NIC/NVIDIA nForce Network Controller - Help

My networking card (NVIDIA nForce) seems to apparently have been affected by a lightning storm. The port where I was connected to my router by ethernet was killed and it seems now that the other end, where my computer was connected by ethernet to the NIC, seems dead. When I go into my network settings, it shows my device as working properly. Is there some way I can tell if it's actually been killed by the lightning? It's not working via ethernet connection to my router/modem but I'm wondering if I should mess with drivers or anything.

 

Anyone? If my post was confusing, I'm just looking for a way to see if my NIC/ethernet card is dead without verifying by connecting the card via ethernet. I suspect it's been killed by lightning, but is there a way to internally test that?

 

No easy way to test full functionality without spending hours on it, a new NIC will cost $10 or so.

Static electricity can kill components and I've seen PC's hit by lightning in which only the floppy drive survived.

I had a modem that was hit by lightning that worked for a few minutes at a time before dropping the connection, I wasted hours trying to get that working.