Tag Archives: How do I know if my NIC card is bad?

How to Fix Lan Card Problems?

Lan card, also called NIC card or network interface card, is a ‘door’ to connect computers or servers to the networks. Any type of server network activity cannot live without a Lan card. Especially nowadays, the Internet of things has been an overwhelming trend. Filled in our daily life, the NIC card has been widely applied in various devices, such as network switches, televisions, and even refrigerators. Along with its popularization, many problems may be encountered. In this article, some frequently asked questions will be gathered and solved to help you have a clearer mind about network card.

Are My Optical Transceivers and Cables Compatible with Lan Cards?

Before buying NIC cards, the first thing you need to do is to check the type and brand of your transceivers and the equipment like switch you want to connect with. By doing so, you will be clear about the brand, data rate, and port type of the network adapter you are going to buy. Then check the datasheet of the network adapter you want to buy to confirm the type of transceivers, cables, and networking operation systems can be supported by this card.

Lan Card Specification Sample From FS

Figure 1: Lan Card Specification Sample From FS

For example, if you want to connect an FS 10Gb network card with FS S5800-8TF12S 10Gb switch, a 10G SFP+ DAC can be used. Since the network adapter and switch are backward compatible, the data rate of supported DAC should no higher than connected two devices on each end. By the way, if the port of the device is copper port, network cables combined with copper transceivers should be deployed instead of DAC. As for the brand, it will be safe to use the whole set of the device from the same brand in case of any unexpected problem.

FS 10G Lan Card with DAC Cable

Figure 2: FS 10G Lan Card with DAC Cable

How to Check My Lan Card Working Status?

Sometimes, the network cannot be connected. After checking cable connections and reboot the equipment, the Internet is still inaccessible. We may wonder if there is something wrong with the Lan card.

At that moment, it’s time to check your network card driver. You can follow the following steps:

1. Press Win+R on your keyboard to quickly summon the RUN box.

2. Input “devmgmt.msc” in the box and click OK button to open Device Manager.

3. Click Network Adapters in Device Manager to expand this section. After that, double-click your network adapter entry. Then, you can see the network card status on the General tab. If “This device is working properly” is showed on that page, it proves that the network card is still working; if not, there might be some specific problems with your card.

How to Check Lan Card Status

Figure 3: How to Check Lan Card Status

If Lan Card Is Bad, What Should I Do?

After checking the Lan card status as the way we mentioned in the previous question, you find the card is not working and there is a specific problem has been listed. The top priority to solve that is to follow the suggestions given in the Properties dialog box. If these suggestions are not helpful, you can choose to update or re-install the driver. Just remember to uninstall the driver first before re-installing. If your network is still unable to connect, you can try to remove the old expansion card and install a new one.

Summary

Lan card has almost been penetrated every corner of our daily life. It’s necessary for us to get some basic knowledge about it to know how to solve some simple problems when we are in trouble. In this post, three frequently asked questions have been shared to give you some inspirations.