Linksys LNEPCI2 Network Adapters

[darketernal]

Hello,

I've been having a lot of problems with the LNEPCI2 Linksys ethernet adapters that came with my "Network Starter Kit" - a hub and 2 NICs - got it at Office Depot for $20, who can pass it up? The hub is great - no problems, I've been using it for a long time now.

I used to use an ISA NIC for my computer but when I got the kit I tried to switch to the PnP and therefore IRQ-conserving PCI adapter LNEPCI2.

It installed great, without a hitch. But...after rebooting, I started testing filesharing and I started transferring files from my computer to another PC - and about 5MB into the transfer, the computer just up and locked up. :confused: The screen totally froze, and everything was unresponsive. On good days the computer will reboot itself after this incident. On bad days it will just sit there until i mash the reset button.

I tried all sorts of network protocols and the same thing, so I guess it is a hardware problem, but maybe I am wrong? What do you guys think? Has anyone else bought the same card/kit and had the same problem? By the way, another thing that COULD be causing the problem is a wireless NIC connected to my USB port - but it's using totally different protocols (TCP/IP and IPX) as opposed to on the ethernet subnet (NetBEUI). But maybe.

I'd appreciate any help anyone could give me on this. Right now, I'm back to suffering with my ISA, resource-munching card. Help!! :eek:

-darketernal

[Rodney]

I bought that kit almost five years ago, but it cost around $100 then!

I have used the LNEPCI2 without a single bit of trouble since I owned it. The closest I have come to a duplication of your "problem" was with a system that used a LinkSys TX100 v4. I discovered that MemTurbo II was locking the system up with the cheap [free actually] CompUSA memory I put in it. Sorry, I can’t help much further. I reply posted to make two separate comments:

1.) Why are you using NetBEUI instead of TCP/IP on the LNEPCI2? NetBEUI has no "confirmation" protocol like TCP/IP that guarantees the transmission (and the order of the packet arrival).

I see both TCP/IP and SPX/IPX on the USB NIC. I know MS W9x/ME installs both protocols by default. Do you have a Novell machine connected on that network card? If not, I suggest you removed the SPX/IPX protocol. You will have less risk of a problem, slightly more free memory, and better performance.

[darketernal]

Well, the reason I have NetBEUI is that I am already using IPX/SPX to communicate with other computers on the main network that is connected via wireless (for some reason I can't browse Network Neighborhood without it and netbios support - why? but it's not very important, anyways...) If I enable IPX on the other network card also they will conflict, and the wireless NIC will take precedence, find the users on the wireless segment and others connected to the router, and not find anything that the ethernet card reports.

That's why I installed NetBEUI for the segment in my room so that nothing will conflict. Is there any other networking protocol that could be used that is more resource-efficient and safe besides IPX and TCP/IP? Right now I'm using Artisoft's i.Share 3.5 to share my internet connection to the room segment over NetBEUI, which is quite stable and reliable so far.

The big question is, do you know how I could prevent the protocol conflict between adapters besides installing something like Windows XP which has native NIC bridging support and therefore can be used with only one protocol layer for the whole shebang. (Or so I understand.)

Wow. $100 5 years ago. For $20 it must have been the last ever in stock at OfficeDepot. But I still think that for what it was worth I got a good deal. Now if those darn NICs worked, that would be a godlike deal.