NIC Problem?

[Steeple]

I have a Shuttle SB61G2 XPC, with an integrated RealTek NIC, running Win2K. This computer has suddenly lost the ability to connect with my network (wired) and with the internet. Through a process of substitution and/or replacement with known good hardware, I have eliminated wiring, jacks, router, switch, etc. as problem areas. I've uninstalled and re-installed the NIC multiple times, both through the control panel using the add/remove hardware function and through device manager. I've deleted, installed, re-installed and updated the driver multiple times. I've run the internet connection wizard multiple times. The "local area connection status" indicates that packets are being sent, but none are being received. Trying to ping the router yields a report that says "destination host unreachable," 4 packets are sent and 0 are received.

Is this a hardware or a software problem? What do I try next? I'm at a loss and I'll appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

[John Prophet]

maybe uninstall and reinstall the tcp/ip "stack" from the nic

right click "my network places"...."properties"....click on and remove the tcp/ip related to the nic.

Then add it back by clicking "add / protocol / microsoft /tcp/ip"

[Steeple]

J P --

Thanks much for the suggestion. Sorry, but I forgot to include that one in the list of things I've tried that didn't work.

Any other thoughts?

[S.D.Willie]

what ip address are you getting by the way. do an "ipconfig" in a dos prompt to see what is is and see if its a 169 address. if it is, there are other options to try too. just for arguments sake ping the loopback address in a dos prompt too.
the command is "ping 127.0.0.1"
that will just test the internal connectivity of the onboard LAN. usually it will ping fine in most cases.

[Steeple]

S. D. --

The address is: 169.254.155.52.

Also, as you suggested, I tried pinging 127.0.0.1 and the report was: Request Timed Out; 4 packets sent, 0 received, 4 lost.

[S.D.Willie]

thats the ip address that windows assigns if it cant reach the dhcp server. it wont let you get out. im guessing you already tried

ipconfig /release ......and
ipconfig /renew in a dos prompt right?

i think even when you get an ip like that you can still ping the loopback address. that makes me think the onboard nic on that machine is bad/flaky/shot. the other idea i mentioned had to do with the registry and deleting a few winsock keys, then adding tcp/ip but IMO i would try another pci nic card. theyre dirt cheap these days and if you were broke i might have a few laying around here anyway if you want.

btw, are there even link lights on it when its up?

[John Prophet]

pinging 127.0.0.1 is called a loopback test...that is the lowest level test you can do..if you cant pass that, you dont bother checking anything else..you just get a new nic and disable the built in one in the bios.

[Steeple]

John Prophet and S.D.Willie --

Thank you both. After having failed the loopback test, I think it is time to move on to a new NIC. My Shuttle XPC has only 1 internal PCI slot and it is filled. What do you think of external USB 2 NIC's?

[HeadBand]

what is in the pci slot mabey it would be wiser to make that external