Whether you have a home network or are among the ever-increasing number of people signing up for broadband Internet access, your computer’s NIC (Network Interface Card) is its lifeline to the rest of the world. Making sure your NIC runs at peak performance (or runs at all) is a big priority for any PC user, and doing so has become increasingly difficult because of the problems associated with wireless NICs. Most of today’s computers have a NIC integrated directly into the computer’s motherboard. If you have an older computer, the NIC is most likely installed in a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot, or it may have an external NIC that attaches to a USB port. If the computer has a wired NIC, you can identify it by looking for an Ethernet port, which looks like an oversized phone jack and has lights above or below it that flash to indicate network activity. An Ethernet cable attaches to the jack, and then the other end of the cable attaches to a broadband modem or to a router (also called a gateway or access point) if you have a home network. Wireless NICs typically attach to one of the computer’s USB ports (or slide into an expansion bay if you have a notebook computer), although some wireless NICs designed for desktop PCs use a PCI slot and have an antenna instead of an Ethernet port. The NIC is just one link in the chain between the computer and the Internet or network, so it’s sometimes difficult to tell if the NIC is responsible when those types of connections go haywire. With wired and wireless NICs, if the connection is working but seems very slow (especially over the network), then the NIC is likely to blame. If there is no connection at all, check the router and broadband modem first to make sure they are plugged in and operational. Wired NICs are incredibly reliable, while wireless NICs are notoriously unreliable, so keep that in mind when determining what is responsible for network and Internet problems. If the router and broadband modem seem to be working properly and you don’t see any lights blinking on the NIC, the NIC is likely dead and needs to be replaced. Beyond that, there are several common troubleshooting steps you can take that will clear up most problems. All of the following tips apply to Windows XP but will work with other versions of Windows with slight modifications. General Troubleshooting
Problem: The NIC doesn’t run as fast as advertised.
Solution: Click Start, Control Panel, and Switch To Classic View (if necessary), and double-click Network Connections. Right-click Local Area Connection, click Properties, and click Configure. Select the Advanced tab and click the speed-related entry in the Property box (on our PC it was labeled Link Speed & Duplex, but this may vary depending on the NIC that is installed). Use the Value dropdown box to select the fastest speed your NIC supports, which is likely 10/100Mbps (megabits per second) Full Duplex but may be 1,000Mbps Full Duplex if you have a Gigabit Ethernet card installed. Click OK and reboot the computer. The card should operate at its full speed, assuming your router and the network computer you’re connecting to also support that speed. The speed of a wireless NIC depends mainly on the strength of the wireless signal it receives. You can get a quick read of the strength of your NIC’s wireless connection by hovering the mouse cursor over the wireless icon in the system tray and waiting for a balloon to appear that tells you the overall signal strength. If it doesn’t say Excellent or Very Good, then you may need to move the computer closer to the wireless router, upgrade the router, or invest in an antenna that attaches to the router and boosts the signal.
Problem: The NIC has power (the lights blink), but my computer won’t connect to the network or to the Internet.
Solution: Sometimes the NIC must be “reset” so the router recognizes it. Click Start, Control Panel, and Switch To Classic View (if necessary), and double-click Network Connections. Click Repair This Connection in the Network Tasks box, wait for the process to complete, and click Close. If the connection still doesn’t work, you may need to uninstall and reinstall the NIC according to the instructions it came with.
Problem: My NIC has an inherent problem that I’ve heard is fixable by applying a driver and/or firmware update, but I don’t know how to do this.
Solution: Drivers are software that Windows uses to communicate with your hardware, while firmware is software that is installed in a special memory chip on the NIC and that controls all aspects of the NIC’s operation. Updating to the latest drivers and firmware revisions can fix bugs, enhance compatibility, and add new features to the NIC that can help you avoid further trouble. You must download the latest drivers and firmware from the manufacturer’s Web site, and when doing so you must make sure it matches up with the exact make and model of NIC you use. To find out this information, look for a sticker on the bottom of an external NIC. For internal NICs, click Start, right-click My Computer, click Properties, and select the Hardware tab. Click Device Manager, expand the Network Adapters entry by clicking the plus (+) sign next to it, and write down the exact name that appears there. Use the instructions provided by the manufacturer to install the drivers or firmware. This is especially important during firmware upgrades as mistakes during the process can render the NIC useless. Troubleshooting Wireless NICs
Problem: I attached a wireless NIC to a device (such as a game console or digital video recorder), but the device does not have access to my home network or to the Internet.
Solution: The first thing to do is to determine whether the device is compatible with a NIC, because there’s a good chance it needs a wireless bridge. Bridges are a lot like wireless NICs except they have more internal hardware that lets them act as a sort of wireless cable. This means bridges work with just about every type of network-enabled product, whereas wireless NICs only work with products that have enough integrated networking hardware to recognize the NIC and manage the network connection. If the device requires a bridge, you’ll need to buy one, attach it to your router, and configure it to work with your network according to the instructions provided with the router. Once you configure the bridge, it should work with all of your network enabled devices simply by plugging it into their Ethernet ports. If the device is supposed to work with a wireless NIC, then it must have some network setup menu that you can access to input network settings such as the network name and password. Check the documentation that came with the device to figure out how to enter this data, which must match the settings that were established when you set up and secured your wireless router.
Problem: I booted the computer but can’t access either the network or the Internet.
Solution: Sometimes the wireless NIC simply doesn’t turn on or fails to connect to the network on its initial attempt. When this happens, the wireless icon in the system tray has a red X next to it, so right-click the icon and click Repair. If that doesn’t establish the connection, right-click the icon and click View Available Wireless Networks. Find your network on the list, click its entry, and click Connect.
Problem: My NIC says it supports speeds that are much faster than the 802.11g or 802.11a specifications allow, but I never achieve those high speeds when transferring network files.
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