I have a GA41M-es2l mainboard which has suddenly and inexplicably had the lan port die. I'm using WinXp SP3(still). E
verything was normal. I'd checked my email, used the internet, etc so networkng was working OK.
I was experimenting with linux on a flash drive. I booted to the flash drive. No issues. Lan worked OK under linux, but I didn't like the distro of linux so I restarted back to Windows. Win comes up, popup baloon say "no network connection". I checked the cable connection, it's fine. Tried disabling/re-enabling network under windows, etc. No dice. I shut down windows and in the BIOS there's a lan cable test thing. It's some kind of loop-back test I think?
Anyway it showed a good cable of "less than 10M"...
Back to windows. Still nothing. Power off, wait a few minutes. Power on. Same problem. I messed with the BIOS Green LAN settings to see if that might have the problem. ( I was vexed once by that setting being on and the cable disconnected which turns off the LAN chip clock. ) No change. Tried the linux on flash drive which lan worked before. This time says no network connection also.
I powered on another computer used linux on flash drive and connected the same lan cable to it. Connection is normal.
OK. So after all I've said. Am I safe to ass-u-me that the lan port has just suddenly and mysteriously died? What on earth caused it?! I've had only one lan port die before and that was after a thunderstorm knocked out our power. It killed one TV set and the ONLY the lan port on the computer I had on. This time there was no thunderstorm. Heck, I'm in Houston. We haven't had rain in weeks.
Right now, I'm working on the affected computer by using a plugged in USB wireless lan adaptor so I guess
I've worked around it but I'd love to know what the #$#% I did that would cause the lan to go dead?
I just looked it's ver 1.0 which I bought in mid-2009 so it's under warranty. How long does Gigabyte usually take to turn around an RMA?
I bought it at Fry's. Gigabyte's Warranty Service page says to take to the to retailer where purchased when I tried to look for a service center.
Is Frys an authorized Gigabyte service center? I don't want them messing it up and voiding my warranty.
OH, I forgot to mention I've tried to make a tech support request to Gigabyte but there's a problem with the webpage. The dropdown box for entering the mainboard model is blank, but it won't let me type anything either It won't let me submit the page without entering the mainboard model. Is there a way to report this to the webmaster?
