www.abithelp.com

Motherboard : Abit In9 32max wifi
CPU: Q6600 oced at 3.0Ghz
GPU: Nvidia 8800 GTX
RAM: 4x 1gb Supertalent (4-4-3-8) DDR2-800
Hard disk : 1X Western Digital Raptor 150GB
DVD Drives : Lg DVD-RW Lightscribe
Asus DVD-RW
PSU: OCZ 700 or 720W can't really recall
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate up to date
Bios Version : 1.5 last one
My router is : http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_broad ... g834gt.php

I ve already spoke with greybear on the nvidia forum,at that time i thought i found a way to solve my problem but it was only a work around.

Basically my problem is that while i am surfing,downloading, playing games on internet the nics get buggy and stop working correctly. What i get
is limited connectivity. By doing an ipconfig i see that i still mantain the same ip so i guess it's not a DHCP problem. Trying to fix the problem with
Windows does nothing. Traffic is blocked (received and sent) but the session goes on. Swapping from one nic to the other doesn't fix anything even
though windows recognize the fact that the cable was moved from one slot to the other. Disabling and then try to enable the nics puts vista into a state
where it tries to enable the nic for hours without success. The only way to regain internet is by rebooting. After the reboot everything works correctly. Since
i have this problem for quite some time now i THINK that it all started when i accidentally pressed sleep instead of shut down and let the computer into sleep state for one night.
I will list everything i tried out but the only thing that worked was to force the duplex settings. That's a work around since lan/internet speed is greatly reduced.

What i ve done is :
1) Format (2 times)
2) Reset the CCMOS (2 times)
3) Changed the port of my sata drive (read somewhere that it worked out)
4) Inserted some DHCP string in services
5)Upgraded bios from 1.3 to 1.5
6) Tried going online with windows vista default drivers, without NAM and finally with every possible update.
7) Kicked my computer
8)Checked if i had the option about power save on
9)From cmd i reseted winsock and ipv4/6 logs
10) Disabled from bios the second nic and disallowed nic to wake computer
11) Turned off windows firewall which i had forgotten to disable since the last time i formatted.
12) Checked the onboard chip for errors but nothing showed up.
13) Tried both nics to see if the problem happens only to one of them.\
14) Checked on the boot screen if my lan devices are listed and working (they are)
15) I ve swapped the cables

That's all i can remember at the moment, if something else comes to my mind i ll write it down. I have a second computer with the same OS connected to the
router but it works correctly. Some time ago i used a 8800 GT instead of the GTX and i still had problems. The rest of the system is working correctly and i don't have
any problems such as BSODs. A strange thing is that i can't connect to my router but still in vista network map i can see it. If i pull off the cable from my computer then i get the
no connectivity icon, and by reinserting it i get again limited connectivity. These disconnects don't follow a time or a data pattern, they just happen randomly.

Both computers are connected to a switch 3com (100mbps max) and the switch is connected to the router. When i get the limited connectivity i don't see the other computer on the network.
Obviously i tried a direct connection with the router but without success.

That's all i can think about. Thanks in advance for the help

Do you remember the Thread link?

Make sure the RAM voltage is set to 2.2V in the BIOS, visually checking. as I assume this is your Ram

Reflash the BIOS chip with the /WB switch added.

Purchase a new Bios chip.



Im curious what happens when trying IPCONFIG /RENEW or in DEVICE MANAGE, under Actions > Scan for Hardware Changes.


This is what Im going with...there used to be an issue with atleast 2 different motherboard that dealt with RAM. Granted it generally was memory testing that caused a loss of NIC. It was fixed with a BIOS update. ABiT had a period where they had alot of BIOS chip failures but some live on.

What I looking for is if the NIC actually drops out of the hardware list as if not there.


BTW, Welcome...Hopefully someone else here has more insight on this.

My ram is that one idd. I had the voltage set to 2.1V but i ll change it.

