Do I need a new Power Supply?

[Nero]

Here's the scoop: Last Friday, I brought my trusty PC to my friend’s house for a LAN party like I have done on many other occasions. I get there and plug it in, but find that while WinXP shows that I am connected to the network, I can't get online, or do anything else that involves a net connection. Even ping gives me: "Unable to resolve data". I fiddle around with the NIC (a 3com etherlink 10/100 PCI), re-install drivers, switch PCI slots, the works. I try different ports on his Netgear 8 port hub, different cables, nothing. Yet all the other PCs brought there that night worked fine. Because of all this, I ended up rebooting many times and after the second or third reboot, my sound card (a Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissimo PCI) disappeared from the hardware manager. The card was still in the PC, but neither WinXP Pro or Win98SE (I dual boot, using 98 as the "in-case-**** happens" OS) could even find the card. I switched slots for the sound card too, even returning them to their original slots, but to no avail. I leave that night, bringing my PC home with me. The next morning, I turn it on, and POOF. There everything was, my net connection returned, and more puzzling: my sound card worked. I chalked it up to the eccentricities of my PC and went along with my business. I shut the PC down for some reason later that day and when I started back up that night, so sound card again. :mad: I fudged around some more, and I started to suspect that with all the crap in my system (see my signature), and my previous experiences with my system not POSTing (post here (http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?threadid=50292)), I might need a new power supply. I have a 250w ATX right now, and I can buy a full tower case with 300w ATX supply for cheap, should I invest in that, or should I go for a premium supply?

UPDATE: I took out my seldom-used Firewire card and rebooted. Windows XP found the card, but couldn’t install all the drivers, and Windows 98 also showed the card there, but unworking (exclamation point). Then I rebooted once more, and 98 found the card and installed drivers. Once I rebooted from 98, and went into XP, it too found the card properly and installed the drivers. As I sit now I have working sound, but I haven’t rebooted since.

In case you want to solve the net access problem, it’s a Netgear 8 Port Hub connected to a Toshiba PCX1100 cable modem. (Which is the same brand I use at my home, where I can get online)

[jazztrumpet216]

I've had problems networking Win XP with non-Win XP computers before. I can get them on the internet, but no gaming, no file transfers, nada. Was anyone else there using Win XP???

As for the other problem... it could be related to your network problem... maybe it's not the NIC or Win XP but your PSU or mobo. Those would be my two guesses. The BE6, which I think you said you had in your sig, is a reliable mobo and I don't think that's the case. My guess would be PSU.

[_Will_]

Originally posted by jazztrumpet216
I've had problems networking Win XP with non-Win XP computers before. I can get them on the internet, but no gaming, no file transfers, nada. Was anyone else there using Win XP???

That actually has more to do with the file systems you're using. Because of security issues NTFS will limit you in some instances if it isn't transfering to other NTFS computers. Gaming will usually work fine but sharing files over the network usually won't work without the aid of another program.

EDIT: No now that I think about it gaming was slightly iffy. It'd usually be more likely to work if person with NT platform hosted the game....but even then...

[Nero]

maybe this'll help: I've been to these LAN parties running WinXP Pro since it came out with no problems. We don't network files, just play games. If we need to send files, we pull a sleazy file transfer over AIM method. The only difference between all those times and now, is the modem connected to the hub. He used to have an ancient Toshiba cable modem (years) old, but then he got a PCX1100. This is when I started to have problems. This is very odd because I use the exact same modem at my house.

This is only part of the problem. When I shut down after posting the topic, when I booted in the morning to check this post, I found that I had lost sound again. ARGH! What could be wrong?