Help: Onboard LAN on Asus P2B-L motherboard not working

[Buurin]

Hi everyone,

I have a Asus P2B-L motherboard that has a failed onboard LAN (Intel
82558-based). Windows 2000 and XP and the onboard indicator lights all says
the network cable is disconnected (ie. link LED is never on), even though a
cable is plugged in. The switch I plugged it into is working perfectly. I
tested it with the diagnostic utility from Intel, ran and passed all tests
including loopback. Board otherwise runs OK.

I am desparately trying to verify if the LAN controller is faulty, or having
proved that, find out what is wrong.

I am crossposting this to sci.electronics.repair because I have a soldering
iron and have used it before on other P2B series boards, so given the right
pointers I can try component-level troubleshooting. I also got the 82558
chip's datasheet.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks
Keith

 

[Alan Harriman]

I have a Asus P2B-L motherboard that has a failed onboard LAN (Intel
82558-based).

How about disabling the on board lan (typically an option in the bios setup) and
install a network card.

Alan Harriman

 

[Art]

Another option is disabling the onboard and using a USB Network Adaptor if
you don't want to add a card. Linksys makes some rather nice ones.
"Alan Harriman" <vtech@usol.com> wrote in message
news:nhnsqv0lim08ick9p321irkotrdbbfgbah@4ax.com...

I have a Asus P2B-L motherboard that has a failed onboard LAN (Intel
82558-based).

How about disabling the on board lan (typically an option in the bios
setup) and
install a network card.

Alan Harriman

 

[Buurin]

Yes, I do know about putting in a NIC, so you can all stop giving the
"disable-the-onboard-LAN-and-use-a-separate-NIC" response. Thank you very
much. Now can I have some really useful pointers please?

Keith


"Art" <stuby45@massnet1.net> wrote in message
newsLWdnQxSRo-6cjOiRVn-jA@comcast.com...

Another option is disabling the onboard and using a USB Network Adaptor if
you don't want to add a card. Linksys makes some rather nice ones.
"Alan Harriman" <vtech@usol.com> wrote in message
news:nhnsqv0lim08ick9p321irkotrdbbfgbah@4ax.com...

I have a Asus P2B-L motherboard that has a failed onboard LAN (Intel
82558-based).

How about disabling the on board lan (typically an option in the bios
setup) and
install a network card.

Alan Harriman

 

[Bob Kos]

"Buurin" <buurin@accessv.com.SPAMBEGONE> wrote in message
news:vUZrb.12073$f7.640431@localhost...

Yes, I do know about putting in a NIC, so you can all stop giving the
"disable-the-onboard-LAN-and-use-a-separate-NIC" response. Thank you very
much. Now can I have some really useful pointers please?

OK - Throw the Asus board in the trash & get a new one.

EVERY Asus board I have ever owned died.

EVERY Intel board I ever owned is either still working or was obsoleted.

Think about it. Despite the multi-layer construction that PC mainboards are
comprised of, you are betting that nothing else will go wrong with that
board by investing your time & efforts into the LAN repair. I'm betting
that it won't be 6 months before something else fails on that board.
Something else will open up.

Not a good answer for your query. But a realistic appraisal of the
situation.

 

[Alan Harriman]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 23:55:01 -0500, "Buurin" <buurin@accessv.com.SPAMBEGONE>
wrote:

Yes, I do know about putting in a NIC, so you can all stop giving the
"disable-the-onboard-LAN-and-use-a-separate-NIC" response. Thank you very
much. Now can I have some really useful pointers please?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=410604&Sku=G300-1068%20P&CatId=200


Alan Harriman

 

[P2B]

Bob Kos wrote:

"Buurin" <buurin@accessv.com.SPAMBEGONE> wrote in message
news:vUZrb.12073$f7.640431@localhost...

Yes, I do know about putting in a NIC, so you can all stop giving the
"disable-the-onboard-LAN-and-use-a-separate-NIC" response. Thank you very
much. Now can I have some really useful pointers please?


OK - Throw the Asus board in the trash & get a new one.

EVERY Asus board I have ever owned died.

EVERY Intel board I ever owned is either still working or was obsoleted.

Think about it. Despite the multi-layer construction that PC mainboards are
comprised of, you are betting that nothing else will go wrong with that
board by investing your time & efforts into the LAN repair. I'm betting
that it won't be 6 months before something else fails on that board.
Something else will open up.

Not a good answer for your query. But a realistic appraisal of the
situation.

IMHO not an answer or a realistic appraisal.

The Asus P2B series has a well deserved reputation for stability,
performance, and longevity - and consequently still has many satisfied
users. I'm typing this on a P2B-DS running dual 1.4Ghz PIII-S
processors, and have four more P2B based systems in the house. The
mainboards are all at least 5 years old, and none have suffered failures
despite their age and extensive modifications I've made to enable
support for current Intel processors. I expect these systems will
continue to be more than adequate, and completely reliable, for several
years to come.

I repair and modify P2B series mainboards as a sideline, and have rarely
had one come in with what I would consider an internal failure -
problems are usually the result of power spikes or users who don't
disconnect standby power while replacing PCI cards. In many cases simply
replacing crowbar protection components (zener and fusible resistor) is
all that's required. I've never had to replace a capacitor, despite the
fact many users are running processors with power requirements up to
double that of the fastest processors available when the board was designed.

The OP is clearly a PC hobbyist, and a P2B fan, who approaches the
repair of his onboard LAN circuitry as a challenge in itself, rather
than a means to an end - and I wish I could help, but I haven't
encountered his specific problem as yet.

Just this week I've modified three P2B series boards for customers who,
for their own reasons, consider it worth the investment - despite
commonly available advice to "throw the Asus board in the trash". After
reading this thread, I don't suppose I'll get much help here if my next
customer's P2B mainboard has a problem that stumps me.

P2B

 

[Jason D.]

Just this week I've modified three P2B series boards for customers who,
for their own reasons, consider it worth the investment - despite
commonly available advice to "throw the Asus board in the trash". After
reading this thread, I don't suppose I'll get much help here if my next
customer's P2B mainboard has a problem that stumps me.

P2B

I like P2B boards also but I'm curious what is the modifications you
have done to them? And what revisions is modifiable?

Cheers,

Wizard

 

[P2B]

Jason D. wrote:

Just this week I've modified three P2B series boards for customers who,
for their own reasons, consider it worth the investment - despite
commonly available advice to "throw the Asus board in the trash". After
reading this thread, I don't suppose I'll get much help here if my next
customer's P2B mainboard has a problem that stumps me.

P2B



I like P2B boards also but I'm curious what is the modifications you
have done to them?

I've posted the details on my P2B modification site:

http://tipperlinne.com/p2bmod

And what revisions is modifiable?

In theory, any revision - the older ones tend to be limited by their
voltage regulators and clock generators, but they can be updated as the
newer revisions use pin-compatible chips. There's a good guide to CPU
support by revision here:

http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/p2b_procupgrade_faq.html

P2B

 

[Hubert Littau]

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 21:00:56 -0500, P2B <p2b@sympatico.ca> wrote:

<Asus advertisement snipped>

When the P2Bxx was released I bought 3. All were DOA.

I am currently using one that was later (not much later) given to me
because the USB ports are dead I installed a PCI USB card. So far so
good. Waiting for the next failure. Needless to say, it's a backup
system.