Thread: M10K / Win2k3 NIC problems

Originally Posted by DaRacerz

Only thing I can think of is that you may need to downsize ms default security settings on the network control because ms made it really 'strict'. Only thing I can think of.

BTW, how's the start up time in comparison to XP??? Been thinking about trying it myself but never got around to it yet.

Yah I thought of that too, except I've installed 2k3 several times before and never had any issues getting a network connection up and running. It's strict, but not that strict. I did install it without an admin password. I suppose it's possible that it downgraded the network at that point (even though I subsequently added a password).

I can't give any kind of real comparison yet since I didn't get past the vanilla install. As for XP, I could never get it below ~60secs from power on to music. Also, it was starting to get unstable ... to much plugging / unplugging of the USB devices creating a bazillion hardware profiles I suspect.

Unless I can get everything running reliably and quickly, I won't stick with 2k3.

Hey, I use M10k and the network card was immediately recognized and installed when I first installed Win2k3, no need for 3rd party drivers...

I find Win2k3's boot time to be better than XP's once I tweaked it out according to the guide on www.msfn.org/win2k3

As far as stability goes, it is rock solid and it works with my all of my USB devices (touchscreen, gps, audio, radio) just fine...

Also i use s3 standby mode most of the time

Ok, thanks. I already started reinstalling it. I guess it must have been the blank Admin password I used during install. I know that disable file/print sharing in XP but hadn't seen it completely kill the network connections before.

@Grayscale, which audio are you using, on board?

Still no go ... da*n it! The NIC is recognized and installed but it's unable to communicate. It cannot see my DHCP server and cannot even see my gateway when configured manually. I've double checked cables, switches, firewall, everything else. The same hardware works fine when running XP.

@Grayscale, did you actually do anything over your NIC after you installed 2k3?

bump

Hmmm...I guess nobody besides Grayscale actually uses win2k3 on an M10k.

Originally Posted by DaRacerz

Ya, that assumption sounds right. When you check out the device manager, do ou even see the nic there??? If so, go into its properties and see what windows is complaining about. If its not there, do a force install of the hardware.

Yes, the NIC is there and the driver is installed without any problems. Windows doesn't 'complain' about it in any way. Using the default configuration it doesn't see my DHCP server (and it should). I then go into the network setup and for manually set the IP, mask, gateway, and DNS servers. Even so, I'm unable to even ping the gateway. The same hardware, cables, and network configuration(s) works fine under XP. Default Win2k3 installs work fine on other machines and those same machines work fine when plugged into the same switch port/cable. I think that just about rules out everything but a driver issue for the Rhine II NIC in the m10k

I've seen a few posts on these forums where people mentioned that they use win2k3 for its improved boot times so I am hoping that someone else has encountered (and solved) this issue with the m10k.