8 replies to this topic

[Stealth3si]

Here are the computer specs of the computer in question:

 

Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Xion 600W PSU XON-600F14R-201

Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motheroboard

nVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Chipset

BIOS Revision 1402

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.15 (15 x 210 FSB)

Muskin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 991587 DDR2-800 SDRAM 5-4-4-12

Koolance EXOS2 Watercooled

OS Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST3500820AS 500GB

DATA Drive: Samsung HD501LJ

NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mpbs Ethernet

Realtek RTL8187 Wireless 802.11b/g 54Mpbs USB 2.0 Network Adapter

 

The CAT 5 Ethernet cable network cable is attached to our main Linksys WRT320N DD-WRT router ---> Motorola SB5101U DOCSIS 2.0 Cable Modem ---> Coaxial cable from wall outlet. Another computer is also directly connected to the same router via CAT 5 Ethernet cable and two more computers are wirelessly connected to the same router and none of these three PCs are experiencing issues so this should rule out the router as the culprit.

 

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The issue/symptom/scenario: If I leave the computer on (even for hours) with no network cable attached to the computer, it does not turn off. But as soon as I plug in the network cable, the PC will shut itself off within 5-15min.

 

Based on the same scenario as described above, here are the troubleshooting attempts I made without success, except for numbers 4 and 6:

 

1. Switched to different network cable and router port.

 

2. Disabled Network Adapter connections in "Network adapter settings" for both the onboard ethernet port and wireless adapter.

 

3. Ran MSCONFIG.EXE and rebooted in diagnostic mode. Only basic Windows services are loaded. No startup programs are loaded.

 

4. Rebooted in Safe Mode with networking but could not establish any network LAN/WAN connection. Computer did not shut off!

 

5. Cloned entire hard disk to another hard disk and switched SATA data and power cables on the same computer.

 

6. Installed fresh Windows on different hard drive on the same computer.  Computer did not shut off!

 

Out of those 6, only numbers 4 and 6 were where the computer remained on and didn't shut off at all after the network cable cable was plugged in.

 

Cause: What could be the problem?

 

Solution: How could I fix the problem without re-installing the operating system?

[EuroFight]

I don't know if it is related to your issue, but you could always disable Wake on LAN in the BIOS, see if that changes anything...

[ComputerEd]

The fact a clean install of the OS seems to fix the issue, I would say you have found the problem. Sometimes it is just easier and quicker to go clean.

[DanTheGamer11]

Reinstall motherboard drivers?

[cchalogamer]

Based on the clean install and safemode options "solving" the issue I would lean toward motherboard drivers and if it's using one of the nvidia network drivers I would try using an older version or newer if there is one. I didn't look up to see what LAN options that board has but I had some very odd issues with a few different versions of nvidia's network drivers on some of my old stuff so I would start there if you want to avoid re-installing everything. Even though a fresh start would be the option I would pick for myself, several years in PC service and I understand the value to a user not having to redo everything.

[Waco]

I'd grab a cheap PCI NIC and never use the nvidia NIC again. Aside from the nForce 1 and 2 they were almost universally flaky as they aged.

[DanTheGamer11]

I'd grab a cheap PCI NIC and never use the nvidia NIC again. Aside from the nForce 1 and 2 they were almost universally flaky as they aged.

 

But my one still works well

[Waco]

I said almost.

[d6bmg]

I'd grab a cheap PCI NIC and never use the nvidia NIC again. Aside from the nForce 1 and 2 they were almost universally flaky as they aged.

 

Nvidia nforce chipsets = one of the worst batch of chipsets of all time. (at least to me)

 

Otherwise, give the nforce NIC another try by performing a clean install of OS.