Network Card - Router Issue

We have two computers at home hooked up via a linksys router to roadrunner cable service. The gist of it is that when we turned them on today, my computer works fine, but I noticed that the #2 light was out for the second computer on the router and that the network card light on that computer remains on and steady whether I shut down the computer or unplug the cord.

I've been through the whole power everything off, check your settings and reconfigure everything about three times now. Next step I'm looking at is getting a new network card. The cables' are fine as I've switched them both out and they work on the computer that connects to the internet. Also on the router, the #2 slot doesn't work with either computer and the other slots into which I plug the cable from the network card from the computer that's not working, the light flashes rapidly.

Anyone have any ideas as to what could have happened?

 

Not sure, but one more thing you can try before you get a new card is to change slots. Move the NIC from the PCI slot it's in to a different one. Sometimes the slots themselves can go bad. If that doesn't fix it, I'd say it's time to get a new network card.

 

Any power fluctuations at your house recently? Modems and NICs are usually the first to bite the dust from a power surge, even when other components don't.

 

Spent almost 4 hours on the phone with dell's support, the network card is integrated into the motherboard so I'm told. They think it's an OS error, so far I'm waiting another 1/2 to have someone walk me through reinstalling windows. We have had some storms recently, just seems odd that only one port would go out, the other 3 are working on the router. Would you recommend getting a new router?

And does anyone know if we installed a separate network card, and didn't use the integrated one, would we have less of a chance of the OS messing up again if that is indeed the problem?

Thanks for the replies.

 

I've never had a networking issue that required an OS re-install. I have, however, had a power surge knock out the onboard NIC on an Intel MB, and had an identical one across the room survive. The affected machine got a PCI NIC installed, and it works fine.

I can't tell from that last statement, in the first paragraph, referring to a port. Have you not tried plugging the cable from the suspect NIC into another port on the router-- to eliminate the router port from the equation?

 

Yes, I've tried plugging it into a different port on the router and had no luck. The 2nd port is dead no matter which computer I plug into it. When I plug in the computer that's not connecting to the net, into the ports on the router that seem to work just fine for the computer that is connecting, the router light flashes rapidly, instead of remaining steady like the one that is working.

Unfortunately my knowledge is limited, but I'm trying to learn more, right now I feel overwhelmed and it just doesn't make sense. I've looked over linksys' site but can't seem to find any references to what a rapidly flashing light could indicate, if anything.

 

OK, so port #2 on the router won't work for any PC, and the affected PC won't work in any router port when other PCs will. If so, sounds like possibly two problems rather than just one.

Tried a router default reset? (Paper clip, hole on the back thing)

 

Nope, spent about 8 hours with the "award-winning" Dude you're getting a Dud support and reinstalled the OS, which didn't work so I went with my first thought and installed a different network card. WORKS FINE NOW! I don't know why I think tech support people should know what they're talking about. I may try resetting the router to see if the #2 port comes back alive, but now that everything's working I don't feel like tempting Fate just yet.

What I don't understand is why this happened in the first place. If it was a surge, why only one port?

 

Perhaps because it was the one plugged into the computer whose NIC went out. A router, after all, is a little computer dedicated to only one function with a bunch of NICs in it. I still smell a power surge. Will be interesting to see if a router reset fixes it.