XPS 410 Network Problem

Question

When I recieved my 410, I was experiencing random reboots when surfing the net. I found that it stopped when I manually set the NIC to use 100mb/full duplex rather than auto-detect. Since my router isn't gigabit, i figured that might be the source of some trouble and didn't think much of it after that.

The last couple of days, I have been trying to copy files between computers and I noticed anything coming off of the 410 was really slow...whether using the 410 to send it or pulling it from the 410 from the other computer.

I found the Intel drivers have a diagnostic tool, so I ran that and found this:

No cable problems detected.

Test details Polarity : NormalCable Offline Test

Poor quality cable detected

Possible causes: Faulty cable or connector.Test details

Cable Quality

The test detected a bad connection.

Distance to problem: 4 meters.

I have tried several cables and even my old router with the same results, leading me to believe the ethernet port on my motherboard is bad and is likely the source of the reboot problems I was having before when using the Internet.

Any thoughts before I dive head first into Dell support run around?

Message Edited by nmcbride on 11-10-200607:10 PM

Message Edited by nmcbride on 11-16-200608:32 PM

salucchi · Answer

Hi,   I would leave the XPS at Auto negotiate. Since the XPS 410 has gig ethernet and your router is only 100mb, you should see that they will both synch up at 100 mbps(LAN). If you think your having issues with the on-board nic a quick test would be to buy a cheap 100mb pci nic for $10-14$ and toss it into an open pci slot in your XPS 410. Disable the on-board nic in the bios prior to doing so. This will tell you if your on-board nic is truly the problem. If so and your still with-in your 21 day return policy I'd get a new machine, if outside the 21 days then you'd probably get a new motherboard. Good Luck.

nmcbride · Answer

If I leave it at auto-negotiate, the computer randomly reboots itself.

sawaddi · Answer

If you are inside 21 days, return it.  Don't take a chance.  If they try to fix it and your 21 day return expires, you are stuck with it.

nmcbride · Answer

I'm about 2-3 weeks past the 21 days.   Going to have to deal with tech support on this one.

Davet50 · Answer

did you check for updated drivers...   Might want to move this over to the networking forum....also

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XPS 410 Network Problem

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