[manhart]

Need some help with my network.

I'm running Netgear NICs in both computers, except one of the computers is doing something messed up. When it boots up it will have a connection (indicated in WinXP, on NIC and on Router). But after a couple of minutes, it loses connection and then gains it back, loses it and then gains it back...it just repeats the cycle every second until it is rebooted. Then it eventually does it again.

Thanks for any replies.

[srs]

Make sure it's seated tightly. If it is, try changing slots. If that doesn't fix it, check the cable. If that doesn't do it, you may have a chattering nic which is the precursor to death. Whatever it is, it sure sounds to me like a physical layer problem.

[Movax]

Try a different network cable.

[Huckleberry]

They also could be having problems negotiating speeds and/or duplex. This may be due to a cable problem, a flaky NIC, or possibly some slight incompatibility between the NICs themselves. If the loss of connection is periodic in nature, this would be a likely cause.

I suppose there is a way to force one or both cards into 100Mbps/Full Duplex, but I couldn't tell you how. Maybe somebody else out there does.

[Kingslayer]

I agree, this sounds like a negotiation problem.