[NTLUG:Discuss] [OT] Hardware questions

Lance Simmons lance at lsimmons.net
Thu Feb 10 17:38:55 CST 2005


This isn't exactly a Linux question, but it did involve Linux software,
and I know lots of you are knowledgeable about hardware.

Today the built-in ethernet adapter on my motherboard started acting
weird.  Each time I tried to boot the machine, the startup would get to
the point where eth0 looked for a dhcp share, and then the kernel would
hang, with the number lock and scroll lock keys blinking away.

This ethernet adapter has worked fine for about a year and a half, and I
can't think of anything I've done in the past day or two that would
explain this problem.

I tried several different kernels, but they all had the same problem.
If I removed the jack from the ethernet adapter, the bootup went OK, but
as soon as I tried to ifup eth0 to get a dhcp share, the kernel crashed
again.

The wireless router to which the adapter was connected (by a wire,
obviously) was still working fine with the other computers on my home
network, but I restarted the router several times trying to make sure
the problem wasn't on that end.

Finally I grabbed an old ethernet card, slapped it into a pci slot, and
changed the bios so that the onboard network adapter is no longer
enabled.  When I booted, everything was fine, just as it had been up til
today.

Now, here are my questions:

(1) am I right in assuming that the problem was with the onboard
ethernet adapter?

(2) if so, should I be worried now that my motherboard is about to
become unusable?  Do onboard network adapters often die like this
without the motherboard having a problem?  Should I be looking for a new
motherboard?

-- 
Lance Simmons




More information about the Discuss mailing list