the server was Win2K? Is it the same exact box that you replaced or reformatted the harddrive on? Keeping the same network card setup, same PCI slots, etc.

It's odd to see that NT isn't supported by your ISP. Or is NT 4.0 supported? It would most likely be better as a server than 98, depending on what the demands from the workstations are.

[MosDef112]

Nah.. That's not it. Windows 95, 98, and ME were not meant to be run on PC's with multiple adapters binding to IP. What happens is that at any given time, and for no apparent reason, Windows tends to use different default gateways it has available. This happens when you run IP and also use and/or share resources across both adapters. If NetBIOS is enabled on the PC with both NIC's on it, every time a network resource request is made, to a shared folder or printer for example, this request is broadcasted across both networks. Since the IP stack in home edition versions of Windows isn't as robust as say NT, whereas NT will only route IP requests to the first adapter in it's network configuration, and ME will route IP requests to any adapter present and will change it's default route accordingly, this is why when he pings his private LAN he gets a timed out response. When he times out pinging his private LAN, he's really trying to ping past his CPE. When he reboots, the routing tables go back to where they're supposed to be, which is why it goes back to normal for a while. This only holds true if both of your NIC's have default gateways configured. If only one does, hopefully the one attached to your CPE, then this does not apply to you. My best advice to you is to install Windows 2000 or NT on the machine with both NIC's on it, you will save yourself plenty of headaches.