Problem with Network Adapter

[Anwar]

Hello everyone,

I cannot access the internet, every time i have to reboot my system along with network adapter in order to get access to internet. Is something wrong with my network adapter. Or it is the problem with some thing else? Can any one tell why i'm facing such kind of problem? Any help on this issue would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Milton.J]

Network connectivity problems have various causes, but they typically occur because of incorrect network adapters, incorrect switch settings, faulty hardware, or driver issues. Some connectivity symptoms are intermittent and do not clearly point to any one of these causes.

Common causes of connectivity problems are as follows:

• Network adapters and switch ports have mismatching duplex levels or transfer speed settings.
  
• Network adapters or switches with transmission rates of 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps) do not switch over correctly. Some autosense settings may not correctly detect the speed of some network adapters.
  
• The network adapter is incompatible with the motherboard or other hardware or software components and drivers.

[Spyrus]

To identify which layer is causing the problem

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Network and Internet Connections.

3. Under or pick a Control Panel icon, click Network Connections.

4. In the Network Connections window, examine the status of your network adapter:

• Connected: Your computer is properly connected to your modem, router, or wireless network, but there is a problem between your router and the Internet.
  
• Disabled: Someone has manually disabled the network adapter. To fix the problem, right-click the adapter, and then click Enable.
  
• Unplugged: Your computer cannot detect the connection to your modem or router.
  
• Not connected: Your computer cannot connect to your wireless network.
  
• Limited or no connectivity: Your computer is properly connected to your modem, router, or wireless network, but your router is misconfigured or there is a problem between your modem and the Internet.

[Shen]

It can be problem with your drivers too. Follow these steps to troubleshoot driver problems:

1. From the Start menu or desktop, right-click My Computer, and select Manage.

2. Under "Computer Management", click Device Manager.

3. In the right pane, double-click Other devices if possible. If the wireless network adapter is in this folder, the drivers for the network adapter have not been installed.

4. Double-click Network adapters and see if a wireless network adapter is present.

• If the wireless network adapter is present, double-click it. Under the General tab, confirm that the device is working properly. If it is not, you will see an error code under "Device Status". You can further troubleshoot the error by searching for the error code at the Microsoft support web site.
  
• If the wireless network adapter is not present under either Network adapters or Other devices, either the problem is with the device or the driver may not be installed.

[Steve123]

To troubleshoot network adapter problems, follow these steps:

1. Use the Ping or PathPing command-line tools to test basic connectivity. Use Ping to isolate network hardware problems and incompatible configurations. Use PathPing to detect packet loss over multiple-hop trips.

To watch Ping statistics, use the ping -t command. To see statistics and continue, press CTRL+BREAK. To stop, press CTRL+C. If you detect lost packets in the statistics output, it indicates networking problems up to Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layer 3 (IP-level connectivity).

If the remote system that you ping is across a high-delay link, such as a satellite link, responses may take longer. Use the -w (wait) switch to specify a longer time-out.

2. Check the event logs for network-card-related entries or connectivity-related entries.

3. Check whether the network adapter is on the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).

4. Check other computers that use the same default gateway that are plugged into the same hub or switch. If these computers do not experience network connectivity problems, the problem may be a faulty network adapter on one computer.

If this is the case, update the network adapter driver to the latest version.

5. Contact the vendor of each motherboard and update the BIOS of the boards. Some network adapters and motherboards or BIOS versions are incompatible. Obtain the latest version from the vendor's Web site or contact your hardware vendor.

6. Check the network adapter and uplink hardware (hub or switch) for common settings. Make sure that all complementing network resources (network adapter, hub, and switch) are set to the same speed and duplex level. If the media type is set to autosense, autosensing, or autodetect, or "Auto Select," make sure that all components are autosensing correctly.

On some switches, a duplex setting of Auto may cause it to use half-duplex. You may have to force it to use full-duplex.

Reset the switch, restart the client, and test the connectivity.

Put the client and the server on a passive hub. If communication resumes, the problem may be caused by an incorrect network switch configuration.

For more information about how to configure the devices, contact your hardware vendor.

7. Manually set the network adapter of the computer that has connectivity problems to half-duplex and a lower speed.

Connect the system to a switch that is configured to half-duplex and 10-Mbps, or use a 10-Mbps hub, to see whether connection can be established at a lower transmission speed.

To increase performance, increase the speed settings manually to 100 Mbps, and then restart the computers. Test for network connectivity loss, increase the setting to full-duplex, and then restart the computers. If network loss occurs, reduce the duplex setting and the speed to the previous settings.

8. Swap the network cable between the failing system and the hub or switch.

9. Replace the network adapter with a network adapter that has been tested and proven reliable. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Remove the network adapter diagnostics program.

2. Remove the network adapter in Network properties.

3. Install the new network adapter.

10. Run Network Monitor at the same time on both ends of the network connection. After you filter the traces on the addresses of the two systems, compare both traces to see whether you can see the same traffic.

Use TCP Retransmit, the Network Monitor Experts tool, to detect TCP retransmissions. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Network Monitor.

2. On the Tools menu, click Experts, and then click TCP Retransmit in the navigation pane.

3. Click Add to Runlist.

4. Click Run Experts.

If frames are missing in one of the traces, check all intermediate cabling, hubs, switches, and routers for hardware or configuration errors.