How to Tell If Your Network Interface Card Is Bad
The Network Interface Card (NIC) is a device that your computer uses to "talk" to a modem or other networking device over an Ethernet connection. Your NIC needs to be physically installed in the computer and your computer must have the most up-to-date software drivers for the card in order for it to operate correctly. NIC issues can be diagnosed with just a few simple troubleshooting steps.
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Instructions
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Check to see if your computer indicates a problem with your NIC. Navigate to the computer's device manager by clicking on "Start," "Control Panel" and "Device Manager." If you do not see those options, go to "Start," right-click on "My Computer," click "Properties," click the Hardware tab and then click "Device Manager." Locate "Network adapters" from the device manager and click the "+" to the left of it to expand the contents. Check to see if any of the contents listed have "X" "!" or "?" over their names. If they do or if your device manager does not list any network adapters, you are experiencing a NIC problem and need to contact the manufacturer of your computer.
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Test connectivity on a different computer. Your NIC may still be experiencing a problem, even if there is not one indicated by your device manager. One way to test this is to connect your modem or other Internet device to a different computer. If your Internet connection does not work connected to a different computer, the problem is most likely with your modem or Ethernet cable, rather than your computer's NIC. If you can connect with no errors on a different machine, you may have a bad NIC.
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Contact the manufacturer of the computer. While the computer provides some ways to check for a NIC issue, the best way to tell for sure is to contact the manufacturer of the computer and have them check your NIC. If the NIC needs to be replaced or needs a software driver update, they can provide those for you as well.
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Tips & Warnings
If you connect your modem or other networking device into a second computer for testing purposes, make sure to reset the network by unplugging the power cord from the modem and any other network device for a full 30 seconds and plug them back in. Also restart your computer as an added precaution. The Internet will not work on your second computer until you take this step.
This article assumes you are using a Windows operating system, since Mac computers do not provide any tools for checking the functionality of your NIC. Contact Apple tech support for help with your NIC on a Mac.
Resources
- Photo Credit ethernet image by Jaume Felipe from Fotolia.com
