Strange Reboot issue w/new nics

A serious thank you to anyone who can help me solve this issue.

A 16bit legacy SMC NIC sat in my P850. Worked fine. However, it was only a
10mbs card, and I got a really big pipe to plug into - so - I bought a new
10/100 PCI nic, and plugged it in. It seemed to work just fine, but then it
caused the computer to reboot (and again and again - randomly). Sometimes
after an hour, others after several hours. So, I bought a different brand -
new 10/100 PCI nic. SAME THING happed. Both new PCI nics are running on
IRQ 11 and - I can't change it.. I'd love to - but - it's not changeable in
any method that I'm aware... They are PNP - and - windows won't let me
change the settings (option grayed out).

I'm assuming the IRQ is conflicting with something, even though windows
tells me it's not. However, it may be something I'm not thinking of. Any
ideas from anyone ??

(the 16bit card is back in....)

Thanks VERY much
Shannon
www.fidotel.com (unless it's rebooting)....

--
FidoTel Online BBS
Virginia Beach, VA
http://www.fidotel.com
ftp://ftp.fidotel.com (mailer port 22)
Bink.fidotel.com
Telnet://telnet.fidotel.com
Front End Mailer over IP: fidotel.com [24]

~DudeMaster wrote:

> A serious thank you to anyone who can help me solve this issue.
>
> A 16bit legacy SMC NIC sat in my P850. Worked fine. However, it was only a
> 10mbs card, and I got a really big pipe to plug into - so - I bought a new
> 10/100 PCI nic, and plugged it in. It seemed to work just fine, but then it
> caused the computer to reboot (and again and again - randomly). Sometimes
> after an hour, others after several hours. So, I bought a different brand -
> new 10/100 PCI nic. SAME THING happed. Both new PCI nics are running on
> IRQ 11 and - I can't change it.. I'd love to - but - it's not changeable in
> any method that I'm aware... They are PNP - and - windows won't let me
> change the settings (option grayed out).
>
> I'm assuming the IRQ is conflicting with something, even though windows
> tells me it's not. However, it may be something I'm not thinking of. Any
> ideas from anyone ??
>
> (the 16bit card is back in....)
>
> Thanks VERY much
> Shannon
> www.fidotel.com (unless it's rebooting)....
>

That sounds like a motherboard/BIOS problem to me.


--
After being targeted with gigabytes of trash by the
"SWEN" worm, I have concluded we must conceal our
e-mail address. Our true address is the mirror image
of what you see before the "@" symbol. It's a shame
such steps are necessary.

Charlie

>
> That sounds like a motherboard/BIOS problem to me.
>

I thought of that - and I haven't discarded that issue - but with the 16bit
card back in the machine, it hasn't rebooted again... Assuming you are
correct, how should I troublshoot something like that?

Sincere kudos,
Shannon

--
FidoTel Online BBS
Virginia Beach, VA
http://www.fidotel.com
ftp://ftp.fidotel.com (mailer port 22)
Bink.fidotel.com
Telnet://telnet.fidotel.com
Front End Mailer over IP: fidotel.com [24]
"CJT" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> ~DudeMaster wrote:
>
> > A serious thank you to anyone who can help me solve this issue.
> >
> > A 16bit legacy SMC NIC sat in my P850. Worked fine. However, it was
only a
> > 10mbs card, and I got a really big pipe to plug into - so - I bought a
new
> > 10/100 PCI nic, and plugged it in. It seemed to work just fine, but then
it
> > caused the computer to reboot (and again and again - randomly).
Sometimes
> > after an hour, others after several hours. So, I bought a different
brand -
> > new 10/100 PCI nic. SAME THING happed. Both new PCI nics are running
on
> > IRQ 11 and - I can't change it.. I'd love to - but - it's not changeable
in
> > any method that I'm aware... They are PNP - and - windows won't let me
> > change the settings (option grayed out).
> >
> > I'm assuming the IRQ is conflicting with something, even though windows
> > tells me it's not. However, it may be something I'm not thinking of.
Any
> > ideas from anyone ??
> >
> > (the 16bit card is back in....)
> >
> > Thanks VERY much
> > Shannon
> > www.fidotel.com (unless it's rebooting)....
> >
>
> --
> After being targeted with gigabytes of trash by the
> "SWEN" worm, I have concluded we must conceal our
> e-mail address. Our true address is the mirror image
> of what you see before the "@" symbol. It's a shame
> such steps are necessary.
>
> Charlie
>

~DudeMaster wrote:

>>That sounds like a motherboard/BIOS problem to me.
>>
>
>
> I thought of that - and I haven't discarded that issue - but with the 16bit
> card back in the machine, it hasn't rebooted again... Assuming you are
> correct, how should I troublshoot something like that?
>
> Sincere kudos,
> Shannon
>

It's not easy. Steps one might consider:

Moving the card to a different slot. Many motherboards don't treat all
their slots the same, especially with respect to interrupts and bus
mastering capabilities, and often that is poorly documented at best.

Checking that the version of BIOS in use is appropriate.

Running the machine "bare" for a while, with all optional cards other
than the NIC removed, to see whether there's an interaction (probably
via shared interrupts, but also possibly electrical).

Carefully checking BIOS setup choices, and selection of a "failsafe"
option if one exists. It's possible the higher speeds are stressing
a bus or memory that was coasting before.

.... just some thoughts.

--
After being targeted with gigabytes of trash by the
"SWEN" worm, I have concluded we must conceal our
e-mail address. Our true address is the mirror image
of what you see before the "@" symbol. It's a shame
such steps are necessary.

Charlie

Update your BIOS, it worked for me once.


"~DudeMaster" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:JcKhb.31331$k74.26969@lakeread05...
> A serious thank you to anyone who can help me solve this issue.
>
> A 16bit legacy SMC NIC sat in my P850. Worked fine. However, it was only
a
> 10mbs card, and I got a really big pipe to plug into - so - I bought a
new
> 10/100 PCI nic, and plugged it in. It seemed to work just fine, but then
it
> caused the computer to reboot (and again and again - randomly). Sometimes
> after an hour, others after several hours. So, I bought a different
brand -
> new 10/100 PCI nic. SAME THING happed. Both new PCI nics are running on
> IRQ 11 and - I can't change it.. I'd love to - but - it's not changeable
in
> any method that I'm aware... They are PNP - and - windows won't let me
> change the settings (option grayed out).
>
> I'm assuming the IRQ is conflicting with something, even though windows
> tells me it's not. However, it may be something I'm not thinking of. Any
> ideas from anyone ??
>
> (the 16bit card is back in....)
>
> Thanks VERY much
> Shannon
> www.fidotel.com (unless it's rebooting)....
>
> --
> FidoTel Online BBS
> Virginia Beach, VA
> http://www.fidotel.com
> ftp://ftp.fidotel.com (mailer port 22)
> Bink.fidotel.com
> Telnet://telnet.fidotel.com
> Front End Mailer over IP: fidotel.com [24]
>
>