Solved Can a bad NIC driver takedown a router?

[zapp22]

I'm trying to debug something.
this sounds illogical to me but I'll ask it:
can a bad NIC driver on a client wstation attached by ethernet to a router impede the router in such a way that it loses its connectivity... basically "offs" the router?

the second question would be: could an intermittent problem [firmware/hardware] with the workstations's nic do this?

thx for the benefit of your experience?

 

[Parman]

The term is a jabber, jabber is any device that is handling electrical signals improperly. This could be your problem, it could be sending out electrical signals constantly to your router not allowing any other traffic to take place, but the problem would go way when your disconnect the device from the network.

firmware, driver updates might fix this but its normally a hardware issue or electrical interference.

 

[Zepher]

I am going to say yes it is possible since I have experienced that issue with one of our computers.
I never figured it out, it was intermittent for a few days and went away.

When the problem happened, no machine could access the Internet, internal network still functioned since I could see and move files between the 5 computers.
As soon as you unplug that computer, Internet functioned, plug it in and the Internet stopped.
Rebooting fixed the issue the few times it happened and it hasn't happended since.

 

[zapp22]

wow... thats even stranger. I would almost prefer a consistent glitch
a friend mentioned to me that ad hoc setting on the nic might cause an issue? not sure where to find that switch but I'm looking

 

[Parman]

ad-hoc is a wireless setting that allows two computer to connect to each other without a central connection point.

1. you would have to be using a wireless card.
2. It would not effect you're router since it wouldn't be connecting to it.

I have never heard of ad-hoc mode on wired lan connection sorry.

 

[zapp22]

ok. I'll scratch that one from the checklist.
I changed some settings on my repeater and am letting it cook awhile now with a load on it - previously things went to toilet after some time of use - since I was not looking for trouble I don't know how long it took for the degradation but it would be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour

I'm leaning toward a theory of multiple conflicts - nics/wifi-adapters/router/repeater ... too many moving parts to just blame that one device

 

[Parman]

Is your system connected via Wired or Wireless?

I'm leaning toward a theory of multiple conflicts - nics/wifi-adapters/router/repeater ... too many moving parts to just blame that one device

Thats what we do we figure out which 1 device is causing the problem, but if you're running on a wired network then its between the NIC and the ROUTER.

 

[zapp22]

SOLVED.
Turns out it was two gremlins that together gave a different looking picture than one or other. One was Broadcom NetXtreme bugginess that has apparently [I read their driver release history] been around a long time with various iterations of windows - basically Flow Control doesn't play well. Turned OFF Flow Control and no more halts on big streams. Perfect. The second thing was that router A is serving as my wifi AP - has been in place awhile happily. the old router that was bridged to it wirelessly died. New router config'd as Repeater - I caused some issues by not disabling every blasted thing that could interfere - my guess it was its own firewall but it could have been otherwise. Redid it very carefully and all is just peachy despite the two routers being diff brands & chipsets etc.

 

[chev65]

That flow control setting seems to cause problems on many different systems.

I'm not too surprised about the repeater problem as dual router set ups aren't always so easy to set up correctly, this is why I tell people to purchase a dedicated access point because setting them up is easier for the average consumer.

Anyway glad you figured this out Zapp, I was watching with interest.

 

[Parman]

Glad you got it all worked out.