[NTLUG:Discuss] [OT] Hardware questions

[Terry]

On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 17:38:55 -0600, Lance Simmons <lance at lsimmons.net> wrote:
> 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?

Network adapters sometimes go bad and I would assume that's what's
happened to yours.  I'm no authority but if you've disabled it, you
shouldn't have any more trouble out of it.  Will something else on the
motherbhoard go bad next?  Who knows...?  Just consider it fixed for
now, that's about all there is to it, any thing more is just
speculation.