What do you mean when you say to reflash the bios chip with the /WB switch added? Noobish question but what is a /WB switch? :p

So i should turn back to autonegotiation and try to do ipconfig and scan for hardware changes once i get limited connectivity?

If it's a ram problem should i run a ramtest for 4-5 hours?

I understand what you are saying and i think that's what happening. Since i ve done some digging by myself before i recall that when i did a hardware scan, i ve found out
that the drivers from my ethernet port were dropped for some uknown reason. I thought about it too but i wasn't sure that this could be the problem.

Tried to set Ram at 2.2V but i got 3-4 BSODs while loading Windows so i had to set it back to 2.1V

Memory timings....is it set for 2T or 1T, try setting it to 2T.


2.2 is the voltage specified. (so try using it with the next test)

Try just one stick in slot one.
Then the next.
Then the next.
Then the next.

Basically try Each stick as a single at 2.2V and in each slot. Mark them A B C D and see if anything different happens between them.


When you flash the BIOS you should use the DOS method with either a Dos Bootable FLOPPY or a USB stick. There is a file that is used called ABITFEA.BAT, when you open it there is a line with 4-5 /switch commands, you add the /WB switch to that line. This is a Write BootBlock switch that seems to help on some of these type issues with ABiT. But the purchasing of a new chip from BIOSMAN or eBAY is smarter as it leaves your WORKING chip alone.

Hey so i tried to get limited connectivity and when i got it i tried an ipconfig /renew
the answer i got was "An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection unable to contact your
DHCP server. Request has timed out"

So then i went to device manager and did a scan for hardware changes on the ethernet adapters. My ethernet port
was still there but when pressed properties instead of the usual message "The device is working properly" i got
"No drivers are installed on this device" . I went to the drivers tab and they were there. Tried reinstalling them
and vista kept going for hours without success.

As far as it concerns ram, i recall that since i bought the ram sticks i wasn't able to set 2.2 V and that's why i sticked with 2.1V.
If it's necessary i ll try them all and all the sockets. The bsod was IRQL not less or equal.

As far as it concerns bios, i ve flashed the latest bios using the Uguru utility instead from dos.

Questions : 1) I ve put a network controller on Pci2 but my computer can't find it. Is there a way to see if the pci 2 is working?
2) How can i add the command line in the .bat file? From windows? From dos?

I am gonna test the rams and i ll let you know. Thanks for the help so far

Tried all of the ram sticks, one gave bsod ndis.sys at 2.2V . That means that the ram is malfunctioning i suppose and i shouldn't put it back in :/

I ll try the sockets also to see if anything is wrong with them.

What now? Should i flash the bios or should i try the nics with 3gb of ram?

Since only one BSOD at 2.2V, remove it from the Equation. The Not_Less_Than error is a general memory type error, can get that from Memory, Virtual Memory, VideoMemory...just linked more so to RAM, representing an error.

Insert the 3 and see if it will work at 2.2v. (Actually 2.1v might do it also)

If it does, re-enter the OS and again, reproduce the error. As I assume the NIC returns on reboot?

Let's see if RAM fixes your problem before going further. I'd take out another stick so you're still in dual channel though. No since in complicating the matter.

Also, when testing connectivity, eliminate the switch and go straight to the router. Then, when testing, do so to the router's IP address, which is the simplest path from point A to point B. It will also eliminate any potential DNS errors. Never had a switch, but I assume they also have net configurations, so you could also use its IP address to test and not worry about taking it out of the loop.

Yeah nics start working again after the reboot. I Tried with 1,2,3 sticks of ram but nothing changed (always operating at 2.2V). After a while limited connectivity again.
I could try clearing the cmos and go with the dual channel without overclocking the computer apart from setting the correct parameters on the ram and see what happens.
As for the stick that couldn't operate at 2.2V i recall that this was like this since the day i bought the ram stick and that's why i went with 2.1V.

Waiting for orders !